Stephen v. PGA Sheraton Resort

669 F. Supp. 1573, 44 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1446, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8349, 45 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 37,643
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedSeptember 11, 1987
Docket86-8501-CIV-Gonzalez
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 669 F. Supp. 1573 (Stephen v. PGA Sheraton Resort) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Stephen v. PGA Sheraton Resort, 669 F. Supp. 1573, 44 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1446, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8349, 45 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 37,643 (S.D. Fla. 1987).

Opinion

*1574 FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

GONZALEZ, District Judge.

THIS CAUSE comes before the court as a race discrimination action, brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The plaintiff, Emile Stephen, alleges that he was terminated from his job with the defendant, PGA Sheraton Resort Limited (PGA Sheraton), for racially discriminatory reasons. The section 1981 claim was tried to a jury which rendered its verdict.

The plaintiff advances two theories of recovery under Title VII. First, the plaintiff maintains that his termination from his job in the Purchasing Department at the PGA Sheraton, was the result of a discriminatory job classification system and subjective firing policy being utilized by the defendant. The plaintiff claims that this classification and termination procedure, although neutral on its face, has had an adverse impact on black persons, including the plaintiff.

Second, the plaintiff maintains that he was the victim of disparate treatment in that an individual not of the plaintiffs race made the same errors on the job as did the plaintiff, and that this individual was not discharged. The plaintiff argues that the defendant intended to discriminate against the plaintiff because of some racial animus directed against the plaintiff.

The court having considered the pleadings, the testimony of the witnesses, the documents in evidence, and the stipulations of the parties, hereby makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law, as required by Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1.The plaintiff, Emile Stephen, is a black male Haitian who worked as a purchasing clerk for the defendant, PGA Sheraton. The defendant, PGA Sheraton, is a hotel and resort located and doing business in Palm Beach County, Florida.

2. The plaintiff was employed with the defendant from November 13, 1985 until February 4, 1986. The plaintiff was hired at the rate of $5.50 per hour and was promised a $.50 per hour raise upon completion of ninety days of employment. The plaintiffs ninety day period would have ended February 10, 1986.

3. The plaintiffs immediate supervisor was Charles Spaulding, the Director of the Purchasing Department at PGA Sheraton. Mr. Spaulding, after discussing the matter with Ron Cooper, the Comptroller at PGA Sheraton, made the decision to terminate the plaintiff from his position as purchasing clerk with the defendant, PGA Sheraton.

4. The plaintiff had been placed in his job with the defendant, PGA Sheraton, by the Florida Job Service. The plaintiffs Job Service counselor, Kenneth Schullstrom, called the Personnel Department of PGA Sheraton on three occasions to follow up on the plaintiffs progress and was told each time that the plaintiff was doing well. The last follow up call was made on January 14, 1986. At that time Mr. Schullstrom was told that the Personnel Department thought the plaintiff was doing well and that the Personnel Department wished it had “a hundred more [employees] just like [the plaintiff].” The Job Service counselor never spoke with the plaintiffs direct supervisor.

5. The plaintiffs job responsibilities included keeping track of inventory, filling orders, typing, filing forms and making deliveries of supplies to many of the departments at PGA Sheraton. The plaintiff was required as part of his job responsibilities to take orders for the supplies that he was required to deliver. Witnesses from three separate departments at PGA Sheraton testified that the plaintiff could not understand English well enough to perform his assigned duty of bringing supplies to the various departments. The plaintiffs inability to understand English resulted in supplies being misdelivered. The plaintiffs use of English before this court substantiates the testimony of the witnesses for the defendant. At least one employee *1575 had to obtain her own supplies on several occasions. The court finds the testimony of these witnesses to be credible.

6. One of the plaintiffs co-worker’s, a native of Thailand, also had difficulty speaking English over the telephone, to the extent that this difficulty was noticed on a performance evaluation. The language problem, however, was described as “slight” in the co-worker’s performance evaluation and his overall evaluation was quite good.

7. The plaintiff’s supervisor met with the plaintiff on February 4, 1986, and informed the plaintiff that the plaintiff was being terminated from his position with the Purchasing Department. The supervisor, upon request from the plaintiff, wrote a letter of recommendation for the plaintiff. The letter characterized the plaintiff as a “hard working employee, [who] d[id] what was asked of him.” Plaintiff’s Exhibit 4. The plaintiff’s supervisor testified that he wrote the letter because he felt sorry for the plaintiff, because the plaintiff had impressed him as being a nice person who had endeavored to perform his job. Judging the demeanor of the witness, the court accepts this testimony and finds it convincing.

8. Upon being relieved of his responsibilities in the Purchasing Department, the plaintiff was offered a job in the Housekeeping Department. The evidence admitted at trial established that the Housekeeping Department is composed mainly of black employees. In March 1985, there were four whites and fifty-eight blacks employed in that department. In March 1986, there were nine whites and fifty-six blacks working in the Housekeeping Department. The housekeeping position offered to the plaintiff entailed setting up for “banquets.” It was also established that the housekeeping job was lower paying and offered less opportunity for advancement than the job in the Purchasing Department.

9. The plaintiff’s job in the Purchasing Department remained vacant for approximately one month. It was eventually filled a black Jamaican male.

10. It was established at trial that the plaintiff lied on his job application with the defendant. The plaintiff had been fired by a previous employer, yet-the plaintiff failed to disclose this on his job application. The plaintiff admitted at trial that when he filed his claim of discrimination with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission he claimed that he had been replaced at the PGA Sheraton by a white individual, when in fact this was not true.

11. The plaintiff established through the use of statistics that the defendant maintained segregated job categories. The Personnel Director for the defendant testified that the geographic area from which the defendant recruited and hired the majority of its employees was Palm Beach County. The court accepts this testimony.

12.

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669 F. Supp. 1573, 44 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1446, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8349, 45 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 37,643, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stephen-v-pga-sheraton-resort-flsd-1987.