Jackson v. City of Akron, Ohio

411 F. Supp. 680, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15730, 11 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 10,873, 16 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1406
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedApril 5, 1976
DocketCiv. A. C 75-189 A
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 411 F. Supp. 680 (Jackson v. City of Akron, Ohio) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jackson v. City of Akron, Ohio, 411 F. Supp. 680, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15730, 11 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 10,873, 16 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1406 (N.D. Ohio 1976).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

CONTIE, District Judge.

Plaintiff Mathew J. Jackson, a Negro, initiated this action under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983 and the Fourteenth Amendment to redress alleged racial discrimination resulting in his discharge from the employ of defendant The City of Akron, Ohio (hereinafter Akron). The case having been tried to the Court on February 11, 12, 13 and 17, 1976, the following shall constitute the Court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law as required by Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

FACTS

At 5:00 a. m. on July 3, 1973, plaintiff arrived at the Akron Sanitation Department’s Gregory Street garage to commence his daily work routine. Plaintiff drove a garbage truck and worked with two waste collectors. Plaintiff and his companions were scheduled to work until about 11:45 a. m. that day.

At around 11:30 a. m., plaintiff and his companions arrived at Akron’s Hardy Road landfill to dispose of their load. Plaintiff entered the “weigh booth,” a small structure housing the landfill’s scales and other business equipment, for the purpose of placing a phone call to the Gregory Street garage. Plaintiff asked Stan Junius, the booth’s attendant, if he could use the phone. Junius said yes, but that he thought someone was on the other extension. John Baldwin, another Akron employee working at the landfill, worked in a nearby building and was speaking to his wife over his extension.

Plaintiff picked up the receiver several times and slammed it down in annoyance. At least once he spoke into the receiver using the word “bitch.” The precise import of the comments was not established at trial, but the Court finds that they were rude and uncomplimentary-

A few minutes later, Frank Marshall, a foreman at the landfill, entered the booth. Upon ascertaining the situation, he suggested that plaintiff use the radio for his call. Plaintiff declined, saying he didn’t know how to use the radio. Plaintiff told Junius to tell the caller to get off the line. Marshall then told plaintiff to tell him himself, as Baldwin had just entered the booth. Plaintiff had never before met Baldwin. Baldwin was white.

Baldwin told plaintiff the phone was free, but that he didn’t like what had been said on the phone. Words passed, and a shoving contest began in the doorway of the booth. Junius intervened, taking a glancing blow from plaintiff, and upon his urging the men broke up just outside the booth. At all times during this altercation, plaintiff was the aggressor, although no fists were clenched and the physical aspects were comparatively mild. At most Baldwin received a slap to the face as plaintiff tried to reach over Junius at Baldwin.

At this point Baldwin began returning to his office and plaintiff started towards his truck. Baldwin then said to plaintiff, “You’re in trouble now, nigger.” Plaintiff then rushed at Baldwin again. Junius, who was just about to reenter the booth thinking the matter was at an end, turned around, assessed the situation, and stepped between the men. Plaintiff’s momentum threw him into Junius and, with his outstretched, open hand, grazed Baldwin’s shoulder. Baldwin fell to the ground, but was on his feet immediately. Again, at Junius’ urging, the men separated and returned to their jobs. None of the men were seriously injured. Other than the few minutes involved in the altercation, no work time was lost. Most of the people in the area were other sanitation workers, employed either by Akron or by private companies.

Plaintiff and his waste collectors then drove back to the Gregory Street garage. *683 Plaintiff entered the office and spoke to Mr. Price, a black foreman, about the incident. Price was not plaintiff’s supervisor. During this discussion, James Davis, plaintiff’s supervisor, was standing a few feet away in a doorway, and overheard the conversation. Davis had previously received a call from personnel at the landfill about the incident.

Plaintiff told Price that someone was on the landfill phone talking to his “bitch” when plaintiff had tried to make a business call. Plaintiff further told Price that when Baldwin appeared, the men had “words” about whom Baldwin had been speaking with. Plaintiff then mentioned the shoving contest and ended with, “I put an end to that mess.”

At this point plaintiff started to leave. Davis called to plaintiff, asking him to come into the office to talk. Surmising that Davis wanted to talk about the incident at the landfill, and believing he had the right under the union contract to have his union representative present at such a discussion, plaintiff declined and left. At this time plaintiff was on his own time.

Akron’s normal procedure in discipline matters is to have the subject employee’s foreman investigate the facts, including a discussion with the employee to hear his side of the story. If the matter is not thereby resolved, the foreman’s superior investigates and makes a recommendation to the department head. The department head then makes a recommendation to Akron’s Mayor, who is the appointing and discharging officer under Akron’s charter. If it is ultimately decided to discharge an employee, the usual procedure is to make the effective date thereof subsequent to the formal notice of discharge, for the express purpose of allowing the employee to file an explanation if he so desires.

In plaintiff’s case, this procedure was not followed. Instead of plaintiff’s foreman or supervisor investigating initially, Robert Fahey, the Superintendent of the Sanitation Department, personally undertook the investigation of the subject incident.

Fahey first heard of the incident shortly before noon on July 3, 1973. Fa-•hey went to the landfill that afternoon and obtained the written statements of Marshall and Baldwin. Fahey did not speak with Junius on July 3, 1973, although he obtained Junius’ written statement on July 5,1973. Fahey feared possible future violence between plaintiff and Baldwin, and believed that plaintiff was a violent person because Davis had previously told him that plaintiff had been involved in fights during non-working hours. Fahey also had at this time Davis’ statement that plaintiff had refused to discuss the incident with him. Fahey concluded that this constituted insubordination. He concluded that plaintiff should be discharged.

During the latter part of 1972 and the first half of 1973, the disciplinary decisions of the administration of Akron were being reversed by the Akron Civil Service Commission almost regularly. In an effort to cure this situation, and perhaps incidentally to effect more uniformity in the city’s disciplinary actions, Nicholas Buian, Personnel Director of Akron and the Civil Service Commission’s administrative officer, informally assumed a “clearing house” position. Proposed disciplinary actions were brought to him. If he concurred, the recommendation was formally made to the Mayor.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Pace v. Hymas
726 P.2d 693 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1986)
Numano v. Saipan Hotel Corp.
1 N. Mar. I. Commw. 610 (Northern Mariana Islands, 1983)
Perham v. Ladd
436 F. Supp. 1101 (N.D. Illinois, 1977)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
411 F. Supp. 680, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15730, 11 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 10,873, 16 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1406, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jackson-v-city-of-akron-ohio-ohnd-1976.