U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

185 F. Supp. 2d 932, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2352, 88 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 341
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. Illinois
DecidedFebruary 15, 2002
DocketNo. 00-CV-2157
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 185 F. Supp. 2d 932 (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Armstrong World Industries, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Armstrong World Industries, Inc., 185 F. Supp. 2d 932, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2352, 88 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 341 (C.D. Ill. 2002).

Opinion

ORDER

McCUSKEY, District Judge.

This case is before the court for ruling on the Motion for Summary Judgment (# 16) filed by Defendant Armstrong World Industries, Inc. Following this court’s careful and thorough review of the documents presented by the parties and the arguments of the parties, Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (# 16) is GRANTED.

FACTS

Roberta Olson was hired by Defendant in March 1979 and is still employed by Defendant at its plant in Kankakee, Illinois. Olson originally worked as a produc[934]*934tion attendant on the midnight shift. Olson later bid on and received positions as first production attendant, relief operator and calendar operator. These positions had a progressively higher pay grade. In 1994, Olson was selected by her supervisor, Jim Patterson, to be a “fill-in” or “backup” leader. In that position, she temporarily filled in for the leader on Line 2 when the leader or supervisor was not present. The job duties of a fill-in leader were the same as a leader. However, a leader also sat in on management meetings and was involved in disciplinary matters. A fill-in leader did not have these responsibilities. Olson testified that she applied for a leader position four or five times. Olson was interviewed for the position each time she applied until the last time she applied in April 1997.

In May 1995, Dean Dandurand complained to Patterson that Olson would get very close to him and rub her breasts against his arm and back. In addition, Paul Scroggins complained about Olson’s language. Beth Stauffer from human resources conducted an investigation. In the course of the investigation, Stauffer discussed the allegations against Olson with Deborah LaRocque,1 who was the human resources manager at Defendant’s Kan-kakee plant from 1991 to 1998. Following her investigation, Stauffer noted that Olson denied engaging in any inappropriate conduct and said she had cleaned up her language. Stauffer concluded that she could not say that one person was more at fault than any other and that the “whole crew” needed to undergo sexual harassment training as soon as possible. The record shows that, on June 22, 1995, Stauf-fer held a training session regarding sexual harassment which was attended by Olson, Scroggins, Dandurand and others.

Olson was interviewed for a leader position in December 1995. She was interviewed by five managerial/supervisory employees of Defendant, including LaRocque and Brian Fieleke, who was the supervisor on the midnight shift. Olson received some high ratings for technical experience because she knew all the jobs and was already working as a fill-in leader. However, she was ranked lower in other skills by most of the interviewers. LaRocque gave Olson an overall evaluation of 1, the lowest possible score. LaRocque testified that Olson was not the coach-type leader they were looking for. She stated that she was aware of many complaints from Olson’s peers about her not interacting well, being very bossy and engaging in inappropriate behavior. LaRocque also stated that Olson did not communicate well with her team and was not good at making decisions on her own. LaRocque stated that, in her opinion, Olson was not qualified for the leader position. LoRocque testified that she told Olson that she needed to work on her communication skills and explained what they were looking for in a leader. According to LaRocque, Olson admitted that people told her she was bossy, did not get along well with other employees and stirred up trouble. LaR-ocque testified that Olson said she was working hard to “turn that around.” At her deposition, Olson stated that she did not recall having this discussion with LaR-ocque. Fieleke testified that he did not believe Olson was qualified for the leader position because she needed to enhance her communication skills, conflict resolution skills and coaching technique.

Dean Cailteaux received much higher rankings at his interview and was chosen for the leader position. After she did not receive the leader position in December [935]*9351995, Olson told Fieleke that she no longer wanted to be a fill-in leader because, in her words, if she “wasn’t good enough to hold the position on a permanent basis, ... [she] must not be good enough to fill in on it.”

On August 15, 1996, an incident occurred at work involving Olson and two male employees, Dandurand and Scrog-gins. Olson testified that Dandurand and Scroggins made sexual comments to her and touched her inappropriately. Olson testified that neither Dandurand or Scrog-gins had ever touched her inappropriately before this incident. Olson did not report the incident to anyone. However, Cail-teaux noticed she was crying and upset and notified Fieleke. An investigation took place. When interviewed, Olson told Fieleke and LaRocque what had happened. She admitted she used inappropriate language and profanity in an effort to get Dandurand and Scroggins to stop their behavior. When he was interviewed, Scroggins claimed that he was verbally harassed by Olson. Based upon the investigation, Dandurand and Scroggins were issued Level II written warnings. Both were off work for five days without pay and were required to write a personal improvement plan during the time off which stated how they would change their behavior and improve their interactions with Olson and their co-workers. On August 26, 1996, after she returned from a previously scheduled vacation, Olson was issued a Level I written warning based upon her use of verbal sexual comments. At the meeting, Olson admitted using inappropriate language in her attempt to get Scroggins and Dandurand to stop what they were doing. She said she realized she was wrong and should have told Fie-leke, LaRocque or Cailteaux instead of trying to handle the incident on her own.

On October 5, 1996, Olson was transferred to the day shift based upon a bid she had made prior to the August 1996 incident. Olson testified that she asked for an immediate transfer after the incident because she was nervous about working with Scroggins and Dandurand, but this request was denied.

In April 1997, Olson applied for an open leader position. She was informed by Don Meeler, the manager of the residential business unit team, that she would not be interviewed for the position. Meeler told her that she would not be interviewed because she was in the discipline process. LaRocque testified that she and Meeler made the decision not to interview Olson because Olson lacked the qualifications for the position and because Olson was in the discipline process. LaRocque stated that there was no written policy that someone in the discipline process could not be considered for a promotion but testified that “[a]nyone in discipline obviously is not the type of role model that we want to have as a leader.” Victor Thomas was hired for the position in April 1997. Fieleke and LaRocque testified that they believed Thomas was more qualified than Olson for the position. LaRocque testified that Thomas had good communications skills, interacted effectively with his peers, was able to coach others to be successful and was able to make decisions on his own.

On June 16, 1997, Olson filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Illinois Department of Human Rights. In her charge, Olson stated:

Over the past ten years, I have applied for promotion including promotion to production leader. The. last time I sought such a promotion was in April, 1997.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Giwa v. City of Peoria
917 F. Supp. 2d 850 (C.D. Illinois, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
185 F. Supp. 2d 932, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2352, 88 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/us-equal-employment-opportunity-commission-v-armstrong-world-industries-ilcd-2002.