Johnson v. United Parcel Service, Inc.

206 F.R.D. 686, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9490, 2002 WL 971687
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedMay 8, 2002
DocketNo. 5:01-CV-50-0C-10GRJ
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 206 F.R.D. 686 (Johnson v. United Parcel Service, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 206 F.R.D. 686, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9490, 2002 WL 971687 (M.D. Fla. 2002).

Opinion

ORDER

JONES, United States Magistrate Judge.

Pending before the Court is Plaintiffs Motion To Compel (Doc. 18), which previously was denied in part, granted in part, and kept pending pursuant to an Order entered by the Court on February 19, 2002 (Doc. 26). The motion was kept pending because there was insufficient evidence in the record for the Court to decide whether the self-critical analysis privilege applies to two of the disputed discovery items, i.e., Plaintiffs Requests to Produce 22 and 23, which seek management relations and employee relations index surveys for UPS’s Central Florida District. Pursuant to the Court’s February 19, 2002 Order, the parties deposed UPS’s Human Resources Manager for the Central Florida District, and thereafter filed memoranda (Docs. 27 & 28) presenting their opposing views on whether and to what extent the self-critical analysis privilege should apply to the discovery items at issue. For the reasons discussed below, the Court finds that, with respect to the sole remaining issue of the applicability of the self-critical analysis privilege to Plaintiffs Requests to Produce 22 and 23, Plaintiffs Motion To Compel (Doc. 18) is due to be GRANTED in part and DENIED in part, as described below.

I. The Disputed Documents

Plaintiffs Requests to Produce 22 and 23 seek “[a]ny and all documents which in any way relate to results of management relations index surveys [and employee relations index surveys, respectively,] by UPS in the Central Florida District from January 1, 1996 through the present.” (Doc. 18 at 5.)

Based on the deposition of UPS’s Human Resources Manager, it appears that the requests to produce implicate three types of documents. First,' the surveys, which are taken annually by all UPS employees via computer, produce computer generated reports containing percentages of favorable and unfavorable answers to numerous questions regarding topics such as workplace environment, management and co-worker relations, internal communication, customer service, accountability, promotional opportunities, treatment of workers, discrimination, and race relations. (Doc. 27, Ex. A.) Second, employee comments at the end of each survey are extracted and printed out. (Doc. 27, Ex. A at 21.) Third, based on the results of the surveys, UPS management creates action plans for various work groups.

UPS characterizes the surveys as “voluntary internal self-evaluations [that] solicit subjective assessments of [UPS’s workplace].” (Doc. 27 at 5.) UPS states that “[t]he purpose of the surveys is to allow UPS to conduct a critical analysis of its workplace.” (Doc. 27 at 5.) Thus, UPS argues that the self-critical analysis privilege applies to the surveys and all results therefrom. (Doc. 27 at 3-8.) Accordingly, UPS asserts that all documents resulting from the sur[688]*688veys should be protected from discovery. (Doc. 27 at 8.)

Plaintiff “concedes that the privilege should apply to any action plans created by UPS as a result of information obtained in its employee surveys.” (Doc. 28 at 2.) However, Plaintiff argues that “the individual employee comments should not fall under the self-critical analysis privilege ... [b]ecause the employee comments are not documents created by UPS management as part of its self-critical analysis or action plan.” (Doc. 28 at 3.) Instead, Plaintiff argues, “those comments are more analogous to statements by co-employees that they too have been treated in a racially disparate manner.” (Doc. 28 at 3.) Thus, Plaintiff asserts that, although the action plans are not subject to discovery, the employee comments from the surveys and (presumably) the computer generated reports containing responses to the survey questions should be discoverable.

II. Scope of Discovery

Plaintiffs Motion to Compel seeks discovery throughout UPS’s Central Florida District, which includes the Leesburg Center where Plaintiff worked, thirty-four other business centers, and seven cross-functional departments. In its February 19, 2002 Order, the Court ruled that discovery for this lawsuit should be limited to the Leesburg Center because the relevant decisions affecting Plaintiffs employment with UPS were made at the business center level, with very limited district-level involvement. (Doc. 26 at 2-5.) Thus, it should be observed from the outset that, to the extent that the Court permits discovery with respect to Plaintiffs Requests to Produce 22 and 23, such discovery will be limited to information related to the Leesburg Center.

III. The Self-Critical Analysis Privilege

The Court now turns to a discussion of the self-critical analysis privilege1 and whether it should be recognized in the context of employment discrimination.2

A. The Origin of the Privilege

The self-critical analysis privilege was first recognized in Bredice v. Doctors Hospital, Inc.3 In Bredice, the court held that meeting minutes and committee reports of hospital peer review committees were not subject to discovery in a medical malpractice suit.4 The court found that the work of such committees is “essential to the continued improvement in the care and treatment of patients.”5 Indeed, said the court, “[cjandid and conscientious evaluation of clinical practices is a sine qua non of adequate hospital care.”6 The court reasoned that, “[a]s doctors have a responsibility for life and death decisions, the most up-to-date information and techniques must be available to them.”7 Therefore, the court concluded that “[tjhere is an overwhelming public interest in having [peer review committee] meetings held on a confidential basis so that the flow of ideas and advice can continue unimpeded.”8 Accordingly, the court held that the minutes and reports at issue were “entitled to a qualified privilege on the basis of this overwhelming public in[689]*689terest.”9

In the context of employment discrimination, the self-critical analysis privilege was first recognized in Banks v. Lockheed-Georgia Co.10 The plaintiffs in Banks sought to compel discovery of an internal report prepared by the defendant’s equal employment opportunity team.11 This report “include[d] a candid self-analysis and evaluation of the Company’s actions in the area of equal employment opportunities.”12 The court observed that the report “ha[d] been made in an attempt to affirmatively strengthen the Company’s policy of compliance with Title VII and Executive Order 11246.”13 In the court’s view, this implicated “an important issue of public policy and ... it would be contrary to that policy to discourage frank self-criticism and evaluation in the development of affirmative action programs of this kind.”14 Citing Bredice

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Bluebook (online)
206 F.R.D. 686, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9490, 2002 WL 971687, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-united-parcel-service-inc-flmd-2002.