Lawrence v. United Parcel Service

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedAugust 4, 2020
Docket2:18-cv-08105
StatusUnknown

This text of Lawrence v. United Parcel Service (Lawrence v. United Parcel Service) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lawrence v. United Parcel Service, (E.D. La. 2020).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA

OLINDA F. LAWRENCE CIVIL ACTION

VERSUS NO. 18-8105

UNITED PARCEL SERVICE SECTION “A” (4) ORDER AND REASONS Before the Court is a Motion for Summary Judgment (Rec. Doc. 41) filed by the Defendant United Parcel Service (“UPS”). The Plaintiff Olinda Lawrence opposes the motion, (Rec. Doc 47), and UPS replied. (Rec. Doc 53). The motion, set for submission on June 12, 2020,1 is before the Court on the briefs without oral argument. I. BACKGROUND Lawrence has been employed with UPS since June 2, 2004, (Rec. Doc. 41-3, p. 6, Lawrence’s Deposition), and she still remains employed by them today as a part-time air driver at the UPS center in Harvey, Louisiana. (Rec. Doc. 41-2, p. 1-2, UPS’s Memorandum in Support). Lawrence is also a member of Local 270 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and her employment relationship with UPS is governed by the National Master United Parcel Service Agreement and the Southern Region Supplemental Agreement (the “CBA”). Id. at 2. Lawrence’s Complaint stems from a series of conflicts between Lawrence and one of her coworkers, Jeffrey Smallwood (Rec. Doc. 1, p. 7, Lawrence’s Complaint). More specifically, Lawrence claims that Smallwood attacked her on two separate occasions, once in June 2015 and then again in May 2016. Id. In the June 2015 incident, Lawrence claims

1 The Court notes that it requested supplemental briefings from the parties regarding Lawrence’s wrongful termination claim (Rec. Doc. 61), which it received from UPS on July 1, 2020 (Rec. Doc. 63) and from Lawrence on July 14, 2020. (Rec. Doc. 64). that Smallwood intentionally rolled over her foot with a cart. (Rec. Doc. 41-3, p. 59, Lawrence’s Deposition). The second incident, which occurred on May 21, 2016, started when Smallwood asked two male drivers to deliver a package for him. Id. at 62. After they refused, Smallwood then asked Lawrence to deliver the package, but Lawrence said “no.” Id. Smallwood, however, placed the package onto her delivery truck, prompting Lawrence to move the package back on to Smallwood’s truck. Id. As Smallwood was bringing the package back to Lawrence’s truck, Lawrence put her hands up and blocked Smallwood. Id. Lawrence claims that

Smallwood then grabbed her wrist and told her to “get out of his F’ing face or he [was] going to F [her] up.” Id. Lawrence responded by telling Smallwood to “get his F’ing hands off [her].” Id. at 63. Their altercation ended when the UPS airport supervisor interceded and told Smallwood to deliver the package and instructed Lawrence to get on the road and deliver her packages. Id. at 68. After the incident, Lawrence called the UPS Help Line to file a complaint, and she also notified her direct boss and the UPS Business Manager, Silvester Smith, about her confrontation with Smallwood. Id. at 67. After conducting an internal investigation, UPS concluded that both Lawrence and Smallwood behaved in an unprofessional manner and issued written warnings to both. (Id. at 74). Further, UPS Business Manager Smith met with Lawrence on June 1, 2016 and warned her that any further instances would result in disciplinary action, up to and including discharge. Id. After UPS’s investigation ended, Lawrence sought and obtained a restraining order against Smallwood in state court which prohibited him from going within fifty feet of Lawrence. Id. at 75. However, this order did not apply to Lawrence and Smallwood’s mutual work locations and allowed them to continue working together at the UPS airport terminal. (Rec. Doc. 41-3, p. 129-30, Restraining Order). Lawrence was unaware of that exception. Thus, on June 25, 2016, when Smallwood walked within fifty feet of her while they were working at the airport, Lawrence began yelling at Smallwood telling him that he could not come within fifty feet of her. (Rec. Doc. 41-3, p. 82-89, Lawrence’s Deposition). Lawrence’s reaction to Smallwood’s presence was so disruptive that airport security and the police were called to the scene. Id. at 90. This type of altercation happened a second time on June 28, 2016, and airport security again had to come and subdue the disturbance. Id. at 92. As a result of these incidents, airport security warned UPS security representative

Shaundrell McGhee that they would not tolerate any additional incidents and that Lawrence could no longer return to the premises if UPS wanted to maintain its airport privileges. (Rec. Doc. 41-13, p. 1, McGhee’s Declaration). Accordingly, UPS Business Manager Smith sent Lawrence a message to report to him before clocking out for the day. (Rec. Doc. 41-5, p. 3, Smith’s Declaration). Lawrence, however, ignored Smith’s instruction and instead clocked out and left. Id. Smith assumed that Lawrence was abandoning her job in light of all that had happened, and he issued her a notice of discharge for ignoring his instruction. Id. at 3-4. He also issued an intent to discharge based on her recent unprofessional behavior and deactivated Lawrence’s airport badge. Id. at 4. Lawrence remained unemployed until the union was able to successfully negotiate her discipline down to only a “time-lost” suspension on June 13, 2016. (Rec. Doc. 41-2, p. 6, UPS’s Memorandum in Support). Before Lawrence returned to work, the airport’s security manager informed UPS that Lawrence had attempted to reactivate her ID badge. (Rec. Doc. 41-13, p. 1, McGhee’s Declaration). UPS and airport protocol prohibit employees from seeking to reactivate their ID badges because badges may only be activated with authorization from UPS authorized signers. Id. As a result, “on July 19, 2016, [UPS supervisor] Gregg Frederick and [Shaundrell McGhee] met with Lawrence to discuss the whereabouts of her badge and what we believed to be inconsistent statements by Lawrence regarding her badge.” Id. at 2. “[This is because] Lawrence previously told Frederick that she [had] turned [in] the badge [to] the airport, which [the airport security manager] said was not true.” Id. “Tyrone Dudley, Lawrence’s supervisor, reported to us that Lawrence told him she threw the badge away.” Id. However, “Lawrence told [MeGhee] that she left the badge at home.” Id. “When [Frederick and McGhee] met with Lawrence, she admitted that she went to the aviation board at the airport, but she denied

attempting to [reactivate] the badge.” Id. “Lawrence said she tried to turn in the badge to the airport’s board, but they would not accept it.” Id. Because McGhee believed that Lawrence was being untruthful, he decided to discharge Lawrence for dishonesty. Id. However, Lawrence filed a grievance contesting the discharge, and her discharge was reduced to a “time-lost” suspension through the grievance process. (Rec. Doc. 41-3, p. 104, Lawrence’s Deposition). Subsequently, Lawrence filed a Complaint against UPS on August 24, 2018. (Rec. Doc. 1, Lawrence’s Complaint). She is proceeding pro se and her Complaint names five claims: (1) hostile work environment, (2) failure to promote, (3) disparate treatment, (4) retaliation, and (5) wrongful termination. Id. at 4. After conducting discovery, UPS filed a Motion for Summary Judgment. (Rec. Doc. 41). The Court will now address the merits of UPS’s Motion. II. STANDARD OF REVIEW A. Pro Se Litigant Because Lawrence is proceeding pro se, the Court must construe her pleadings liberally. Grant v. Cuellar, 59 F.3d 523, 524 (5th Cir.1995). However, “[t]he right of self- representation does not exempt a party from compliance with relevant rules of procedural and substantive law.” Birl v. Estelle, 660 F.2d 592, 593 (5th Cir.1981). B. Summary Judgment Standard Under

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