Shepherd v. ISS International Service System, Inc.

873 F. Supp. 1550, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19267, 1994 WL 740984
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedDecember 5, 1994
DocketCiv. A. No. 1:92-CV-2472-FMH
StatusPublished

This text of 873 F. Supp. 1550 (Shepherd v. ISS International Service System, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shepherd v. ISS International Service System, Inc., 873 F. Supp. 1550, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19267, 1994 WL 740984 (N.D. Ga. 1994).

Opinion

ORDER

HULL, District Judge.

This case is before the Court on the Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation [47-1] denying Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment [33-1], Defendant’s Objections to the Report and Recommendation [49-1], and Plaintiffs Motion for Leave to File Supplemental Brief [60-1] in Response to Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment.

Defendant does not oppose Plaintiffs Motion for Leave to File a Supplemental Brief, therefore the Court grants Plaintiffs Motion for Leave to File a Supplemental Brief [60— 1].

As to Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment, the Court has performed a careful de novo review of the record and finds as follows.

I. Factual Background

Defendant ISS provides cleaning and environmental services to its clients and specializes in cleaning large office buildings. On May 30, 1989, Defendant ISS hired Plaintiff as Airport Branch Manager. Plaintiffs duties included managing the janitorial services provided to the Airport and making sure the Airport was pleased with the services ISS provided. There is a dispute as to Plaintiffs performance while Airport Branch Manager. Defendant claims that Samuel Cobbs, Executive Director of the Atlanta Airlines Terminal Corporation, asked to have Plaintiff removed from her position as Airport Branch Manager. Plaintiff claims that Samuel Cobbs testified that he never requested Plaintiffs removal.

Plaintiff took a pregnancy leave from April to August of 1990. When Plaintiff returned from pregnancy leave, Defendant ISS did not return Plaintiff to her job at the Airport, but instead created a job for Plaintiff as Group Manager of Support Services for ISS’s South/West Group. This job entailed, inter alia, resolving account problems and complaints between customers and ISS personnel. Plaintiff spent some of her time dealing directly with customers, and the rest of the time working with the ISS crews.

In 1991, ISS began experiencing financial problems due to a drop in sales. Around June of 1991, Gary Wallace became President of the South/West Group and decided to downsize the South/West Group staff. Mr. Wallace reduced his administrative staff from 17 to 5 employees. Mr. Wallace eliminated Plaintiffs position and attempted to find Plaintiff a job with another division president. Mr. Wallace was unable to find a position for Plaintiff in another division. Mr. Wallace asked Mr. Laird, the newly appointed President of the Atlanta Division, to find a place for Plaintiff in his division. Mr. Laird created the job of Support Services Manager for Plaintiff and on July 8, 1991, Plaintiff began working in the Atlanta Division for Mr. Laird.

On August 27, 1991, Plaintiff states that she told Mr. Laird that she was pregnant. Mr. Laird stated that he thought Plaintiff told him in early September of her pregnancy. Mr. Laird claims that he. had decided already to eliminate Plaintiffs position before he learned of her pregnancy. However, Plaintiff claims that on September 3, 1991, she asked Mr. Laird if her position was included in the 1992 budget, and Laird told her that it was. Plaintiff claims that Mr. Laird’s attitude changed toward her after she told him that she was pregnant. Plaintiff alleges that she was excluded from meetings, that she was not allowed to work on customer accounts, and that she was refused equip[1554]*1554ment, office space, a ear and a phone line she had been promised.

On December 6, 1991, Plaintiffs position was eliminated and Plaintiff was laid off. Plaintiff was six months pregnant at the time she was laid off.

Between August, 1991, and April 9, 1992, Defendant ISS terminated six other employees from the Atlanta Division administrative staff. Three of these employees were men, and three were women. .Plaintiff was the only manager who was laid off.

Defendant ISS has a lay off and recall policy which states that Iaid-off employees have a right of recall to jobs for which they are qualified for six months following their lay-off. Mr. Laird stated that he was not aware of the recall policy at the time, and therefore, did not create a recall list for laid-off employees in his division. Mr. Laird did not recall any of the terminated employees in the Atlanta division. During the six months following Plaintiffs lay off, Mr. Laird filled two newly created positions in his division, but he did not consider Plaintiff for either one.

Throughout most of 1992, Plaintiff suffered from depression due to her lay-off. Plaintiff sought therapy for her depression, but discontinued the therapy in 1992 because she could no longer afford it. Plaintiff continues to take a prescription anti-depressant to date.

On October 19,1992, Plaintiff filed a Complaint pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1991, as amended 42 U.S.C. § 200Oe et seq. and 42 U.S.C. § 1981a alleging that Plaintiff was subjected to sexually discriminatory terms and conditions of employment and eventually fired because of her sex and because she was pregnant. Plaintiff also alleged a state law claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332.

On December 24, 1991, Plaintiff fled a charge of discrimination with the EEOC. On April 6, 1993, Plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint alleging retaliation because Defendant refused to re-hire Plaintiff after Plaintiff filed an EEOC charge.

II. DISCUSSION

A. SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

Rule 56(c), Fed.R.Civ.P., defines the standard for summary judgment: Courts should grant summary judgment when “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” The general rule of summary judgment in the Eleventh Circuit states that the moving party must show the court that no genuine, issue of material fact should be decided at trial. Clark v. Coats & Clark, Inc., 929 F.2d 604 (11th Cir.1991). “[UJnless the movant for summary judgment meets its burden under Rule 56, the obligation of the opposing party does not arise even if no opposing evidentiary material is presented by the party opposing the motion.” Id.

While all evidence and factual inferences are to be viewed in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party, Rollins v. TechSouth, Inc., 833 F.2d 1525, 1529 (11th Cir.1987); Everett v. Napper, 833 F.2d 1507, 1510 (11th Cir.1987), “the mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment; the requirement is that there be no genuine issue of material fact.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

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873 F. Supp. 1550, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19267, 1994 WL 740984, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shepherd-v-iss-international-service-system-inc-gand-1994.