EEOC v. Harber-Yeargin Inc.

• Citation: 266 F.3d 498
• Decision Date: 21 September 2001
• Docket Number: HARBERT-YEARGI,Nos. 00-5150,INC,s. 00-5150
• Parties: (6th Cir. 2001) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellee/ Cross-Appellant, JOSEPH CARLTON, Intervening Plaintiff-Appellee, v., Defendant-Appellant/Cross-Appellee. /00-5232
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)

Page 498

266 F.3d 498 (6th Cir. 2001)

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellee/ Cross-Appellant, JOSEPH CARLTON, Intervening Plaintiff-Appellee, v. HARBERT-YEARGIN, INC., Defendant-Appellant/Cross-Appellee.

Nos. 00-5150/00-5232

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

Argued June 8, 2001

Decided and Filed September 21, 2001

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

Carolyn L. Wheeler (briefed), Paula Bruner (argued and briefed), EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Washington, D.C., Michael L. Weinman, TATUM & WEINMAN, Henderson, Tennessee, for Appellees.

Michael L. Weinman (argued and briefed), TATUM & WEINMAN, Henderson, Tennessee, for Appellees. Paula Bruner, EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Washington, D.C.,

Thomas L. Henderson (briefed), Frederick J. Lewis (argued), John Morris Russell (briefed), LEWIS, FISHER, HENDERSON & CLAXTON, Memphis, Tennessee, for Appellant.

Before: GUY, NORRIS, and GILMAN, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

GILMAN, Circuit Judge.

This case involves a same-sex sexual harassment suit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against Harbert-Yeargin, Inc. on behalf of Terry Dotson, William Doyle, and Cedric Woods, three of the company's employees. A fourth employee, Joseph Carlton, intervened. The complaint alleged that Harbert-Yeargin allowed its male employees to be subjected to unwelcome and offensive touching on the basis of sex and failed to take corrective action, thereby creating a hostile work environment in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. A jury returned a verdict for both Carlton and Woods on their claims, awarding Carlton $ 1 in compensatory damages and $ 300,000 in punitive damages, and Woods $ 1 in compensatory damages and $ 50,000 in punitive damages. No recovery was had by either Dotson or Doyle. The district court denied Harbert-Yeargin's motion for judgment as a matter of law with respect to Carlton's claim, but granted the company's motion with respect to Woods's claim.

Harbert-Yeargin now appeals, challenging the district court's rulings that (1) denied its motion for judgment as a matter of law with regard to Carlton's claim, (2) admitted evidence that Harbert-Yeargin had engaged in similar misconduct in the past, and (3) upheld the jury's punitive damage award with regard to Carlton's claim. The EEOC cross-appeals, challenging the district court's grant of judgment as a matter of law in favor of Harbert-Yeargin regarding Woods's claim. For the reasons set forth below, I would AFFIRM the judgment of the district court on both Carlton's and Woods's claims.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual background

Harbert-Yeargin, a subsidiary of Raytheon Co., is a company that provided maintenance services at a Jackson, Tennessee construction site under a contract with Procter and Gamble Co. Both Carlton and Woods claim that they were the victims of same-sex sexual harassment and discrimination while employed at the Harbert-Yeargin site. In particular, they allege that they were subjected to unwanted touching, poking, and prodding in their genital areas, and to a hostile work environment that allowed such behavior to flourish.

1. Carlton's claim

Carlton was a pipe welder who began working for Harbert-Yeargin on January 8, 1996. He was assigned to the crew of Louis Davis, whose job was to assign tasks and supervise his men. Carlton claims that Davis immediately began to bother him by getting too close and frequently touching Carlton's upper thigh.

The first time that Davis touched Carlton in his genital area was on February 6, 1996. Carlton and his pipe fitter had been working in an isolated part of the facility when Davis sent the fitter away to get new supplies, leaving Carlton alone with Davis. After the fitter left, Davis grabbed Carlton's "private area . . . just out of the blue." Then Davis "jerked his hand back and took off." Carlton told the fitter about the incident when his assistant returned, but did not file a complaint because there were no eyewitnesses and because he had only been on the job for a few weeks. After this incident, Davis kept "trying to get close" to Carlton, making it difficult for Carlton to concentrate on his welding.

