McLeod v. Parsons Corp.

73 F. App'x 846
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 5, 2003
DocketNos. 01-6070, 01-6071
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 73 F. App'x 846 (McLeod v. Parsons Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McLeod v. Parsons Corp., 73 F. App'x 846 (6th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

KEITH, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff-Appellant Robert McLeod (“McLeod”) appeals the jury verdict in favor of the Defendants-Appellees Cross-Appellants Parsons Corporation. Parsons Engineering Science, Inc., and Parsons Infrastructure and Technology Group, (collectively “Parsons”) on his claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) 42 U.S.C. §§ 12102 et seq., and his claim under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”) 29 U.S.C. §§ 621 et seq. McLeod filed employment discrimination claims under the ADA and the ADEA alleging that Parsons, his former employer, discharged him because of his age and because he had cancer. Ultimately, the jury found that Parsons did not violate the ADA or the ADEA when it discharged McLeod.

On appeal, McLeod challenges the jury’s verdict, arguing that the district court erred when it made evidentiary rulings to exclude: (1) evidence concerning other lawsuits filed against Parsons; (2) the pri- or consistent statements of William Bradley (“Bradley”). McLeod’s key witness, and evidence that Bradley settled his employment discrimination claim against Parsons, offered in order to rehabilitate Bradley’s credibility; and (3) evidence offered [849]*849to rebut Parsons’s justifications for discharging McLeod. Parsons cross appeals: (1) the district court’s judgment finding that William Bradley’s deposition testimony concerning the discriminatory statements of Parsons’s employees was not hearsay, was relevant, and that the probative value of these statements was not substantially outweighed by the potential for prejudice; and (2) the district court’s order denying in part their motion for summary judgment on McLeod’s ADEA and ADA claims.

Because we find that the district court did not err when it made the evidentiary rulings challenged on appeal and cross appeal, or when it denied in part Parsons’s motion for summary judgment, we AFFIRM the district court.

I. BACKGROUND

In 1982, McLeod began working for the Atlanta office of Parsons Engineering Science, Inc. (“PESI”). In 1987, McLeod was transferred to Parsons’s office in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where he served as the Office Manager. McLeod’s expertise was in soil and ground water hydrology. The principal contract in the Oak Ridge office was a contract with the Department of Energy for hazardous waste investigation (“HAZWRAP contract”). From 1987 until 1995, McLeod worked primarily on the HAZWRAP contract. In 1995, after the HAZWRAP contract ended, most of the employees at PESI’s Oak Ridge office were laid off, leaving McLeod and five to six other employees at that office. McLeod lost a substantial amount of billable work when the HAZWRAP project ended.

In 1991, McLeod was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, requiring him to undergo surgery and receive chemotherapy. McLeod returned to work after his treatment was complete. McLeod’s cancer returned again in 1995, requiring him to undergo additional surgery. In January of 1996. McLeod was able to return to work. McLeod alleged that shortly after he returned to work, his supervisor told him to increase his productivity by ninety-five percent.

On June 22, 1996, McLeod and the remaining employees at the Oak Ridge PESI office were transferred to the Oak Ridge office of the Parsons Infrastructure and Technology Group, Inc. (“PI & T”). The PI & T office worked primarily on nuclear facilities clean up and operating support for nuclear facilities. After this transfer, McLeod’s title was changed to Department Manager. However, his salary remained the same.

In order to find more work for McLeod and his staff, Stephen Marchetti (“Marchetti”), Senior Vice President of Parsons’s government division, assigned McLeod to temporarily work at the Savannah River office, in Aiken, South Carolina. There is a factual dispute whether McLeod was willing to temporarily relocate to the Savannah River office.

Shortly after McLeod arrived at the Oak Ridge PI & T office, Marchetti appointed David Yannitell (“Yannitell”) to Office Manager of that office. Yannitell was fifty-one years old when he was appointed to this position. When Yannitell resigned in 1997, Rodney Grubb was named the Office Manager. Grubb was forty years old and lacked prior management experience. During the trial, Parsons’s witnesses alleged that the position Grubb held was not the same position that McLeod formerly held, and that McLeod was not qualified for this position.

In 1997, the Oak Ridge PI & T office experienced some financial difficulties. On June 20, 1997, Grubb notified McLeod that he would be laid off on July 11, 1997, as a result of the office’s financial situation. McLeod was fifty-six years old when he [850]*850was laid off. Grubb alleged that he was the sole decision maker responsible for McLeod’s discharge. Grubb denied having knowledge that McLeod had cancer when he made the decision to discharge him. McLeod presented evidence suggesting that it was well known in the Oak Ridge office that he had cancer, and that the company kept records of his hospitalizations.

Upon being notified that he was being laid off. McLeod inquired whether there was work available at any of Parsons’s other offices. Grubb informed him that comparable work was not available at the other offices. McLeod alleged that within one month after he was laid off, several emails were circulated within the company regarding openings for senior level staff positions, and that he possessed the necessary training for these positions.

Within one week after he was laid off, McLeod was hired as a consultant in Parsons’s Atlanta office on an hourly basis without benefits. McLeod served as a consultant from July 1997 until February 1998. McLeod was not called back to work at the Oak Ridge office.

On November 5, 1998, McLeod filed a lawsuit against Parsons, alleging that he was discharged because of his age, in violation of the ADEA, and because he had cancer, in violation of the ADA. Parsons moved for summary judgment on McLeod’s ADEA claim and ADA claims, arguing that McLeod did not present direct evidence of discrimination, and that McLeod failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination and did not satisfy his burden of rebutting Parsons’s legitimate non-discriminatory reasons underlying his discharge.

In a Memorandum Opinion dated June 7, 2000, the district court denied Parsons’s motion in part, finding that McLeod presented direct evidence of discrimination and presented material issues of fact to invoke disability status under §§ 1202(2)(B) and (C) of the ADA, because there was a factual dispute whether Parsons perceived McLeod as having a disability that interfered with a major life function, and whether McLeod had a history of such impairment.1 The district court also denied summary judgment on McLeod’s ADEA claim finding that he provided direct evidence of age discrimination. However, the district court granted summary judgment on McLeod’s ADA claim alleging that he suffered a substantial impairment necessary to invoke the definition of a disability under § 12102(2)(A) of the ADA.

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

Related

Johns v. CR Bard
S.D. Ohio, 2021
Garcia v. Praxair Inc.
E.D. California, 2021
Lauren Ross v. American Red Cross
567 F. App'x 296 (Sixth Circuit, 2014)
Landmesser v. Hazleton Area School District
982 F. Supp. 2d 408 (M.D. Pennsylvania, 2013)
Lewis v. Humboldt Acquisition Corp., Inc.
634 F.3d 879 (Sixth Circuit, 2011)
Smith v. Pfizer Inc.
714 F. Supp. 2d 845 (M.D. Tennessee, 2010)
MacY v. Hopkins County Board of Education
429 F. Supp. 2d 888 (W.D. Kentucky, 2006)
Rice v. Dept. of Justice, Unpublished Decision (10-6-2005)
2005 Ohio 5337 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
73 F. App'x 846, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcleod-v-parsons-corp-ca6-2003.