Bevan v. Honeywell, Inc.

• Decision Date: 03 July 1997
• Docket Number: 96-1490,Nos. 96-1394,s. 96-1394
• Citation: 118 F.3d 603
• Parties: 75 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 255, 71 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,892 Paul BEVAN, Cross-Appellant/Appellee, v. HONEYWELL, INC., Appellant/Cross-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 603

118 F.3d 603

75 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 255,

71 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,892

Paul BEVAN, Cross-Appellant/Appellee, v. HONEYWELL, INC., Appellant/Cross-Appellee.

Nos. 96-1394, 96-1490.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Nov. 18, 1996.

Decided July 3, 1997.

Eric John Magnuson, Minneapolis, MN, argued (Richard J. Nygaard and John D. Thompson appeared on the brief), for appellant.

Robert R. Barth, Minneapolis, MN, argued (Sarah C. Madison and Robert D. Maher appeared on the brief), for appellee.

Before FAGG, LAY, and HANSEN, Circuit Judges.

HANSEN, Circuit Judge.

Paul Bevan brought this age discrimination suit against his former employer, Honeywell, Inc., alleging violations of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-634 (1988 & Supp. IV 1992), and the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA), Minn.Stat. Ann. §§ 363.01-363.15 (1991 & Supp.1997). Bevan won a jury verdict on the ADEA claim, which Honeywell appeals, and the district court found in favor of Honeywell on the MHRA claim, which Bevan cross appeals. Bevan also cross appeals the district court's award of attorney's fees. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. Background

For the purpose of reviewing the ADEA claim, we recite the facts in the light most favorable to the jury verdict. See Parrish v. Immanuel Med. Ctr., 92 F.3d 727, 731 (8th Cir.1996). In May 1968, Paul Bevan began working for Honeywell as a field sales representative in New Jersey. He left Honeywell on good terms for a period of approximately six months in the 1970s, after which he returned to Honeywell as a branch manager trainee. During the late 1970s, Bevan was promoted to the position of branch manager in Santa Ana, California, on the recommendation that "[h]e is quick, intelligent, and talented with a desire for both challenge and success." (Appellee's App. at 42.) In 1981, he relocated to the Minneapolis area to serve as director of marketing for the Protection Services Division of Home and Building International. At that time, Honeywell's umbrella group, Home and Building International, was organized in three segments--the Protection Services Division, the Commercial Buildings Group, and the Residential Building Control Division.

In January 1987, Bevan was named the director of systems marketing for the Commercial Buildings Group, selling hardware to perform climate control functions in commercial buildings. On the same day, Kevin Gilligan assumed the office of director of services marketing for the Commercial Buildings Group, maintaining and servicing the hardware after its installation. In 1988, Bevan's immediate supervisor was Richard Egan, vice president of marketing, manufacturing, and engineering for the Commercial Buildings Group. Egan reported to David Larkin, the vice president and general manager for the Commercial Buildings Group.

Honeywell's company personnel file and evaluations of Bevan reflect nothing less than positive improvement and above average performance on his part. Bevan always received high performance ratings in annual reviews. Consistent with these reviews, he was awarded regular merit raises throughout his career.

Although there were no negative comments in Bevan's performance evaluations concerning his management style or personality, Bevan decided to participate in a program at Personnel Decisions, Inc. (P.D.I.), designed to enhance his executive skills. Honeywell paid approximately $11,160 for his participation in the program. The assessment and evaluation reports from the program contained some negative comments about Bevan's confrontational style, noting that his "communication skills are hampered by his abrasive, domineering management style." (Trial Tr. at 467.) Bevan completed this program in early 1991 and immediately thereafter received positive comments about perceived improvements in his interpersonal skills. His last performance evaluation, which was conducted in the summer of 1990, reflected an outstanding performance rating, and Bevan was awarded a merit increase in salary effective January 1, 1991.