The next time that Davis touched Carlton in his genital area was on Thursday, February 22, 1996. Carlton had bent over a table while welding, when he felt a hand that "kind of comes in from the backside to my testicles and kind of comes all the way around to the bottom of my back. I just threw the hood down. I almost lost it. I really did." When Carlton removed his helmet to see whose hand it was, he saw Davis "running off again, just like he did when he grabbed me the first time." The two incidents caused Carlton to feel "outraged," and both mentally and physically exhausted.

The February 22, 1996 incident was witnessed by coworker Larry Lindley, who told Carlton: "Joe, you need to see Bomar." On the following day, Carlton reported Davis's behavior to Don Bomar, the general superintendent. Bomar laughed at first, but told Carlton that he would keep Carlton's complaint confidential and would look into the matter. He later testified that it did not surprise him to hear that Davis had "goosed" someone. When Bomar reported Carlton's complaint to Harold Scott, the site superintendent, Bomar was directed to notify the Harbert-Yeargin home office in Greenville, South Carolina. The human resources official at corporate headquarters, Robert Cooper, instructed Bomar to transfer Carlton out of Davis's workgroup. By the time Carlton returned to work on Monday, February 26, 1996, he had been moved to another crew with a different supervisor.

According to Carlton, however, the sexual harassment continued. Carlton testified that Davis began stalking him by "standing off far enough to let me know that he was there." In addition, word leaked out that Carlton had filed a sexual harassment complaint, despite Bomar's promise to Carlton that his complaint would remain confidential. A number of Carlton's coworkers taunted Carlton repeatedly by grabbing and "hunching" on each other. They also began to call Carlton "Louie's girlfriend" and to treat him as if he had "the plague." One coworker testified that various supervisors were present when Carlton was being taunted, and that some of them joined in mocking Carlton by saying that if Carlton were a "real man," he would address the matter in a manner other than by filing a sexual harassment complaint. Even after Carlton informed Bomar about the behavior of his coworkers, the ridicule continued, finally causing Carlton to quit his job in April of 1996.

Meanwhile, on February 26, 1996, Bomar wrote up Carlton's complaint. He also told Davis about the complaint, to which Davis responded by grinning and denying that he had ever done anything to Carlton. Finally, Bomar directed Davis to document a "welding problem" allegedly caused by Carlton and to place it in Carlton's file. Bomar later admitted that this manner of documentation was contrary to company policy, which instead required a specific "verbal reprimand form" to be completed.

On March 4, 1996, Cooper, the corporate headquarters human resources representative, came to the Jackson, Tennessee site to investigate Carlton's complaint. His investigation lasted about four hours, and consisted solely of talking to Bomar, Davis, Scott, and Carlton. Bomar, Davis, and Scott all admitted that "horseplay" happened at the facility, although their stories varied as to the actual amount of horseplay involved. Carlton, however, declined to discuss his complaint with Cooper unless his attorney was present. Cooper, in turn, did not contact Carlton's attorney, even though Carlton gave Cooper his attorney's name and telephone number. He also failed to interview Lindley, who witnessed the second incident, or anyone else on Davis's crew, even though Cooper was provided with a list of their names.

At the end of his investigation, Cooper warned Bomar and Scott about the "rampant" horseplay occurring at the facility, pointed out that it violated company policy, and told them to prevent any retaliation against Carlton. Davis, however, was neither reprimanded nor disciplined as a result of Carlton's investigation, because the report to corporate headquarters concluded that no harassment had occurred.

2. Woods's claim

Woods worked for Harbert-Yeargin from May 22, 1995 until July 11, 1996, but, unlike Carlton, was not on the crew supervised by Davis. He was first touched by Davis six months after Woods began working at the facility. The incident occurred when Woods was riding in a taxi truck full of coworkers. Davis got on the truck, put his arm around Woods, and placed his hands on Woods's "privates." Woods responded by removing Davis's hand and leaving the truck. Davis laughed, and the other employees all joked about the incident.

Afterwards, at least "two or three times a day," Davis would get up close to Woods and touch him "a lot" on various parts of his body, including his privates. Woods felt that "it wasn't right" when Davis touched him, and eventually became so uncomfortable around Davis that, when he saw Davis coming towards him, Woods would get up and run.

3. The environment at Harbert-Yeargin

Harbert-Yeargin had both a general anti-harassment policy and a specific anti-sexual harassment policy. These policies were posted on its bulletin board at the facility. Under the anti-sexual harassment policy, "unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when . . . the harassment substantially interferes with an employee's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment."

Despite the existence of these written policies, evidence presented by the EEOC indicated that many employees and supervisors were unaware of their content. Various employees testified that...