McDaniel v. Digital Equipment Corp.

693 F. Supp. 563, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9471, 46 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 37,960, 49 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1089, 1988 WL 89477
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedFebruary 24, 1988
DocketNo. C85-693
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 693 F. Supp. 563 (McDaniel v. Digital Equipment Corp.) 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
McDaniel v. Digital Equipment Corp., 693 F. Supp. 563, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9471, 46 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 37,960, 49 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1089, 1988 WL 89477 (N.D. Ohio 1988).

Opinion

ORDER

WHITE, District Judge.

According to the Second Amended Complaint the plaintiff was employed by defendant as a sales representative. Two white males having less sales experience than plaintiff were hired as Senior Sales Representatives, a higher position than plaintiff’s. Plaintiff was assigned accounts with little potential for meeting the goal established by defendant. The two previously mentioned Senior Sales Representatives were not assigned such accounts. Plaintiff was also required to complete additional reports and documentation which impeded his progress, his sales territory was raided by sales representatives from another unit and he was denied employment opportunities, was harassed and otherwise discriminated against because of his race. On June 26, 1984 plaintiff filed a written charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). A second charge was filed on September 5, 1984 claiming that defendant retaliated against plaintiff for filing his initial charge of discrimination and further discriminated against plaintiff because of his race by giving plaintiff a verbal warning stage for insubordination and a verbal warning stage for poor performance and by threatening plaintiff with impending termination. Count Three of the Complaint alleges that plaintiffs employment was terminated in retaliation for filing a charge on September 5, 1984. This action arises under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq and the Civil Rights Act of 1870, 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The matter is before the Court upon defendant’s motion for summary judgment.

The defendant contends that summary judgment should be granted because it is clear from undisputed facts that plaintiff cannot establish a prima facie case of race discrimination or retaliation nor is there any evidence that defendant’s legitimate business reasons for terminating plaintiff were pretextual.

In a disparate treatment case under Title VII and § 1981 the ultimate burden of persuading the trier of fact that the defendant intentionally discriminated against the plaintiff remains at all times with the plaintiff. McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981). The United States Supreme Court in Burdine summarized the test used to determine a Title VII action.

“In McDonell Douglas Corp. v. Green, (citations omitted), we set forth the basic allocation of burdens and order of presentation of proof in a Title VII case alleging discriminatory treatment. First, the plaintiff has the burden of proving by the preponderance of the evidence a prima facie case of discrimination. Second, if the plaintiff succeeds in proving the prima facie case, the burden shifts to the defendant “to articulate some legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the employee’s rejection”. Third, should the defendant carry this burden, the plaintiff must then have an opportunity to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the legitimate reasons offered by the defendant were not its true reasons, but were a pretext for discrimination.” 450 U.S. at 253, 101 S.Ct. at 1093.

Plaintiff can establish a prima facie case of discrimination if he can show that he was a member of a racial minority, that he and a similarly situated white person received dissimilar treatment and that sufficient evidence exists from which the Court can find a causal connection between race and the acts of the defendant. Cooper v. City of [566]*566North Olmsted, 795 F.2d 1265 (6th Cir.1986), Potter v. Goodwill Industries of Cleveland, 518 F.2d 864 (6th Cir.1975). McDonnell Douglas also sets forth ele-' ments to prove a prima facie case of discrimination. These are: plaintiff is a member of racial minority, he was qualified for his position, plaintiff was discharged and after the discharge the employer hired a white person to do plaintiffs job. The plaintiff may establish liability under § 1981 by proving purposeful or intentional discrimination by defendant. Liability under Title VII and § 1981 depends on the same proof. Cooper v. City of North Olmsted, 795 F.2d at 1270 n. 3. As in Cooper, plaintiffs Title VII and § 1981 claims will be discussed together.

Defendant argues that plaintiff cannot demonstrate that he was treated differently than similarly situated white employees and thus cannot establish a prima facie case of racial discrimination.

Plaintiffs first allegation is that he was hired as a Sales Representative II while two white males, Cleverly and Albert, with less experience were hired as Sales Representative III, a higher position. However, evidence before the Court shows that the two white males in question had more sales related experience as well as supervisory experience, of which plaintiff had none. The position of Sales Representative III requires certain supervisory duties. Plaintiff states that he was told by Company officials Cecil Dye and George Trudeau that the company did not hire persons for the position of Senior Sales Representative. George Trudeau stated in a letter to plaintiff the importance of earning this position rather than being appointed. Examination of Trudeau’s letter shows that he did not say that one cannot be hired as Senior Sales Representative, only that it is better to earn the job. Furthermore, plaintiff sent a memo to his supervisor concerning Trudeau’s letter saying he was told that the company would not hire anybody as a Senior Sales Representative who had less than 12-15 years in Data Processing and that Cecil Dye agreed. One of the two white males had been in data processing for the required time and the other had supervisory experience. The Trudeau letter and plaintiff’s affidavit do not raise a genuine issue of material fact. Since plaintiff was less experienced than the two white males he has compared himself to he has not shown that he was similarly situated to them and his arguments as to this hiring issue have no merit.

Plaintiff believed that he was not assigned accounts with the same potential as the mentioned two white males. However, as Senior Sales Representatives these men had higher sales quotas to satisfy and were given different types of accounts. The Sales Representatives II position received different types of accounts than the Senior Sales Representative position. Plaintiff was not singled out. Again the white males were not similarly situated to plaintiff.

Plaintiff also complained that he was required to complete additional reports that hindered his progress which Cleverly and Albert were not required to do. Sales Representatives performing below par were required to do extra paperwork. Plaintiff sales were far below his quota. He testified on deposition that he did not know the status of Cleverly and Albert’s performance. They would not have to do the additional paperwork if they were performing adequately.

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693 F. Supp. 563, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9471, 46 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 37,960, 49 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1089, 1988 WL 89477, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcdaniel-v-digital-equipment-corp-ohnd-1988.