Rowan v. Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc.

• Decision Date: 11 March 2004
• Docket Number: No. 02-6160.,02-6160.
• Citation: 360 F.3d 544
• Parties: Roscoe C. ROWAN, III and Charles A. Washington, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. LOCKHEED MARTIN ENERGY SYSTEMS, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

360 F.3d 544

Roscoe C. ROWAN, III and Charles A. Washington, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. LOCKHEED MARTIN ENERGY SYSTEMS, INC., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 02-6160.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: January 29, 2004.

Decided and Filed: March 11, 2004.

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David A. Burkhalter, II (argued and briefed), Burkhalter, Rayson & Associates, Knoxville, TN, for Appellants.

Edward G. Phillips (argued and briefed), E.H. Rayson, Beecher A. Bartlett, Jr., Kramer, Rayson, Leake, Rodgers & Morgan, Knoxville, TN, Kenneth M. Brown (briefed), Oak Ridge, TN, for Appellee.

Before: MERRITT and SUTTON, Circuit Judges; FEIKENS, District Judge.^*

MERRITT, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which SUTTON, J., joined. FEIKENS, D.J. (p. 551), delivered a separate concurring opinion.

OPINION

MERRITT, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs Rowan and Washington are former employees of Defendant Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc. ("Lockheed") in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, at its uranium enrichment plant. They were laid off by Lockheed in December 1999 when Lockheed conducted a "reduction in force" due to Department of Energy budgetary cutbacks. The plaintiffs allege that they were selected for termination because of age discrimination and that they were unlawfully denied alternative jobs at Lockheed which went to younger employees. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendant, and the primary problem on appeal is whether some statements about age and retirement allegedly made by managers at the company raise a sufficient inference of age discrimination to send the case to the jury.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In 1996 Congress ordered the Department of Energy to conduct an inquiry into whether the nuclear workforce was prepared to deal with the possibility that many of its experts might soon be retiring. Accordingly, the Department established the "Chiles Commission" to look into the problem. In 1998 this commission visited Lockheed's Y-12 plant, where the plaintiffs worked. Lockheed reported to the Chiles Commission that 39% of the employees with "critical skills" in nuclear science and technology were in immediate danger to retire, and that a total of 78% would be eligible to retire within 10 years. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy's budget had been steadily declining throughout the 1990's, causing contractors like Lockheed to make severe job cuts. In one of these reductions in force the plaintiffs lost their jobs.

The plaintiffs' work at the plant did not place them in the critical skills category of workers. They each worked in the Clean Air section of the Environmental Compliance Department, Rowan as an "air permit engineer" and Washington in a "technical support" role, both helping to ensure compliance with the Clean Air Act. Rowan, who was 57 when terminated, and Washington, who was 63, allege that some of their supervisors made statements about the need to lower the average age at the plant in connection with the layoffs. They also allege that their immediate supervisor occasionally called them "old farts." For its part, Lockheed offers substantial evidence that its decisions were motivated by legitimate, non-age-biased reasons.

The trial court judge awarded summary judgment to the defendant on the grounds that the plaintiffs had failed to make out a prima facie case of age discrimination, and because in any event they failed to show that the reasons articulated by the defendant were not a sham and a pretext for age discrimination. Although we disagree with the trial court as to whether or not the plaintiffs made out a prima facie case, we AFFIRM the judgment because no reasonable jury could find that the reasons articulated by the defendant for why these two plaintiffs were laid off were a sham and a pretext.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

This Court reviews the District Court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Terry Barr Sales Agency, Inc. v. All-Lock Company, Inc., 96 F.3d 174, 178 (6th Cir.1996); Hartsel v. Keys, 87 F.3d 795, 799 (6th Cir.1996). In doing so it must review all facts and draw all inferences in a light most favorable to the non-moving party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). That is not to say that it only reviews evidence favorable to the non-moving party. Instead, it must review all the evidence in the record. Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 148-49, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000).

