Tommy Reedy v. Quebecor Printing Eagle, Inc., and Its Representatives

333 F.3d 906, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 13226, 84 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 41,434, 92 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 133, 2003 WL 21488016
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJune 30, 2003
Docket02-3637
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 333 F.3d 906 (Tommy Reedy v. Quebecor Printing Eagle, Inc., and Its Representatives) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tommy Reedy v. Quebecor Printing Eagle, Inc., and Its Representatives, 333 F.3d 906, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 13226, 84 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 41,434, 92 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 133, 2003 WL 21488016 (8th Cir. 2003).

Opinions

MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

Tommy Reedy, who is black, brought suit against Quebecor Printing Eagle, Inc., under 42 U.S.C. § 1981, claiming that he was subjected to a hostile work environment and constructively discharged because of his race. When the district court granted summary judgment in favor of Quebecor on both claims, Mr. Reedy appealed. We reverse in part and affirm in part.

I.

We review grants of summary judgment de novo. Breeding v. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., 164 F.3d 1151, 1156 (8th Cir.1999). “Summary judgment is appropriate when the evidence, viewed in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, demonstrates that there is no genuine issue of material fact, and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Clark v. Kellogg Co., 205 F.3d 1079, 1082 (8th Cir.2000); see Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c).

In analyzing intentional discrimination claims brought under § 1981, we apply the same standards as we would apply to similar Title VII claims. Ross v. Kansas City Power & Light Co., 293 F.3d 1041, 1050 (8th Cir.2002). Thus, to prevail on his hostile work environment claim Mr. Reedy must show that he was a member of a protected group, that he was subjected to unwelcome harassment, that the harassment was because of his membership in the group, that the harassment affected a term, condition, or privilege of his employment, and that Quebecor knew or should have known about the harassment but failed to take prompt and effective remedi[908]*908al action. See Diaz v. Swift-Eckrich, Inc., 318 F.3d 796, 800 (8th Cir.2003).

It is undisputed that Mr. Reedy was subjected to some level of unwelcome harassment because of his race. Our inquiry therefore turns to whether that harassment affected a term, condition, or privilege of his employment, and, if it did, whether Quebecor took prompt and effective remedial action in response to it. We first note that these are two distinct inquiries; that is, courts have generally not taken into account the remedial actions of the employer when deciding whether the harassment was “severe or pervasive” enough, see Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775, 787, 118 S.Ct. 2275, 141 L.Ed.2d 662 (1998), to have affected a term, condition, or privilege of the plaintiffs employment. Thus, a series of harassing incidents might be sufficiently severe or pervasive even if the employer took prompt and effective remedial actions. See, e.g., Robinson v. Valmont Industries, 238 F.3d 1045, 1047-48 (8th Cir.2001). Of course, in such a case the steps taken by the employer to remedy the situation would preclude its liability. See id.

In order to recover, Mr. Reedy must demonstrate that the harassment was sufficiently “severe or pervasive” to create a work environment that was both objectively and subjectively hostile. That is, to prevail Mr. Reedy must show that his work environment was “one that a reasonable person would find hostile or abusive, and one that [he] in fact did perceive to be so.” Faragher, 524 U.S. at 787, 118 S.Ct. 2275 (citing Harris v. Forklift Sys., Inc., 510 U.S. 17, 21-22, 114 S.Ct. 367, 126 L.Ed.2d 295 (1993)). In Harris, the Supreme Court held that in determining whether a plaintiff has made out a claim, a court must look “at all the circumstances,” including the “frequency of the discriminatory conduct; its severity; whether it is physically threatening or humiliating, or a mere offensive utterance; and whether it unreasonably interferes with an employee’s work performance.” Harris, 510 U.S. at 23, 114 S.Ct. 367. Although Harris dealt with a claim of a sexually hostile work environment, a consideration of the matters that Harris enumerated is appropriate in cases claiming a racially hostile work environment as well. See Faragher, 524 U.S. at 786-87, 118 S.Ct. 2275.

Our review of the record (which consists primarily of Mr. Reedy’s deposition testimony) reveals five incidents that can plausibly be characterized as involving racial harassment. One incident involved a fellow Quebecor employee. Apparently, the employee agreed to bring back lunch for a group of Quebecor employees, including Mr. Reedy. When he failed to produce the lunch that Mr. Reedy had ordered, Mr. Reedy asked him whether he had bought it. The employee responded by throwing money at Mr. Reedy and saying, “Fucking nigger, go your own self the next time.” The employee’s father (also a Quebecor employee) laughed as he witnessed the incident. Mr. Reedy did not file a complaint or otherwise mention this incident to a supervising employee.

Mr. Reedy also witnessed two ugly occurrences of relevance. In one incident, two employees approached Rickey Huntley, a black man, called him a “punk ass nigger” and told him that they were going to “whip his punk ass.” Mr. Reedy did not involve himself in the dispute, but was later called into the office of the plant manager, Kevin Morris, to confirm Mr. Huntley’s account of the incident. As a result of the investigation, one of the offending employees received a one-week suspension and the other was terminated. On another occasion, Mr. Reedy witnessed an employee accusing Travis Moore, another black employee, of stealing his car [909]*909radio. After exclaiming that “all you niggers steal,” the employee threw a metal blade at Mr. Moore. The offender was terminated after an investigation.

Lastly, in his deposition Mr. Reedy describes incidents involving the exhibition of racial graffiti. According to that testimony, during September, 1998, the phrase “Tommy smoked crack, white crack” was written in a men’s bathroom stall' (one of two at the plant) and the word “coon” was written below Mr. Reedy’s name. In addition, there appeared a drawing of an ape accompanied by the phrase “all niggers must die.” Mr. Reedy reported the graffiti to Keith Bender, his immediate supervisor, and to Mr. Morris. Soon thereafter, the graffiti was painted over.

Mr. Reedy claims that the racial graffiti reappeared in October 1998. This time, he says, his name was written below the phrase “kill all niggers” on the bathroom handrail. Mr. Reedy again reported the offending bathroom graffiti, to which Mr. Morris allegedly responded, “I got it off once. What do you want me to do, tear the wall down?” This graffiti was not removed until after Mr. Reedy left the employment of Quebecor.

The district court held that Mr. Reedy’s account of these incidents, even if completely true, did not make out a submissive claim based on a hostile work environment. We disagree. Although we acknowledge that this is a close case, in our view Mr. Reedy has made out a claim.

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333 F.3d 906, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 13226, 84 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 41,434, 92 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 133, 2003 WL 21488016, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tommy-reedy-v-quebecor-printing-eagle-inc-and-its-representatives-ca8-2003.