Tolliver v. Marine Credit Union

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedOctober 6, 2022
Docket2:19-cv-00727
StatusUnknown

This text of Tolliver v. Marine Credit Union (Tolliver v. Marine Credit Union) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tolliver v. Marine Credit Union, (E.D. Wis. 2022).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

DARREN P. TOLLIVER,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No. 19-CV-727

MARINE CREDIT UNION,

Defendant.

DECISION AND ORDER ON DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Darren P. Tolliver sues his former employer, Marine Credit Union (“MCU”) for discrimination based on race in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and Wisconsin’s Fair Employment Act (“WFEA”), Wis. Stat. §§ 111.31 et seq. MCU moves for summary judgment dismissing Tolliver’s complaint. For the reasons explained below, MCU’s motion is granted and this case is dismissed. UNDISPUTED FACTS MCU is a full-service financial institution that holds a membership of over 60,000 and has locations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. (Defendant’s Proposed Findings of Fact (“DPFOF”) ¶ 1, Docket # 24 and Plaintiff’s Response to DPFOF (“Pl.’s Resp.”) ¶ 1, Docket # 35.) MCU offers automobile, home, and business loans as well as personal loans, refinance options, financial counseling, and programs to repair damaged credit. (Id. ¶ 2.) MCU’s mission is to assist all members of the community with their financial needs, including high-risk borrowers who may have damaged credit scores. (Id. ¶ 3.) During the relevant time period, MCU’s more than thirty branch locations were grouped into seven districts, each of which was overseen and managed by a District Manager, and further subdivided into regions. (Id. ¶ 4.) Tolliver, who is African American, was employed by MCU as the District Manager of its Milwaukee District from March 22, 2016 until his termination on November 10, 2017.

(Id. ¶¶ 5, 19.) Milwaukee District 2 encompassed two branches at the commencement of Tolliver’s employment but grew to three branches during his tenure as District Manager. (Id. ¶ 20.) At the time of his hire, despite having previous employment experience at banks, Tolliver had no previous experience with lending approval authority. (Id. ¶ 23.) From Tolliver’s time of hire until February 2017, Tolliver’s direct supervisor was Tim Cruciani, the Executive Vice President for MCU. (Id. ¶¶ 6–7.) MCU maintained a Performance Appraisals, Scorecards, and Monthly Performance Reviews Policy, which explained the various performance evaluation mechanisms set up by MCU to keep employees apprised of their job performance and goals, as well as indicated

that if an employee was struggling to meet his or her goals, he or she should seek further guidance and training from his or her supervisor or manager. (Id. ¶ 16.) In accordance with MCU’s Performance Appraisals, Scorecards, and Monthly Performance Reviews Policy, Tolliver began receiving Monthly Performance Reviews (“MPR”) in July 2016, continuing through September 2017. (Id. ¶ 27.) For purposes of the MPR Scorecard, 2.0 was the threshold or minimum GPA score certain employees, including District Managers, were required to achieve in order to be considered to be performing satisfactorily or successfully. (Id. ¶ 31.) Tolliver received less than a 2.0 GPA on his Scorecard on every MPR under Cruciani’s supervision from August 2016 through January 2017, except for November 2016,

on which he received a 2.0 GPA. (Id. ¶ 32.) In Tolliver’s MPRs from August 2016 through January 2017, as well as through day-to-day correspondence with Tolliver, Cruciani consistently identified or raised concerns over Tolliver’s problematic lending practices and ability to determine what makes a good loan; unsatisfactory leader/lender success, delinquency, exception, and other statistics; struggle with managing an effective team and

communicating performance issues or challenges with his branches; failure to effectively manage his time and responsibilities; and failure to meet scheduled deadlines for himself and his team. (Id. ¶ 33.) Within these same documents, Tolliver consistently acknowledged and agreed with the areas of improvement Cruciani had identified; admitted to failures in his job performance; acknowledged the tools and training MCU had provided him to help him improve and succeed; committed to improvement; and expressed interest and enthusiasm over additional career development and growth with MCU. (Id. ¶ 34.) On January 10, 2017, Cruciani issued Tolliver his Annual Performance Review. (Id. ¶ 35.) Tolliver received an Annual Performance Review Scorecard GPA of 1.74, which was

below the 2.0 threshold he was required to meet, and his overall appraisal rating was “NI” or “Needs Improvement.” (Id. ¶ 36.) From February 2017 until Tolliver’s termination, Tolliver’s direct supervisor was Mark Barker, Senior Vice President and Regional Manager for MCU. (Id. ¶¶ 8–9.) On March 29, 2017, Barker issued Tolliver an Employee Written Warning and Resolution Form for “Accountability.” (Id. ¶ 38.) The written warning addressed several issues: (1) failure to complete required compliance training by the due date; (2) failure to timely deliver an MPR for a direct report and failing to hold that employee accountable for a performance issue; and (3) failing to timely submit his MPRs, which included late submission of his

employee portion of his February 2017 MPR, as well as, since November 2016, six occurrences by Tolliver of not completing the MPRs for his team by the deadline and eight occurrences by his team of not completing their MPRs by the deadline. (Declaration of Becky Potts (“Potts Decl.”) ¶ 24, Ex. D, Docket # 26-1 at 17.) In the section marked “Employee Comments: (optional),” Tolliver wrote: “I apologize for my part in the issues

documented above. I have put new processes in place to prevent these type of situations from arising in the future. I hope I will be given a fair assessment of my renewed efforts going forward as I want to succeed in my current role.” (Id. at 18.) Under Barker’s supervision, from March 2017 through September 2017, Tolliver’s MPRs, as well as day-to-day correspondence with Barker, continued to identify the same performance issues and failings that had been repeatedly addressed with Tolliver under Cruciani’s supervision. (DPFOF ¶ 41 and Pl.’s Resp. ¶ 41.) Barker consistently raised concerns over Tolliver’s problematic lending practices and ability to determine what makes a good loan; unsatisfactory leader/lender success, delinquency, exception, and other statistics; struggle with managing an effective team and communicating performance issues

or challenges with his branches; failure to effectively manage his time and responsibilities; and failure to meet scheduled deadlines for himself and his team. (Id. ¶ 42.) Furthermore, Tolliver consistently acknowledged and agreed with the areas of improvement Barker had identified; admitted to failures in his job performance; acknowledged the tools and training MCU had provided him to help him improve and succeed; committed to improvement; and expressed interest and enthusiasm over additional career development and growth with MCU. (Id. ¶ 43.) Tolliver testified that he would not have scored himself as “needs improvement” on his MPRs, specifically referring to the one dated September 2016, if he felt he was performing satisfactorily. (Declaration of Suzanne M. Watson ¶ 2, Ex. A, Deposition of Darren Tolliver (“Tolliver Dep.”) at 103, Docket # 25-1.) He further testified that he did not believe that anything Cruciani wrote in his MPRs from August 2016 through January 2017 (or the scores he was issued therein) or in his Annual Performance Review in January 2017,

or that anything Barker wrote in his MPRs from April 2017 through September 2017, was discriminatory based on his race. (DPFOF ¶ 45 and Pl.’s Resp. ¶ 45; Tolliver Dep.

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Tolliver v. Marine Credit Union, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tolliver-v-marine-credit-union-wied-2022.