III. DISCUSSION

Plaintiffs can establish an age discrimination case in two different ways. First, they can follow the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting analysis. Manzer v. Diamond Shamrock Chemicals Co., 29 F.3d 1078, 1081 (6th Cir.1994) (citing McDonnell Douglas v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973)). According to this analysis, plaintiffs first establish a prima facie case of age discrimination. Id. At that point the burden shifts to the defendant, who must give legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons for the adverse employment decision. LaPointe v. United Autoworkers Local 600, 8 F.3d 376, 379 (6th Cir.1993) (citing McDonnell, 411 U.S. at 802, 93 S.Ct. 1817). If they do so, the burden shifts back to the plaintiffs, who must establish that the legitimate reasons offered by the defendant were just a pretext for decisions actually motivated by an unlawful bias against age. Id. This was the test followed by the district court, who concluded that the plaintiffs had failed to make out a prima facie case, and that even if they had made such a case they had failed to show that the reasons offered by the defense were only a pretext.

In order to establish a prima facie case of age discrimination, plaintiffs must show (1) that they were members of a protected age class; (2) that they were discharged; (3) that they were qualified for the positions they held; and (4) that they were replaced by a younger worker. Cox v. DOT, 53 F.3d 146, 150 (6th Cir.1995). However, in "reduction in force" cases like this one, the fourth prong is modified so that the plaintiffs must provide "additional direct, circumstantial, or statistical evidence tending to indicate that the employer singled out the plaintiff for discharge for impermissible reasons." Ercegovich v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 154 F.3d 344, 350 (6th Cir.1998). If the plaintiffs have made out a prima facie case of discrimination, the defendant can be awarded summary judgment only if no reasonable jury could conclude that the reasons offered for the plaintiffs' dismissals were only a pretext hiding a discriminatory motive.

The Sixth Circuit also recognizes an alternative test not discussed by the district court. If the plaintiffs can establish direct evidence of discrimination, then they need not go through the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting analysis. Talley v. Bravo Pitino Restaurant, Ltd., 61 F.3d 1241, 1248-49 (6th Cir.1995). Direct evidence is evidence that proves the existence of a fact without requiring any inferences. Manzer, 29 F.3d at 1081; Laderach v. U-Haul, 207 F.3d 825, 829 (6th Cir.2000); Jacklyn v. Schering Plough Healthcare Prods. Sales Corp., 176 F.3d 921, 926 (6th Cir.1999).

The plaintiffs fail to offer any direct evidence of discrimination. They offer no facts which would tie the decision to select Rowen and Washington for termination because of their age. Instead, they point to several statements allegedly made by various members of Lockheed's management about the general need to lower the average age of their workforce. Even if such statements were made, they would not constitute direct evidence of age-based bias against these particular plaintiffs. They might, however, raise some suspicion as to Lockheed's motives, and to that extent we disagree with the district court that the plaintiffs fail to make out even a prima facie case of discrimination. But even granting that the plaintiffs made out a prima facie case, when understood in context these statements could not lead a reasonable jury to conclude that the numerous legitimate reasons offered by Lockheed were merely a pretext for age-biased discrimination.

As the Supreme Court has pointed out, the ADEA "was prompted by [a] concern that older workers were being deprived of employment on the basis of inaccurate and stigmatizing stereotypes" that productivity and competence decline with age. Hazen Paper Co. v. Biggins, 507 U.S. 604, 610, 113 S.Ct. 1701, 123 L.Ed.2d 338 (1993). Although the plaintiffs quote Hazen for the proposition that the ADEA "requires the employer to ignore an employee's age," id. at 612, 113 S.Ct. 1701, they take that statement out of context. Employers may not consider an employee's age for its own sake, but the ADEA does not prohibit them from considering other factors that correlate with age. Id. at 611, 113 S.Ct. 1701. In Hazen the plaintiffs were allegedly fired to keep their pensions from vesting, and although the vesting of pensions correlates with age, the Supreme Court held that such a firing did not constitute discrimination under the ADEA (though it may violate other federal statutes, such as ERISA). Id. at 611-12, 113 S.Ct. 1701. Since age and years of service are "analytically distinct," a decision based on years of service is "not necessarily `age-based.'" Id. at 611, 113 S.Ct. 1701. By contrast, the ADEA protects against "inaccurate and stigmatizing stereotypes." Id. at 610, 113 S.Ct. 1701. Similarly here, a concern about impending retirements of nuclear scientists and skilled workers is not the same as a bias against age. We see no relevant difference between a concern that important employees are about to retire and a concern that employee pensions are about to vest.

Furthermore, the legislative history of the Act counsels against reading the statute as forbidding any consideration of age under any circumstances. As this Court has recognized, the ADEA was not intended "to prevent an employer from...