Greer v. Lockheed Martin Corp.

855 F. Supp. 2d 979, 2012 WL 90482, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3416
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJanuary 11, 2012
DocketNo. C 10-01704 WHA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 855 F. Supp. 2d 979 (Greer v. Lockheed Martin Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Greer v. Lockheed Martin Corp., 855 F. Supp. 2d 979, 2012 WL 90482, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3416 (N.D. Cal. 2012).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

WILLIAM ALSUP, District Judge.

INTRODUCTION

In this employment discrimination action, defendant moves for summary judgment on the one remaining claim for wrongful termination in violation of public policy. For the reasons set forth below, defendant’s motion is Granted.

STATEMENT

Plaintiff Jean Elise Greer began working for defendant in 1962 (Winters Exh. 1 at 8). Plaintiff was laid-off in April 2009, at which time she held the title of Computer Operations Specialist in the Special Programs Computer Facility (“SPCF”) located within defendant’s Enterprise Operations Division in Sunnyvale (Rogers Deck ¶ 7). The SPCF unit, commonly referred to as the Computer Operations Group (“COG”) was part of defendant’s Enterprise Business Services (“EBS”) department, which provided technical and computer assistance to defendant’s other business groups (Rogers Deck ¶ 8).

Beginning in September 2007, due to reduction in staff, employees in plaintiff’s workgroup were required to learn how to do file transfers and to perform file transfers regularly (Winters Exhs. 2 at 50-52; 4 at 41-42; Young Deck ¶ 4). A file transfer would transfer files between classified and unclassified networks and was performed by persons with COG’s special clearance, as users did not have authorization to make such transfer (Winters Exh. 3 at 58-59).

All employees in plaintiff’s department received the same file transfer training from Jeannine Reid, who was the lead of operations personnel (Winters Exh. 2 at [982]*98249). Training consisted of three steps. On the first day of training, the trainees would watch Ms. Reid while she performed the transfers. The next day, Ms. Reid would provide the trainees with the written file transfer procedures and would sit next to them to observe their first attempt at performing a file transfer. Then, Ms. Reid would spot check the work until she and the employee agreed that the employee could perform the transfer by herself (Winters Exh. 3 at 77-78). On average, the computer operators became proficient in the file transfer process within two weeks (Winters Exh. 3 at 79-80). Plaintiff did not ever become proficient in the file transfer process and became the only employee to receive one-on-one assistance from Ms. Reid after participating in the initial training (Winters Exh. 2 at 48).

Plaintiff began receiving one hour of training on the file transfer process each morning. Ms. Reid drafted weekly training reports to summarize plaintiffs progress (Winters Exh. 2 at 176-77). Training continued for nearly one year (Sagun Decl. ¶ 5). At the time of plaintiffs termination in April 2009, plaintiff was still unable to perform a file transfer (Sagun Decl. ¶ 5). Plaintiff received a “basic contributor” rating in her 2008 performance evaluation, dated December 5, 2008. The evaluation stated (Winters Exh. 5):

Jean has been in training for over 12 months performing the 8AM file transfer process activity with assistance from the team lead. She has been receiving one-on-one instruction for this effort during the review period. She continues this training and is working to become proficient. Jean’s proficiency level at this point still remains substantially below her peer group and at a very basic level. This is a critical area that Jean needs to improve upon. Jean needs to be able to perform technical duties that help the department.

Plaintiffs inability to perform a file transfer was the “majority of the issue” that formed the basis for her “basic contributor” rating (Winters Exh. 2 at 50).

Prior to being required to perform file transfers, plaintiffs primary duties were limited to clerical work such as transferring callers to other computer specialists for assistance, replacing toner in printers, fixing paper jams labeling and removing computer tapes, downloading material to back up computers, and directing walk-ins to computer specialists for assistance (Winters Exh. 4 at 42-44). Plaintiffs coworkers described her as an employee with a limited skill set and limited computer knowledge (Sagun Decl. ¶¶ 3-4; Young Decl. ¶ 5; Winters Exh. 3 at 43-44).

In October 2008, Mike Rogers, senior manager of enterprise operations replaced Lee Bandettini as plaintiffs manager (Rogers Decl. ¶ 5). Plaintiff had limited interactions with Mr. Rogers. In her deposition, plaintiff indicated that she only spoke to Mr. Rogers five times during her employment, three times regarding tardiness, one time regarding her inability to perform the file transfer, and one time regarding her termination (Winters Exh. 4 at 25, 33, 140-41). Plaintiff also stated that she never met Mr. Rogers in person (Winters Exh. 4 at 23).

The EBS department, plaintiff’s department, reorganized in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, Mr. Rogers was informed by leadership at LMC that due to the downturn in the economy the department would need to undergo further reorganization and reduction in EBS staffing levels. The result of the 2009 reorganization was that LMC “eliminated about eighty EBS employees’ jobs, or approximately two percent of its positions, including the position held by Ms. Greer.” The individuals who were laid-off were not replaced (Rogers Decl. ¶¶ 20, 21).

[983]*983LMC had established procedures for conducting lay-offs, which constituted a multi-stage process. LMC employed this process for the 2009 reorganization and work force reduction. First, a work force reduction would be proposed by LMC senior leadership. Second, the manager in the affected departments would be provided with a target number of positions to reduce. Third, the manager would be required to select individuals for lay-offs and submit a list of those individuals to the Work Force Reduction Committee. Fourth, the Committee would make the decision to accept or reject the manager’s recommendation (Rogers Decl. ¶¶ 21, 22, 23).

Mr. Rogers was notified by his supervisor that he would need to recommend 12 individuals for lay-off from the groups he oversaw, which included plaintiffs group (Rogers Decl. ¶ 21). Mr. Rogers made the decision to select plaintiff for lay-off (Rogers Decl. ¶ 23). In selecting the employees to be laid-off, Mr. Rogers reviewed the following factors: performance review assessment scores from years 2006, 2007, and 2008, length of service, versatility and experience, growth and future potential, knowledge of various computer skills, reliability, and initiative. Mr. Rogers reviewed these factors when considering Ms. Greer as a candidate to select for lay-off (ibid.). Attorney Iscandari’s supplemental declaration in support of the opposition to the motion for summary judgement states that Mr. Rogers contradicted his own declaration when he stated during deposition that when considering plaintiff for lay-off he reviewed only her 2008 performance review (Iscandari Supp. Exh. 4 at 81). There is no contradiction. Mr. Rogers reviewed assessment scores from years 2006 through 2008 and only reviewed the performance review from 2008.

Plaintiff was the “lowest performer across the board in these categories.” As such, Mr. Rogers believed she was “one of the twelve people in the organization least equipped to handle the increased workload that would result from a forced reduction in [] staff’ (Rogers Decl. ¶24). After selecting plaintiff for lay-off, Mr. Rogers submitted her name to his manager (Iscandari Supp. Exh. 5 at 52-53). Mr. Rogers’ recommendation to lay-off plaintiff was accepted.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
855 F. Supp. 2d 979, 2012 WL 90482, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3416, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/greer-v-lockheed-martin-corp-cand-2012.