Davis v. Raytheon Technologies Corp

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedMarch 28, 2024
Docket3:22-cv-02675
StatusUnknown

This text of Davis v. Raytheon Technologies Corp (Davis v. Raytheon Technologies Corp) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davis v. Raytheon Technologies Corp, (N.D. Tex. 2024).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS DALLAS DIVISION GARY ROUNDTREE, et al., § § Plaintiffs, § § v. § § Civil Action No. 3:22-cv-02675-M RAYTHEON, § § Defendant. § § § MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Defendant Raytheon’s! Partial Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 34) is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. Where granted, the dismissal is without prejudice to the Plaintiffs amending by April 15, 2024, unless the dismissal is stated to be with prejudice. The Plaintiffs may amend only as to the matters set out herein. An Order regarding the Motion to Sever (ECF No. 54) shall issue separately. I. Factual Matters” Plaintiffs Gary Roundtree, Ollie Dailey, Gerry Lewis, Antonio James, and Corey Polite are Black men who worked for Raytheon as machinists, and who will be collectively called the “Machinist Plaintiffs.” They assert claims for failure to promote, pay discrimination and retaliation, and several assert hostile work environment claims, all under 42 U.S.C.§ 1981.

' Defendant states that the company Plaintiffs sued, Raytheon Technologies, Corp. is now known as RTX, but that Plaintiffs were employed by Raytheon Company. The Court will resolve this issue at trial, but will, as counsel do, refer to the Defendant as Raytheon. > At the motion to dismiss stage, the Court accepts all of Plaintiffs’ well-pled facts as true. Stokes v. Gann, 498 F.3d 483, 484 (Sth Cir. 2007) (per curiam). Four years is the relevant period of limitations for Plaintiffs’§ 1981 claims so that, with few exceptions, the Court does not recite undated facts or facts preceding November 30, 2018, given that the original Complaint was filed on November 30, 2022. ECF No. 1; see Kathy Nguyen v. Brink’s, Inc., No. 3:18-CV- 00235-N, 2019 WL 130284, at *1—2 (N.D. Tex. Jan. 8, 2019).

Plaintiffs Heather Davis, Latoya Stuart, Silvia Matthews, Marian Payne, and Billy Kelly, collectively called the “Accounting Plaintiffs,” were all Black temporary accounting employees for Raytheon who claim they were discriminated against when they, unlike similarly situated non- Black temporary accounting employees, were not offered permanent employment by Raytheon. Davis also claims retaliation and a hostile work environment. These Plaintiffs will be collectively called the “Accounting Plaintiffs.” They seek by agreement to pursue their claims separately from the Machinist Plaintiffs. A. Machinist Plaintiff Claims 1. Gary Roundtree Roundtree went to work for Raytheon in October 2017. In the Second Amended Complaint, filed in June 2023, Roundtree claims he repeatedly applied for the Senior Machinist position beginning “three or four years ago.” ECF No. 29, Second Amended Complaint, “SAC,” 209, 213. He was not promoted to the Senior Machinist position, but claims he is doing the work of that position, but is not being compensated at that level.? He claims to have reported the pay disparity to Raytheon’s HR department on March 22, 2023, but alleges he was told he was paid “in line with his peers.” Jd. 4] 218-19. Roundtree also claims that 1—2 years ago, he sought a promotion to Value Stream Leader (previously apparently called “PR”), but that non-Black employees less qualified than he received the promotion, but he did not. He alleges this occurred because he is Black and in retaliation for his frequent complaints of discrimination, including to HR. Roundtree attaches to the SAC a letter he sent to the President of Raytheon Missiles and Defense, describing discriminatory events that allegedly happened to him or to other Plaintiffs because of their race.

3 € 213 of the SAC, ECF No. 29, obviously contains a typo, omitting the word “not” in describing Roundtree’s pay.

Among other things, he states the plant where he was employed on Lemmon Avenue was scheduled for closing at the end of 2023 in retaliation for his attempts to unionize it. ECF 29-1 at 2.4 This letter is being considered by the Court only insofar as it constitutes notice to Raytheon. It is not a substitute for the assertion of claims by the individual Machinist Plaintiffs in a Complaint. Roundtree does not plead the names of the persons he claims were his comparators for the Senior Machinist position, but inferentially, it is all persons who became Senior Machinists from November 2018-22, the four-year period before suit was filed. He does not identify by name non-Black persons who became Value Stream Leaders, who were allegedly less qualified than he. In connection with his retaliation claim, Roundtree pleads that he sent a letter to Greg Hayes, Raytheon’s CEO, reporting discrimination and retaliation (ECF No. 37 at 13-14, citing SAC 9] 239-46). However, he does not identify when he applied for the various positions he claims he sought, and whether those applications preceded his sending the letter to Mr. Hayes. Roundtree does not plead events constituting a hostile work environment which he claims to have experienced. 2. Ollie Dailey Dailey has been a Production Specialist with Raytheon since 2017. In 2020, he claims to have seen white supremacist and QAnon materials in the men’s room. He pleads that he reported the presence of QAnon materials to the second shift manager, who removed them. SAC 4] 275— 77. He claims these incidents created a hostile work environment. Dailey also alleges he should have been promoted to a Senior Production Specialist

4 The Plaintiffs allege non-Black employees at the Lemmon Avenue plant are being offered other positions elsewhere at Raytheon, but that Black employees are not. The Court has no information about whether the projected closing and projected terminations occurred.

position, but does not state that he ever applied for that position. He pleads that three non-Black employees were promoted to, or hired into, Senior Production Specialist positions. He identifies at least some by name (id. 4] 258), and claims they made $5—$6 per hour more than he did but were less qualified than he was, as evidenced by his training them. He cites a comment he says was made by a Raytheon hiring manager, that “he did not like how Mr. Dailey presented himself,” and claims that in context, the comment was racist. Id. 265-66. He claims to have reported that comment to Raytheon’s counsel and investigator, before suit was filed. 3. Gerry Lewis Lewis has been a Production Specialist at Raytheon since 2007. The SAC pleads that 2-3 years ago he became a supervisor, after complaining when someone else was initially selected, and then the original decision was undone. Lewis pleads that he is paid less than two White supervisors who he identifies by name (id. §] 280), and claims that discrepancy is because he is Black. 4. Antonio James James has been a machinist for Raytheon since 2012. He claims that he applied unsuccessfully for a Value Stream Leader position, but that three less qualified non-Black employees were selected instead. He also claims he participated in a Raytheon apprentice machinist training program, but unlike White employees, he did not receive a raise after doing so. He also claims he applied for 5—7 unidentified “machinist positions” (id. 4] 316).° Mr. James pleads no hostile work environment facts.

5 He says he applied in 2020, but then says that he had been an employee for five years when he applied. SAC § 313. Five years from his hiring by Raytheon would be 2017, and claims over such an application would be barred by limitations, so the Court assumes the relevant date is 2020.

5. Corey Polite Polite has been a Senior Production Specialist for Raytheon since September 2007.

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Bluebook (online)
Davis v. Raytheon Technologies Corp, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-raytheon-technologies-corp-txnd-2024.