GRUBBS v. GROTE INDUSTRIES, LLC

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Indiana
DecidedSeptember 23, 2021
Docket4:19-cv-00211
StatusUnknown

This text of GRUBBS v. GROTE INDUSTRIES, LLC (GRUBBS v. GROTE INDUSTRIES, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
GRUBBS v. GROTE INDUSTRIES, LLC, (S.D. Ind. 2021).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA NEW ALBANY DIVISION

HILARY GRUBBS, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) No. 4:19-cv-00211-SEB-DML ) GROTE INDUSTRIES, LLC, ) ) Defendant. )

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT This cause is before the Court on Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment [Dkt. 47], filed on October 7, 2020. Plaintiff Hilary Grubbs has brought this action against her current employer, Defendant Grote Industries, LLC, alleging that it discriminated against her because of her sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”). For the reasons detailed below, we GRANT Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment. Factual Background The facts taken in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff, Hilary Grubbs, are as follows: Defendant Grote Industries, LLC (“Grote”) is a plastic injection molding company based in Madison, Indiana. They are in the business of making headlights, taillights, assemblies, and other items involved with vehicle safety systems. Ferrell Dep. at 18. Grote employs over two hundred hourly employees and several salaried employees. Sauffer Dep. at 19.

Ms. Grubbs has been employed by Grote since March 1994. After working in several different positions throughout her time with the company, Ms. Grubbs completed a mold setter apprenticeship, became a full-time mold setter in 2015, and remains employed by Grote in this position. Grubbs Dep. at 12–13. There are approximately seven mold setters at Grote in addition to Ms. Grubbs, but Ms. Grubbs is the only female. Dkt. 1 at 2. Mold setters are responsible for setting up the machines that inject plastic into

the molds, changing the molds, and filling out the requisite paperwork. Dkt. 48 at 2. The paperwork is an essential job function that includes a mold setter check list turned in after every mold change. Ferrell Dep. at 20. Reported Incident in February 2019 On February 26, 2019, Grote suspended Ms. Grubbs for five days because she

purportedly resisted instructions from her supervisor to place part numbers on a mold setter check list sheet on February 21, 2019. Dkt. 1 at 3. According to Grote, the suspension resulted from a conversation between Ms. Grubbs and her supervisor, Mr. Ferrell. Mr. Ferrell originally worked as a mold setter like Ms. Grubbs but had just been promoted to supervisor approximately two weeks before the reported incident. Ferrell

Dep. at 14. As third shift supervisor, three mold setters reported to Mr. Ferrell: Hilary Grubbs (female), Brian Scroggins (male), and Isaac Jones (male). Id. at 26. At some point shortly after starting as supervisor, Mr. Ferrell was given a directive by his superior, Mr. Schlatterer, the production leader for the second and third shifts, to tell his third shift employees to start putting part numbers in addition to mold numbers on their mold setter checklists. Id. at 39–40. In response to this directive, Mr. Ferrell spoke

to Ms. Grubbs on February 21, 2019, and informed her that she needed to start putting the part numbers on the checklists. Grubbs Dep. at 41. Ms. Grubbs and Mr. Ferrell differ in their recitation of the details of this conversation and in their overall characterizations of the interaction. They were the only two individuals present during the conversation. Ferrell Dep. at 49. Mr. Ferrell contends that Ms. Grubbs was insubordinate in her response to his

request to add part numbers to her mold setter check list. In an email from Mr. Ferrell to Mr. Schlatterer on the day after the incident, Mr. Ferrell stated that three times Ms. Grubbs expressly refused to fill out the part numbers on the checklist. Dkt. 49-7. He further alleged that she laughed in his face multiple times and said to him, “I bet you just love not having to do the work anymore don't you?” Id. In his email, he also reflected that

he felt Ms. Grubbs had an issue with authority figures, had issues taking simple orders from management, and that she viewed anything asked of her by a supervisor as some form of punishment. Id. Ms. Grubbs does not dispute that she had a conversation with Mr. Ferrell about the part numbers on the day in question. However, she does dispute that she expressly

refused to follow Mr. Ferrell’s directive, insisting that she simply made two jokes in response to his requests and never verbally refused to put the part numbers on the sheet.1

1 In her deposition, Ms. Grubbs stated that her response to Mr. Ferrell's request was as follows: “I've seen how you fill out your check sheets, writing all over the sides and stuff, and all the Grubbs Dep. at 41–42. Ms. Grubbs maintains that she never verbally said, “yes or no” in response to Mr. Ferrell's requests but noted that “he didn’t seem receptive to my joke, no.

I think I stepped on a nerve, because I poked at him.” Id. She was suspended for insubordination based on this exchange. According to Ms. Grubbs, the reason given for the suspension—insubordination— was a pretext. She contends that the real reason for the suspension was based on upper management’s desire to terminate her because of her sex. See id. at 40. This belief stems from her testimony about another conversation she had had with Mr. Ferrell a “couple

weeks” prior to his becoming her supervisor in which he told her that his supervisor— Mr. Schlatterer—had told him she “was a troublemaker,” and that he was going to try and have her fired before Mr. Ferrell became her supervisor. Id. She also stated that Mr. Ferrell had characterized Mr. Schlatterer’s comments as “being very sexist” when he relayed the substance of the conversation to her. Id. Mr. Ferrell disputes the substance of

this conversation and denies that Mr. Schlatterer ever told him that Ms. Grubbs was a troublemaker or that he wanted to fire her. Ferrell Dep. at 37–38. He also denies that he told Ms. Grubbs that he believed Mr. Schlatterer was sexist. Id.

extra stuff that go – that you put on it. And he said, We were made to do that. And I said, We were never told we had to do that. He said, Well, we had to. He – and he cut me off. He said, Come to the computer and I'll show you exactly what I have to put on the spreadsheet that I send to Steve or Roger . . . So he pulls it up on the computer, and he shows me where he puts the parts numbers in. And he reconfirms that he needs me – it wasn’t a question – reconfirms that he needs me to start putting the parts numbers on. And I made a joke, and I said, I guess I'll have to stop putting in so many mold setter check sheets. I'll have to do less of them. That was a joke. I didn't refuse. I wasn't mean about it. I didn't raise my voice.” Grubbs Dep. at 41–42. Grote maintains that Ms. Grubbs’s suspension was based on her insubordination in response to Mr. Ferrell’s directive, not her failure or refusal to fill out the part numbers

on the check list. However, Ms. Grubbs believes the reason given for her suspension was pretextual because other similarly situated male mold setters were never disciplined for failing to put part numbers down, even though they were directed to do so, and this failure to put the part numbers down also constituted “insubordination” without management taking any type of disciplinary action against them.

Disciplinary Action Grote’s Employee Conduct and Work Rules prohibit “[w]illful disobedience, insubordination, or failure to carry out any reasonable order.” Dkt. 49-6. There is no definition of “insubordination” in Grote’s Code of Conduct or any relevant policies. Wilber Dep. at 22. The definitions of “insubordination” provided by management included (1) Mr. Ferrell’s definition of insubordination as “not doing what’s asked of

you,” (2) the Director of Human Resources, Mr. Wilber’s, definition as a “refusal to perform . . .

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GRUBBS v. GROTE INDUSTRIES, LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grubbs-v-grote-industries-llc-insd-2021.