Diaz v. Eagle Produce Ltd. Partnership

• Decision Date: 04 April 2008
• Docket Number: No. 06-15878.,06-15878.
• Parties: Abel Ruiz DIAZ; Ubaldo Moreno; Piedad H. Renteria; Alejandro D. Mancilla, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. EAGLE PRODUCE LIMITED PARTNERSHIP; Phoenix Agro Invest, Inc.; Sam Management Inc., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

521 F.3d 1201

Abel Ruiz DIAZ; Ubaldo Moreno; Piedad H. Renteria; Alejandro D. Mancilla, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. EAGLE PRODUCE LIMITED PARTNERSHIP; Phoenix Agro Invest, Inc.; Sam Management Inc., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 06-15878.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted February 15, 2008.

Filed April 4, 2008.

George H. McKay and Pamela Bridge, Community Legal Services, Phoenix, AZ, for the plaintiffs-appellants.

Emily M. Craiger and J. Greg Coulter, Littler Mendelson, P.C., Phoenix, AZ, for the defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona; Mary H. Murguia, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-03-02127-MHM.

Before: WILLIAM C. CANBY, JR., and MILAN D. SMITH, JR., Circuit Judges, and STEPHEN G. LARSON,^* District Judge.

MILAN D. SMITH, JR., Circuit Judge:

In this appeal we consider whether the district court appropriately entered summary judgment against four farm workers who brought suit under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq., after being discharged in the context of a seasonal slowdown in agricultural activity. Applying the three-stage burden-shifting framework established in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for trial on one worker's claim of age discrimination.

I. BACKGROUND

Defendants-Appellees Phoenix Agro Invest, Inc., and SAM Management, Inc., are general partners in Defendant-Appellee Eagle Produce Limited Partnership (Eagle Produce), which operates a commercial broccoli and melon farm in Aguila, Arizona. The seasonal nature of farming these crops creates a fluctuating need for laborers that corresponds with periods of soil preparation, crop planting, and harvest. Eagle Produce hires new workers or transfers existing employees to satisfy its labor needs during periods of increased activity. Conversely, it lays off workers or transfers them to other operations when its need for labor decreases. Because work on the farm generally slows down each year between the melon harvest in the fall and planting in the spring, layoffs and transfers tend to occur in the winter. Reflecting this trend, the number of workers employed by Eagle Produce was 770 in July 2002, but only 332 in February of the same year.

Plaintiffs-Appellants Abel Ruiz Diaz, Ubaldo Moreno, Piedad H. Renteria, and Alejandro D. Mantilla (collectively, Plaintiffs) were laborers at Eagle Produce's Aguila farm. With the exception of Alejandro Mantilla, they were members of a tractor crew known as Crew 94 that was responsible for preparing the soil for planting. Plaintiffs were supervised exclusively by Chet Daffern until May 2001, when Eagle Produce hired Owen Brandt to work as co-supervisor. Brandt became the sole supervisor of Crew 94 when Daffern quit at the end of December 2001. One of Brandt's responsibilities was to make crew personnel decisions.

The work available at the farm became particularly scarce in the winter of 2001-2002. This was at least partly due to the farm's increased use of plastic mulching, a technique that involves placing a thin layer of plastic over the soil to protect it from the effects of the local climate. Fields covered with plastic mulch, as opposed to other forms of mulch, require significantly fewer hours to prepare. Even less preparation is required for fields that use so-called second-year plastic mulch, or plastic mulch laid down the previous year. From 2001 to 2002, the use of plastic mulch on Eagle Produce's cantaloupe fields increased from 2191.88 acres to 2690.25 acres. Within those totals, the acreage of second-year plastic mulch increased from 287.4 to 1208.3 acres. The use of plastic mulch for Eagle Produce's honeydew and mixed melon crops similarly increased from 70.4 acres in 2001 to 186.3 acres in 2002. The efficiency gained through the expanded use of this technique allowed Crew 94 to prepare the same amount of land with fewer hours of labor. The improved efficiency in turn reduced Crew 94's combined total work hours from 13,710.75 hours in January and February 2001 to only 7,346 for the same two-month period in 2002.

