Wolf v. MWH Constructors, Inc.

34 F. Supp. 3d 1213, 2014 WL 3707658, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101754
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedJuly 25, 2014
DocketCase No. 2:12-CV-318-FtM-38CM
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 34 F. Supp. 3d 1213 (Wolf v. MWH Constructors, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wolf v. MWH Constructors, Inc., 34 F. Supp. 3d 1213, 2014 WL 3707658, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101754 (M.D. Fla. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER1

SHERI POLSTER CHAPPELL, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Defendant MWH Constructors, Inc.’s Dis-positive Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc.# 56) filed on June 20, 2014. Plaintiff Leigh Wolf filed an Opposition to Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc.# 60) on July 3, 2014. Defendant also filed a Reply to Plaintiffs Opposition (Doc.# 66) on July 18, 2014, and Plaintiff thereafter filed a Surreply to Defendant’s Reply (Doc.# 69) on July 23, 2014. Thus, this matter is ripe for review.

BACKGROUND

I. Plaintiffs employment with Defendant

On April 17, 2000, MWH Americas, Inc. (“MWH Americas”), Defendant’s sister company, hired Plaintiff as an intern. (PL’s Dep. 8:24-9:3). When Plaintiff graduated from college in 2001, MWH Americas hired her full time as a project engineer. (PL’s Dep. 9:4-15). In late 2006, Plaintiff transferred to Defendant and became a senior project engineer. (PL’s Dep. 9:23-10:5). At that time, Defendant was managing the construction of water treatment plants, water reclamation facilities, and wells for the City of Cape Coral, Florida (collectively referred to as “the Cape Coral projects”). (Doc. # 56 at 2). Michael P. Holt served as Defendant’s Eastern Regional Manager for Municipal Construction Services from February 2006 to February 2008, and his office was in Atlanta, Georgia. (Holt Decl., ¶ 1). In this capacity, Holt headed the Cape Coral projects. (Id.). Larry Laws, the Division Construction Manager for the Cape Coral projects, reported to Holt. (Laws Decl., ¶1).

The specific Cape Coral project for which Plaintiff worked was the North Cape RO Water Treatment Plant (the “North Cape project”). (PL’s Dep. 11:18— 20, 12:6-15). The North Cape project entailed Defendant building a reverse osmosis water treatment plant and ancillary weils. (PL’s Dep. 12:10-15). Defendant assigned approximately fifteen to seventeen employees to this project. (Rowley Decl., ¶ 2). Pertinent to this action is Jack Currie, who was the Senior Project Manager for the North Cape project until his discharge on August 29, 2007. (Laws Decl., ¶ 6). Currie reported to both Holt [1218]*1218and Laws. (Holt Decl., ¶ 6). Also relevant is Shon Fandrieh, a Project Manager for the North Cape project. (Fandrieh Decl., ¶ 1). Plaintiff principally reported to Cur-rie, but, at times, she also reported to Fandrieh. (Holt Decl., ¶ 6; Fandrieh Decl., ¶ 2).

Officially, Plaintiff worked as a senior project engineer on the North Cape project until her resignation on June 11, 2008. (Pl.’s Dep. 14:3-10). Her primary duties consisted of engineering tasks such as interfacing between the design and construction teams, answering vendors’ information requests, writing change orders, and coordinating other communications between the subcontractors and the client. (Doc. # 56 at 4-5). Plaintiff, however, claims she was a senior project engineer in name only because she unofficially managed projects from design through construction and supervised staff. (Doc. # 60 at 10; Pl.’s Dep. 41:8-12).

Several specific instances of Plaintiffs employment are pertinent in this action, which the Court will detail in turn.

A. The W-2C project

Shortly after Plaintiff started working for the North Cape project, Currie assigned her to the ancillary W-2C project.2 (PL’s Dep. 70:20-25). The parties offer competing narratives on Plaintiffs precise role in this project. Plaintiff maintains she acted as a project manager until approximately July 2007, although she did not have that job title. (PL’s Dep. 41:8-15, 72:16-20). According to Plaintiff, Holt, “[wjithout warning, cause, or provocation,” ordered Currie to remove her from this managerial post and replaced her with John Petrous, who had inferior credentials. (Doc. # 60 at 3,. 30; PL’s Dep. 68:1-25). Plaintiffs compensation, benefits, and job title did not change when Petrous was assigned to the W-2C project. (PL’s Dep. 75:4-8). Defendant, however, contends Plaintiff temporarily assisted Currie on the W-2C project while Holt searched for an individual to fill that position permanently. (Holt Decl., ¶ 14). Holt then internally hired Petrous to manage the W-2C project, as he had significant experience in this area. (Id,.).

B. Plaintiffs internal career development

Defendant has an internal personnel and job classification system, titled “Career-Track.” (Rowley Decl., ¶ 7; PL’s Dep. 77:8-13). Under this system, employees are classified based on objective criteria like job requirements, skills, education level, and experience. (Rowley Decl., ¶ 7). CareerTrack allows Defendant to assign the appropriate employees to projects so the projects’ and clients’ needs are met. It also provides employees transparency on their job requirements and possible career advancements. (Id.).

CareerTrack groups jobs with similar requirements into six “families.” Within each family there are “career levels” that represent the education, experience, and leadership skills required of a job at that level. (Id.). Pertinent here, the “Technology family” is composed of engineering, design, and technical support professionals; whereas the “Project Management” family is composed of employees involved in construction management and actual construction. (Id., ¶ 8). It is common for employees to move between the families. (Doc. #56 at 3). Also, because Defen[1219]*1219dant’s employees collaborate on projects, it is common for a Technology family employee to assist with or perform duties normally performed by a Project Management employee. (Id., ¶ 8).

When Plaintiff joined Defendant as a senior project engineer, she was assigned to the Technology family. (Id., ¶ 9). Plaintiff, however, requested to be reclassified to the Project Management family sometime in December 2006. (Doc. # 60 at 28). On December 15, 2006, Shon Fandrich emailed Plaintiff to discuss her request. (Doc. # 60 at 28). Defendant decided Plaintiff needed more onsite experience managing construction projects before she qualified for a project manager position. (Rowley, ¶ 9; Holt Decl., ¶¶ 7, 15).

On May 18, 2007, Holt emailed Dana Dorr, a member of Defendant’s Human Resources department, asking what he needed to do to transfer Plaintiff to the Project Management family because it was “certainly appropriate that she be reclassified.” (Doc. # 56-3 at 6). Plaintiff was carbon copied on this email. (Doc. # 56-8 at 6). On June 1, 2007, Plaintiff followed-up with Holt about her reclassification because she had not received a response from Dorr. (Doc. # 56-3 at 5). Holt responded, “[d]ue to the myriad of America’s classifications I was having trouble flang-ing up your title with the appropriate Constructor’s title in the technical family. I will try to talk to Jack [Currie] and Dana [Dorr] today to get this flattened out.” (Doc. # 56-3 at 5).

On June 13, 2007, Plaintiff met with Holt to discuss her career goals and her request to transfer to the Project Management family. (Doc. # 60 at 26). According to Plaintiff, Holt denied her transfer request but encouraged her to pursue a career in project management and participate in project management training. (Doc. # 60 at 26; Holt Deck, ¶ 7). Sometime after this meeting with Holt, Plaintiff apparently contacted Ed Hernandez from Defendant’s Human Resources department to inquire about transferring to the Project Management family. (Doc.

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34 F. Supp. 3d 1213, 2014 WL 3707658, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101754, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wolf-v-mwh-constructors-inc-flmd-2014.