Nelida Lopez v. American Family Insurance Co.

618 F. App'x 794
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJune 26, 2015
Docket14-3412
StatusUnpublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 618 F. App'x 794 (Nelida Lopez v. American Family Insurance Co.) 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
Nelida Lopez v. American Family Insurance Co., 618 F. App'x 794 (6th Cir. 2015).

Opinions

MICHELSON, District Judge.

Nelida Lopez, a Hispanic woman in her early fifties, was displaced from her position as a district sales manager at American Family Insurance Company when the company restructured its Ohio sales districts. When she failed to obtain another position within the company, Lopez was terminated. She sued her former employer for race and age discrimination and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The district court granted summary judgment to her former employer on all claims, and we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

The facts of the case are presented in the light most favorable to Plaintiff-Appellant Lopez.

American Family is- a private mutual company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, that offers property, casualty, automobile, commercial, life, health, and homeowners insurance, as well as investment and retirement-planning products.1 The company entered the Ohio insurance market in 1996. Lopez, who is Hispanic, began working for American Family as an independent insurance agent in Avon Lake, Ohio, in 2001. After strong performance, Lopez was promoted to an Ohio district-manager position in 2006. There is no dispute that Lopez performed well as a district manager. Her salary increased each year, and she received the highest annual bonus for customer, satisfaction among Ohio district managers in 2009.

In late 2009, American Family informed the Ohio district managers that it planned to realign their districts to reduce the number of district managers from thirteen to eight or nine. The thirteen existing district managers were given the opportunity to apply for the eight or nine district-manager positions. They could also apply for other posted positions in the company. And they were told that “[i]f available, an agency opportunity may be extended.” [796]*796They were told that their employment would be terminated unless they found a position within American Family by March 31, 2010. Two district managers opted to take agency positions instead of competing for the district-manager positions, and at some point — the timing is unclear — it was decided that there would be only eight district managers. So ultimately, eleven candidates competed for eight positions. Lopez was the second-oldest candidate, at 52 years old. She was also the only racial minority. After the process was complete, Lopez was the only candidate who did not continue working for American Family.

According to American Family regional vice president Richard Steffen, he and Ohio sales director LaTunja Jackson decided together on the selection criteria for the restructured district-manager positions. They decided to rely primarily on an interview process that included business-plan presentations by each candidate. Steffen testified that because “there was a lot of consistency” in the district managers’ past performance, the interview and business plan weighed “heavily” in the decision-making process.

Jackson and American Family human resources representative Deborah Lacey conducted the interviews. They gave each candidate a numeric score for each of nine categories. The nine scores were added together for a total score by which the candidates were ranked. Jackson and Lacey generally scored the candidates individually and then reached consensus during post-interview discussions. There were four categories of interview questions, each of which was scored separately. For the first score, each candidate was asked to discuss three accomplishments, three challenges, and their greatest contribution to American Family. The interview then focused on three “targeted selection” questions: (1) leadership during change, (2) the candidate’s corporate vision and strategy, and (3) the candidate’s ability to manage a team of agents. A score was assessed for each of these three categories. Then each candidate presented a business plan for which another score was assessed. Separate scores were also assigned for each candidate’s (1) application materials, (2) educational commitment, (3) employment history, and (4) overall impact as a candidate. Jackson testified that the candidates’ past performance was not included in the scoring because “everyone was performing well” and “there were no outliers.”

Lopez’s total score of 15 was the lowest overall score among the eleven candidates. Stephen Graham, the oldest district manager, received the second-lowest score, 21.5. He was offered a position as an agent in Columbus, Ohio, which he accepted. The fifth-ranked candidate, Andi Simpson, also did not receive a district-manager position. According to Jackson and Steffen, this was because she had only been a district manager for six months, but had thirteen years of experience as an agent and scored highly in the interview process. They therefore felt she would be a good candidate for a newly created position that was similar to the district-manager position but without management responsibilities. Thus, the restructured district-manager positions were awarded to the candidates with the first through fourth and sixth through eighth-highest scores. Their scores ranged from 24.5 to 36.

On January 25, 2010, Jackson informed Lopez that she was not selected for a district-manager position. Sometime in late January and February, Lopez learned of three opportunities at American Family: (1) an open team-manager position in Arizona, (2) an open agency position in Arizona, and (3) the agency of Hans Hansen in Ohio. The Hans Hansen agency — essen[797]*797tially a collection of policies or “book of business” previously managed by Hansen — was formally offered to Lopez. And Lopez believed that the agency position in Arizona was essentially open to her if she wanted it, based on emails and telephone conversations with the district manager for the position, Denny Sand. On March 1, 2010, Sand emailed her pictures of the office. And from February 21, 2010, through March 2, 2010, he included her on emails to the agents in his district.

But Lopez had told Jackson “from the very beginning that [she] wanted to stay in management.” Lopez interviewed for the Arizona management position in mid-February. On February 24, she emailed Jackson to let her know that the interview process might take longer than expected because a Spanish language proficiency test might be required. Jackson responded, “No problem, Nellie. We will give you the time you need to complete the process.”

Then on February 26, 2010, Jackson emailed Steffen about some issues with Lopez’s expense reimbursement requests. As a district manager, Lopez had an expense account for overhead costs, such as rent and staff for her office. The money in the expense account was taken out of the district manager’s gross pay. Managers were required to select one of three options: 30, 35, or 40 percent. The accounts did not roll over, so money not spent during the year was forfeited. Jackson testified that although Lopez and Graham were no longer district managers in February, “they received that budget so that they could handle their office, staff, utilities, and things like that because those expenses still existed as they were trying to look for other opportunities.” She said she conveyed this to Lopez and Graham. With Steffen’s permission, Jackson rejected Lopez’s requests to be reimbursed for six office chairs, totaling $2,144.05; a step ladder for $155.00; a rolling briefcase and tote for $1,389.98; and an Arizona insurance license for $126.18.

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Bluebook (online)
618 F. App'x 794, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nelida-lopez-v-american-family-insurance-co-ca6-2015.