Radmanovich v. Combined Insurance Co. of America

216 F.R.D. 424, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10931, 92 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 371, 2003 WL 21487155
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJune 26, 2003
DocketNo. 01 C 9502
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 216 F.R.D. 424 (Radmanovich v. Combined Insurance Co. of America) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Radmanovich v. Combined Insurance Co. of America, 216 F.R.D. 424, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10931, 92 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 371, 2003 WL 21487155 (N.D. Ill. 2003).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ALESIA, District Judge.

Currently before the court is plaintiff Traci Radmanovich’s motion for class certification, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 (“Rule 23”). For the following reasons, the court denies plaintiffs motion.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Traci Radmanovich (“Radmano-vich”) brings this suit on behalf of herself and a putative class, claiming that defendant Combined Insurance Company of America (“Combined”) discriminated against her and the potential class members, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (“Title VII”). Particularly, Radmanovich alleges that Combined discriminated against its female employees with regard to hiring, promotions, and commission opportunities. Additionally, Radma-novich alleges that Combined created, fostered, and tolerated a work environment that was hostile towards women.

Combined is an insurance company that sells its products in the United States and Canada. Combined’s sales agents sell the company’s insurance products door-to-door and work exclusively on commission. The company has a national office, but does not maintain local offices. Combined’s Seventh Essential Sales Force — which is the subject [429]*429of this litigation — is divided into six divisions throughout the United States, each of which is managed by a division manager. (Def.’s Ex. 7, at 2.) Those divisions are divided into forty-five geographic regions, each of which is managed by a regional manager. (Id.) The regions are divided into forty-three sub-regions, and those sub-regions are divided into over four hundred districts, each of which is managed by a district manager or a territory manager. (Id.)

Because Combined does not maintain local offices, company meetings are held in places such as local coffee shops. Each week, agents receive work assignments from their local managers, which include cards that identify insurance policies that are up for renewal. Usually, sales and other customer meetings take place in the customer’s home or workplace.

Combined requires agents to complete a highly structured training program. This training consists of both classroom and field training. All new sales agents begin their employment by attending a three-week training session. Additionally, agents attend periodic training seminars as well as other meetings and conferences.

Radmanovich was hired at Combined as a sales agent. Later, she was promoted to District Director and, in August 1997, was assigned to a historically under-producing district. According to Radmanovich, during her first six months as a director in that district, the territory improved and she became eligible for a bonus. Radmanovich claims that, although her District Manager initially refused to give her the bonus, she ultimately received it, after fighting for it. In 1998, according to Radmanovich, she ranked highly, nationally, in insurance increases. Despite her successful year, she was twice passed over for promotions to Sub-regional Manager, in favor of male employees whose insurance increase ranks were not as high. Ultimately, Radmanovich was demoted to sales agent.

Additionally, Radmanovich alleges that she was sexually harassed while working at Combined. She claims that she continually received comments from her superiors about her body or sex life. Also, according to Radmanovich other managers allegedly made lewd remarks towards her and propositioned her at conferences and meetings. Finally, she claims that pornography was played at company meetings.

Radmanovich alleges that the other members of the class experience the same type of discrimination at Combined. She contends that Combined assigns female employees to less lucrative geographic areas and gives them fewer insurance prospects per week than the company gave male employees. Radmanovich argues further that such diminished opportunities, as well as other discriminatory actions, prevent female employees from receiving promotions, bonuses, and sales awards at the same rate as male employees. Also, she claims that female employees do not receive the same quality of training as male employees. Furthermore, Radmanovich claims that female employees experience demeaning and harassing actions and comments in the Combined workplace, including during weekly meetings with managers, training sessions, and at periodic sales and training meetings. Finally, she contends that Combined’s response to these alleged occurrences and practices demonstrates that a pattern or practice of discrimination exists at Combined that the company both knows about and consciously promotes. She contends that the company’s structure facilitated this discrimination. Radmanovich claims that she can provide both statistical evidence of discrimination against women, as well as anecdotal evidence that supports her statistics and substantiates the class claims regarding a pattern or practice of discrimination.

Radmanovich alleges that Combined’s structure and culture discriminates against women in a number of ways. First, she claims that Combined provides female employees with inferior training. Second, Rad-manovich alleges that Combined’s managers give female agents inferior sales opportunities and diminished prospects for success. Third, she contends that Combined grants fewer promotions to women than to men. Fourth, Radmanovich claims that Combined’s female employees are continually sexually harassed. Finally, she complains that [430]*430Combined’s management knows about the discriminatory and harassing actions that occur within the company and that the company does not take effective steps to stop such behavior.

On December 31, 2001, Radmanovich and nine other individual plaintiffs filed this lawsuit as a class action, claiming that Combined discriminated against them and the other members of the class on the basis of their sex, in violation of Title VII. On February 12, 2002, the court granted plaintiffs’ motion to dismiss without prejudice the other nine individual plaintiffs. On February 26, 2002, Radmanovich filed a two-count first amended complaint with the court. Count I alleges a class claim for sexual discrimination, and Count II asserts an individual claim for retaliation, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a). The court has subject matter jurisdiction over this case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 because the case arises under a federal statute. Radmanovich has filed a motion for class certification. Particularly, seeks to certify the following class: “All women who, at any time on or after April 30,1999, worked in Combined Insurance Company of America’s Seventh Essential Enhanced Sales Force and were sales agents or managers at some point during their employment with Combined.”1 (PL’s Mem. in Supp. of Class Cert., at 1.)

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standard for Deciding a Motion for Class Certification

In deciding a motion for class certification, the court may not consider the merits of the underlying claims. Rodriguez v.

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216 F.R.D. 424, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10931, 92 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 371, 2003 WL 21487155, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/radmanovich-v-combined-insurance-co-of-america-ilnd-2003.