Talley v. Arinc, Inc.

222 F.R.D. 260, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13124, 2004 WL 1572650
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedJuly 14, 2004
DocketNo. CIV.A. RDB-02-3925
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 222 F.R.D. 260 (Talley v. Arinc, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Talley v. Arinc, Inc., 222 F.R.D. 260, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13124, 2004 WL 1572650 (D. Md. 2004).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BENNETT, District Judge.

Five Plaintiffs instituted this lawsuit against the Defendant ARINC, Incorporated (“ARINC”) and the individual Defendants, Robert Manigold, and Leonard Kotz, executives in ARINC’s Human Resources Division, alleging employment discrimination on the basis of race and gender. In response to the class allegations set forth in the Complaint, the Defendants filed a Motion to Strike the Plaintiffs’ class action allegations, contending that class certification is inappropriate under Federal' Rule of Civil Procedure 28(a), (b)(2) and/or (b)(3). In light of these allegations, the Court granted the Plaintiffs’ request for discovery on the class certification issue. After the completion of that discovery, the parties briefed the question with supporting affidavits. A hearing was then conducted to permit a full factual record to be presented to the Court. For the reasons that follow, this Court will GRANT the Defendants’ Motion to Strike the Plaintiffs’ class action allegations.

Background

On December 3, 2002, Plaintiffs Shawn Talley, Lawrence Branch, Rita Miller, Teresa Anderson and Angela Hall (collectively the “Talley Plaintiffs”) brought this action individually and on behalf on two proposed classes. Plaintiffs’ Complaint alleges that their former employer, Defendant ARINC, practiced company-wide discrimination against minorities and females in the areas of promotion, salaries and layoffs. The Defendants filed a Motion to Strike the class action allegations contained in Plaintiffs’ Complaint on July 30, 2003.

To enable Plaintiffs to fully respond to Defendants’ Motion to Strike, the Court granted Plaintiffs’ request to conduct limited discovery on the class certification issue. All such discovery and briefing on the Motion to Strike was completed on April 2, 2004. A full-day hearing on the Motion to Strike was held on June 30, 2004.

At that hearing, Plaintiffs’ counsel amended the proposed classes to include a nationwide class consisting of all African American current and former employees of ARINC who suffered discrimination in pay and promotion based upon the policies promulgated by Defendants Kotz and Manigold. In addition, Plaintiffs now seek to represent all female ARINC current and former employees who suffered discrimination in pay and promotion based upon the policies promulgated by Defendants Kotz and Manigold.

While Defendants’ Motion to Strike has been pending, Plaintiffs sought leave to amend their Complaint to add two additional plaintiffs, Jacqueline Parham and Carol Wells. Both Ms. Parham and Ms. Wells are former ARINC employees.1 On February 11, 2004, Ms. Parham and Ms. Wells, along with Anthony Baxter, Linda Johnson, Iris Godette, Fonda Shepard, and C’mon Allen (collectively the “Wells Plaintiffs”), filed a separate action seeking to represent the same class of minority and female former employees and alleging the same class-wide discrimination as is alleged in the instant case. See Wells v. ARINC, RDB-04-424. Though Defendants’ Motion to Strike addressed only the class action allegations in this action, Plaintiffs’ counsel conceded that consideration of the class certification issue should encompass both eases.2 Pursuant to . Rule 23(d)(4), the Court, on its own volition, will extend this ruling to both cases.

Statement of Facts

Defendant ARINC is a government contractor that provides engineering and technical services to defense and civilian agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration. ARINC has over 3,000 employees and has offices in twenty-four states, the District of Columbia and many foreign countries, with [264]*264its headquarters in Annapolis, Maryland. As a government contractor, ARINC is required to comply with federal anti-discrimination laws. To ensure its compliance with those laws, ARINC is required to submit its personnel policies for periodic review by the Department of Labor, Office of Federal Contract Compliance (“OFCCP”).

The Defendants Leonard Kotz and Robert Manigold work in the Human Resources and Administration Department at ARINC. Defendant Kotz is ARINC’s Director of Human Resources. Defendant Manigold is ARINC’s Vice-President of Human Resources. Both executives work in the Annapolis office, and all of the Plaintiffs, with one exception, were employed in the Annapolis office.

The Talley Plaintiffs

Shawn Talley is an African American male who worked as ARINC’s Senior Human Resources Representative in the Human Resources Division from March 1, 1999 to January 11, 2002. Talley’s supervisors were Betty Smith and Len Kotz. Talley contends that he did not receive the commensurate title or salary increase that he deserved, when he was forced to take on half of Betty Smith’s duties. Smith was the outgoing Human Resources Manager. Talley also claims that he was given lower evaluation ratings due to his race, resulting in his being placed on a performance improvement plan.

Teresa Anderson is an Asian-American female who worked as a senior program manger at ARINC’s SkySource services division. Her supervisor was Robert Richard. Anderson contends that she was not selected to oversee the shutting down of the Sky-Source program because of her gender. She also alleges that ARINC’s decision to a permit a male outside contractor to stay in a position that should have been given to her was motivated by gender.

Rita Miller is an African American woman who was hired as a secretary in ARINC’s Aviation and Air Traffic Services Division and was later promoted to Program Analyst in that same department. Her supervisor was Dave Poltorak. Like Anderson, Miller complains that she was not allowed to oversee the shutting down of the SkySource program. Miller also alleges that she applied for the position of Web Developer, but was told that she was not qualified. She contends that she was qualified for the job, and that she was not considered due to her race and gender.

Lawrence Branch is an Arican American male who worked as a Product Planner in ARINC’s Sales and Marketing department. His supervisors were Faye Francy and Fred Wynn. Branch complains that he was not given a salary grade increase and job title upgrade when his supervisor left the department. Branch also alleges that he was not allowed to participate in a bonus program in which non-minority employees were allowed to participate.

Agela Hall is an African American female who worked in ARINC’s RVSM program from 1989 through 2000. She claims that she was denied promotion to junior analyst on the basis of her race.

The Wells Plaintiffs

Carol Wells is an Arican American woman who worked for ARINC as a computer operator in the Network Administration Division from September 5, 1978 until she retired on May 21, 2003. Wells claims that she was never promoted because of her race, and that she was assigned the duties of a Caucasian woman without the commensurate pay raise or promotion. Her supervisor was Rebecca Robson.

Jacqueline Parham is an African American woman who was a Human Resources Manager in ARINC’s Human Resources Department from April 24, 2000 to July 31, 2003. Len Kotz was her supervisor. Athough she was promoted twice in three years of employment, Parham alleges that she should have been given the title of Human Resources Manager when she was forced to take on half of the workload of Betty Smith, the outgoing Human Resources Manager.

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222 F.R.D. 260, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13124, 2004 WL 1572650, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/talley-v-arinc-inc-mdd-2004.