Dykes v. Marco Group, Inc.

222 F. Supp. 3d 418, 2016 WL 6948160, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 163323
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 28, 2016
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 15-1088
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 222 F. Supp. 3d 418 (Dykes v. Marco Group, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dykes v. Marco Group, Inc., 222 F. Supp. 3d 418, 2016 WL 6948160, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 163323 (E.D. Pa. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

Padova, District Judge

Plaintiff Eugene Dykes filed this employment discrimination action against Defendants The Marco Group, Inc. and Educations Affiliates, Inc. after he was terminated from his job as a welding instructor. He asserts claims of race discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment pursuant to Title VII, 42 U.S.C § 1981, and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. Defendants have filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, seeking judgment in their favor on all of Plaintiffs claims. For the following reasons, we grant the Motion in its entirety.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Eugene Dykes is an African-American male. (Compl. ¶ 8.) In March of [421]*4212013, Plaintiff obtained a job as a welding instructor at the Lester, Pennsylvania location of All-State Career Schools (“All-State”). (Defs.’ Stip. of Facts ¶¶ 1-2; Certification of Robert Bubb (“Bubb Cert”) ¶ 13; Defs.’ Ex. F.). All-State is a network of trade schools that offers accredited programs in commercial driving and welding. (Defs.’ Stip. of Facts ¶ 1.) It is a subsidiary of Defendant The Marco Group, Inc., which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Defendant Education Affiliates, Inc. (Id.)

All-State’s records reflect that, not long after Plaintiff was hired, there were problems reported in Plaintiff’s classroom. The first incident was in April of 2013, when Plaintiff publicly confronted a student with a disciplinary write-up during a class and the student stormed out of Plaintiffs classroom. (See Defs.’ Ex. H.) Then, in May of 2013, one of Plaintiffs students reported to Mr. Robert Bubb, Plaintiffs direct supervisor, that Plaintiff was not providing enough lecturing in conjunction with the assigned chapter reading and also seemed to favor some students over others. (See Defs.’ Ex. I; David Poli Dep. Tr. (“Poli Dep.”), attached as Ex. D to Defs.’ Mem., at 26.) Also in May, another student submitted a formal complaint that, inter alia, Plaintiff did not have control of his classroom, did not discuss the homework assignments and chapter readings, and played favorites. (See Defs.’ Ex. J.) As a result of the formal complaint, Mr. Bubb conducted interviews with the students in Plaintiffs classes. (See Defs.’ Exs. K-L.) Mr. Bubb reported that the students did not express unhappiness with the class, but also seemed guarded in their remarks. (Id.) Thereafter, Mr. Bubb conducted a meeting with Plaintiff and the student who had submitted the complaint, during which the three discussed the student’s complaints and agreed to implement procedures to resolve any future issues. (See Defs.’ Ex. M.)

On May 28, 2013, Mr. Bubb noted that Plaintiff did not arrive for his 6:30 class until 7:00 p.m., and Plaintiff explained his lateness and failure to call the school by stating that he “had some legal shit to take care of.” (Defs.’ Ex. R.) The next day, All-State’s Director of Career Services reported that Plaintiff had been speaking negatively to students about a potential employer of All-State’s students. (See Defs.’ Exs. S and U.) Plaintiff denied having made negative comments to the students, but proceeded to criticize the same employer to All-State staff and, as a result, was issued a final disciplinary warning and directed to refrain from talking about any employers in a negative way in the future. (See Defs.’ Exs. S, T, and U.)

Also in late May, Mr. Bubb engaged an outside consultant to evaluate both Plaintiffs teaching performance and the performance of a Caucasian welding instructor about whom he also had concerns. (Robert Bubb Dep. Tr. (“Bubb Dep.”), attached as Ex. C to Defs.’ Mem., at 67-58, 63-65.) The outside consultant, Steve Fultz, prepared a report concerning his observations of Plaintiffs class on May 30, 2013. (Id. at 59; Defs.’ Ex. Q.) Mr. Fultz reported that Plaintiff was “never on topic” and that the students were “not on task and were talking with each other in general conversation throughout the class.” (Defs.’ Ex. Q.) He reported that “[sjeveral times [he] attempted to move the class along by asking.. .topic questions pertaining to the curriculum area it appeared [Plaintiff] was training in” and that Plaintiffs “answers were very short and incorrect.” (Id.) He further wrote that, upon observing students welding, he found “that the technique [Plaintiff] ha[d] been showing them was incorrect.” (Id.) Specifically, he noted that “[t]he students... had the wrong electrode angle, wrong machine setting, and were going in the wrong di[422]*422rection with the welds.” (Id.) Mr. Fultz ultimately opined that Plaintiff “does not know enough about welding to be a welding instructor,” and that he “lacks both [the] practical skills and knowledge of welding theory to teach welding.” (Id.) He further opined that Plaintiff was “very negative” and “was not helping any of the student learn how to weld.” (Id.)

Issues with Plaintiffs performance as a welding instructor continued in June and July of 2013. On June 6, 2013, Plaintiff covered a class for another instructor and did not clean the welding lab properly at the conclusion of class. (See Defs.’ Ex. V.) On June 12, 2013, Mr. Bubb observed at 6:55 p.m. that Plaintiff had not yet started his 6:30 p.m. class. (See Defs.’ Ex. W.) Also, on June 12, 2013, Mr. Bubb ran a reference check for Plaintiff and discovered that a number of prior employers listed on Plaintiffs resume had no record of employing Plaintiff. (See Defs.’ Ex. Y-Z.) On June 21, 2013, Plaintiff permitted his class to leave an hour and a half early to watch the NBA final game. (See Defs.’ Ex. BB.) On June 26, 2013, all of Plaintiffs students again left class early and Plaintiff told Mr. Bubb that he simply couldn’t make them stay. (See Defs.’ Ex. EE.) On July 2, 2013, Plaintiff advised the school that two of his students could not take a test, because they did not have the textbook from which he had been teaching for over a month and were therefore unprepared. (See Defs.’ Ex. FF.) Mr. Bubb faulted Plaintiff for this situation as he stated that it is the instructor’s responsibility to make sure his students have books. (Id.)

According to Plaintiff, in early July, he “brought some information” to Susan Boekencamp, All-State’s registrar, and when he was walking away, she said “[W]e don’t like your kind here anyway.”1 (Pl.’s Dep. at 383-85.) Plaintiff met with Mr. Poli on July 2, and, according to Plaintiffs deposition testimony, he complained to Mr. Poli about that statement as well as unspecified racially discriminatory treatment by Mr. Bubb.2 (Id. at 401-02; see also Defs.’ Ex. FF (reflecting that Plaintiff met with Mr. Poli on July 2).)

On July 16, 2013, Plaintiff advised Mr. Bubb that he had encountered a problem with his class the night before because only five of ten students showed up for class and those five refused to take the test that Plaintiff had scheduled for that day. (See Defs.’ Ex. II.) That same day, a student who had recently transferred into Plaintiffs class complained to David Poli, All Star’s Director of Education, that Plaintiffs class was “total chaos,” that students came and went without restriction, and that Plaintiff did not teach but, rather, talked on his phone, slept, and flirted with a commercial driving student during “one of the many breaks.” (Defs.’ Ex. JJ; see also Poli Dep. at 39—40.) The student also reported that Plaintiff complained to the class that the school was “screwing him” by shorting him on his paycheck every week. (Defs.’ Ex.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
222 F. Supp. 3d 418, 2016 WL 6948160, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 163323, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dykes-v-marco-group-inc-paed-2016.