Perkins v. National Express Corp.

105 F. Supp. 3d 970, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64105, 127 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 37, 2015 WL 2437872
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedMay 15, 2015
DocketCase No.14-cv-02347-NC
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 105 F. Supp. 3d 970 (Perkins v. National Express Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Perkins v. National Express Corp., 105 F. Supp. 3d 970, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64105, 127 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 37, 2015 WL 2437872 (N.D. Cal. 2015).

Opinion

SUMMARY JUDGMENT ORDER

Re: Dkt. No. 63

NATHANAEL M. COUSINS, United States Magistrate Judge

Defendants National Express Corporation, Durham School Services, L.P., and Petermann Ltd. (collectively “Durham”) and Kirk Tostenrude move for summary judgment on plaintiff Jimmy Perkins’ claims for racial discrimination, hostile work environment, breach of contract, invasion of privacy, violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law, and wrongful termination. Perkins’ action stems from a drug test that Durham required Perkins to take on November 13, 2012, in accordance with the company’s policy of randomly drug testing its employees.

Perkins, who is African American, claims that Durham selected him for drug testing multiple times within a nine-month period and subsequently terminated him because of his race. Because there are triable issues of material fact, the Court DENIES defendants’ motion as to the race-discrimination claims. Specifically, a reasonable jury could find from the context that the term “player’s” or “pimpmo-bile” uttered to Perkins by a Durham manager carries discriminatory meaning on the basis of race. Moreover, Perkins presents evidence that Durham left a similarly-situated white employee off of the drug-testing pool, effectively insulating this person from testing.

The Court, however, GRANTS defendants’ motion as to the breach-of-eontract and privacy claims; Perkins has not shown evidence that would lead a reasonable jury to find that an implied-in-fact contract existed or that Perkins had a reasonable expectation of privacy.

I. BACKGROUND

Durham is in the business of transporting children to school and first hired Perkins as a driver in February 2003 at its Hayward, California Customer Service Center. Dkt. Nos. 1-1 at 17; 63-2 at 7. Though he resigned six months later, Perkins reapplied for a driver position with Durham again in late 2008, Dkt. No. 63-2 at 7-9, and started work at the Hayward location as a driver in April 2009, Dkt. No. 63-15 at 6.

Starting in June 2010, Durham promoted Perkins to managerial positions. First, Durham promoted Perkins to Site Supervisor at its facility in Livermore, California. Dkt. No. 63-2 at 12. Since his promotion into management in 2010, Perkins maintains that he has not driven a bus. Dkt. No. 60-2 at 9-10. In February 2012, Durham again promoted Perkins, this time to Operations Supervisor at its Hayward location. Dkt. No. 63-3 at 8083. Regional Manager Kirk Tostenrude approved Perkins’ new appointment and compensation. Dkt. No. 63-14 at 2-3. Tostenrude, a white male, served as the Pacific Northwest Regional Manager for Durham in 2012. Dkt. Nos. 60^ at 14, 19; 63-14.

[973]*973As described in more detail in the sections below, Perkins states that Tosten-rude made racially offensive remarks to him, including that Perkins drove a “player’s” or “pimpmobile,” and took discriminatory actions against him during his tenure as Operations Supervisor. Dkt. No. 69-3 at 22. For instance, Perkins contends that Tostenrude made it more difficult for Perkins to transfer from Liver-more to Hayward. See Dkt. No. 69-7 at 8. According to Perkins, Tostenrude required him to formally apply for the Operations Supervisor position in Hayward while not requiring a female white manager in Durham’s San Mateo, California location to go through the same formal procedures before being similarly transferred to Hayward. See Dkt. Nos. 60-2 at 7-8; 63-8 at 12-13. In February 2012, Durham offered the San Mateo manager, Eileen Noonan, a position in Hayward as the Safety and Training Manager. Dkt. No. 63-8 at 11-12. She later accepted. Id. Though Noonan and Perkins held different positions in Hayward, they both served in managerial positions and both had commercial driver’s licenses. Dkt. Nos. 63-2 at 31-32; 60-8 at 7.

Durham had a drug and alcohol policy of randomly drug testing employees in “safety-sensitive positions,” including bus drivers and employees with commercial driver’s licenses. Dkt. No. 63-13 at 13, 26. Under Durham’s policy, the selected employee must report to the collection site “ immediately upon request of the company” and “within two hours of notification -” Id. at 15 (emphasis in original). The policy continues: “Any employee who refuses or fails to comply with the Company’s request to undergo drug and alcohol testing in accordance with the provisions of the policy will be terminated.” Id. at 19. Durham hired third-party vendors to randomly select which employees would be tested. These vendors — TalentWise, Inc. and HireRight, Inc. — applied a computerized algorithm to the pool data (or list of employees) provided by Durham to randomly select individuals for drug or alcohol testing on a monthly basis. See Dkt. Nos. 63-12 at 2; 63-10 at 1-2. According to the vendors, the pool data did not include information regarding-the employees’ race or national origin. Id.

Perkins received drug-test notices ■ in March, October, and November of 2012. See Dkt. No. 60-2 at 11-14 (Perkins Dep.); Dkt. No. 63-5 at 33 (email between Durham managers Diana Hulsey and Kirk Tostenrude identifying Perkins’ three 2012 testing dates). Meanwhile, Perkins’ coworker and Hayward manager Noonan did not appear qn the list of employees to be tested as of July 2012. Dkt. No. 61-3 (email from defendants to TalentWise with attachment described as “active employee list for the random pool 7.1.12”). Noonan herself at her March - 6, 2015 deposition could not recall being drug tested since 2009. Dkt. Nos. 60-8 at 8.

On November 13, 2012, Perkins received written notice requiring him to immediately report fór a random drug test. Dkt. No. 63-9 at 3-4. He decided not to go in for the test. According to Perkins, he was preoccupied with trying to manage a crisis involving the radios used to communicate with the drivers, which had gone down. Dkt. Nos. 63-3 at 8; 60-2 at 17. When the general manager at Hayward, Diana Hulsey, heard Perkins would not report for testing, she told him, “You only have two hours. - You need to get going.” Dkt. No. 63-5 at 7. Still, Perkins failed to appear for the drug test that day. Id. at 8.

On November 14, 2012, after learning that Perkins did not appear for testing the previous day, Hulsey considered terminating Perkins for violating company policy. Id. at 11. But she first sought guidance' from Tostenrude, who advised Hulsey to [974]*974take some initial steps including contacting human resources and placing Perkins on administrative leave to conduct an investigation. Id. at 11-13, 37.

Oh November 28, 2012, Hulsey terminated Perkins for failing to report for a random drug test within two hours of notification. Id. at 27-28; Dkt. No. 63-3 at 91..

On February 10, 2014, Perkins filed a complaint against defendants in state court.- Dkt. No. 1-1.- Defendants subsequently removed the case to federal court. Defendants now move for summary judgment, on all of Perkins’ claims.

All parties have ■ consented to the jurisdiction of a magistrate judge under 28 U.S.C. § 636(c). Dkt. Nos. 19, 20.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

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105 F. Supp. 3d 970, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64105, 127 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 37, 2015 WL 2437872, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/perkins-v-national-express-corp-cand-2015.