On January 1, 1991, a new president, Michael Bonsignore, was appointed for the Home and Building International operations. Bonsignore chose Manfred Fiedler to act as human relations planner, and Fiedler appointed Jack Ruppel, human resource manager, as his aide. Bonsignore began a "revitalization" campaign for the company. For years, Honeywell's human resource department had used an annual talent review process to identify talented persons who could be prepared to fill significant managerial positions on short notice if such a position became available due to illness or death of a management head. Prior to the revitalization campaign, this talent review process had always evaluated the talent pool in a neutral fashion, without regard to age. With the revitalization campaign came a change in this policy. Succession planning documents for the Commercial Buildings Group dated March 1991, included a list of high talent persons and their ages. With one exception, all were under age 50.

On May 16, 1991, Ruppel (human resource manager) sent a memo to the human resource heads of the three divisions within Home and Building International, requesting information pertinent to the talent review process. The memo asked the division heads to begin considering some specifically listed points that would be important for the 1991/92 developmental plan, noting that "various elements" of the review process would "be somewhat different from what you're used to." (Appellant's App. at 125.) The memo stated that the 1991/92 plan "requires your best thinking as to specific action plans to prepare your key talent and/or younger (35 year olds) promising talents." (Id.) The memo directed the department heads to "[f]ocus on your younger, promising talents (in the 35 year old range or younger)," and provided that each would have 45 minutes "to present 2-3 key or promising younger talents." (Id. at 126.) Finally, the memo warned that "candidates should not be compromises, but really excellent choices, specifically, younger, promising talents." (Id.) Larkin, vice president of the Commercial Buildings Group, testified that he received this memo. He said that he was disappointed with the language of the memo and that he thought Ruppel had misinterpreted the corporation's intent in searching out talent for the corporation's long-range leadership goals. In response to this reaction, Ruppel circulated a revised and "sanitized" memo which omitted the language directly evidencing a preference for the younger talent. Nevertheless, the human resources head for the Commercial Buildings Group, Ronald Pederson, responded to Ruppel's memo by identifying young, high-potential employees, all of whom, with one exception, were under the age of 50.

On October 14, 1991, Larkin reorganized the Commercial Buildings Group's marketing forces by combining what had been the systems marketing department (headed by Bevan) with the services marketing department (headed by Gilligan). Honeywell claimed that this reorganization was an effort to correct and eliminate disputes that existed between the actual sales and installation people and the people who were developing marketing policy and strategy, such as Bevan. This reorganization eliminated Dick Egan's position as vice president of marketing, engineering, and production (Bevan's boss) as well as Bevan's position as director of systems marketing.

Bevan had been aware that this reorganization, combining the marketing and services departments, would take place at some time. Having received only positive feedback concerning his performance prior to that time, Bevan had remained confident that there would be a place for him in the new organization. On the day the reorganization was announced, Bevan had a previously scheduled meeting with Egan. Egan then informed Bevan that Bevan would no longer be in marketing and that Larkin had chosen Kevin Gilligan (who was 36 years old at the time) to be the vice president of the new unitary marketing and services department. Bevan asked Egan why he was being removed from marketing, and he responded that Larkin felt he (Bevan) would not be able to report to or support the younger Gilligan, because of Bevan's experience and age.

On December 13, 1991, however, Gilligan created a marketing position for Bevan as director of contractor marketing and distribution. Before beginning this new position, Bevan took three weeks of vacation, during which he had facial surgery in an attempt to look younger. Bevan had noticed that every new director-level person was under the age of 40 after the reorganization.

On December 20, 1991, one week after Gilligan announced Bevan's new position, Honeywell announced that it was combining the three separate units of Home and Building International--the Protection Services Division, the Commercial Buildings Group, and the Residential Building Control Division--into one integrated unit called the Honeywell World-Wide Home and Building Control Organization (H & BC). Bonsignore appointed Jean-Pierre Rosso, formerly the president of Honeywell in Europe, as president of the new H & BC. On January 20, 1992, when Bevan returned from his facial surgery to start his new position, he learned that Rosso had replaced David Larkin with Richard Cathcart and ordered that Bevan be removed from marketing. Gilligan, then age 37, and Marty Griemal, age 34, assumed Bevan's responsibilities. Bevan was the only director-level marketing person within Gilligan's organization who was over the age of 45, and he was the only one removed.

Bevan was removed from his position, but he was not terminated for another five months and he was given no work in the interim. Several employees asked Bevan to help with projects during this time, but they never received permission to give work to Bevan. Honeywell represented to Bevan that it remained committed...