Brandt laid off several workers during this period. He claims that in deciding whose employment to terminate, he did not consider the extent of the employee's experience with a tractor, how many years the employee had been working at Eagle Produce, or the employee's age or wage. Brandt did, however, consider job performance, attitude, attendance, work ethic, and the individual's ability to work with others. Plaintiffs were among those whose employment was terminated.' The circumstances pertaining to each plaintiff are as follows:

Abel Ruiz Diaz

Diaz began working for Eagle Produce in August 1997 at the age of 51. At the time, he had approximately seven years of farm work experience. He drove a tractor at Aguila and, during harvest season, drove a truck from which he sprayed water onto the ground to reduce dust problems. Diaz was not qualified to drive a planting tractor, a responsibility that requires a certain level of technical expertise. Other than missing work approximately once a month due to a drinking problem, Diaz adequately fulfilled his duties at the farm.

On January 19, 2002, Brandt informed Diaz that he no longer had any work available. He offered Diaz a temporary transfer to the harvest tractor crew, but Diaz declined the offer because he was unfamiliar with that job, it was temporary, it involved fewer hours, and, in his view, it would be difficult to perform in light of a medical condition that precluded him from lifting objects heavier than fifty pounds. Shortly thereafter, Diaz was laid off. He was 55 years old at the time. An Eagle Produce notice states that he was laid off "due to reduction of work."

Ubaldo Moreno

Moreno began working for Crew 94 as a tractor and watertruck driver in June 2000, at the age of 65. He was a dependable worker, but had a history of damaging Eagle Produce property, including an irrigation ditch in June 1998 and a "disc and tractor" in March 2000. He also allowed unauthorized persons to drive Eagle Produce equipment in October 2001. On February 5, 2002, a tractor broke down while he was driving it, necessitating approximately $10,000 in repairs. Eagle Produce laid off Moreno the next day due to "reduction of work." He was 66 years old. Moreno's "history of damaging" Eagle Produce property was considered in selecting him as one of the workers to lose his job.

Piedad H. Renteria

Renteria worked as a tractor driver for Crew 94 and as a planting-tractor driver.¹ He also operated his own check-cashing business at the farm in violation of a company policy that prohibited solicitation on Eagle Produce property. On paydays, he would park his truck in front of the farm's office and cash his coworkers' paychecks in exchange for a small fee. He maintained this business for several years without ever being reprimanded or told to stop. Once Brandt became aware of the business, he warned Renteria to stop. Brandt gave the warning orally with the assistance of a translator to ensure that Renteria understood. Renteria indicated that he understood the warning, but nevertheless promptly resumed his business. Brandt dismissed him on February 23, 2002. Renteria was 65 years old at the time. Eagle Produce explains that Renteria was "laid off due to a seasonal work slow down, reduction in work and repeated violations of rules established in the Company Handbook." Renteria was not the only employee who cashed checks on Eagle Produce property, but, to his knowledge, he was the only one disciplined for doing so.

Alejandro Mancilla

Eagle Produce hired Mancilla when he was 58 in October 1996 to test GPS equipment on farm tractors. After that task was completed, Brandt hired Mancilla to work as a water-truck driver. In that capacity, Mancilla accidentally broke the bottom of a chemical trailer on January 23, 2002, and once received a verbal warning for failure to wear safety equipment. As work became unavailable at the end of the melon harvest, Brandt laid him off on February 5, 2002. Mancilla was 63 years old at the time. The employment-action notice states that he was laid off "due to reduction of work," but Eagle Produce also considered the damage that Mancilla caused to the trailer and his failure to wear safety equipment in deciding to terminate his employment. Mancilla never worked for Crew 94 when Brandt was the supervisor and was not qualified for planting. Eagle Produce has indicated that Mancilla is eligible for rehire when more work becomes available.

Plaintiffs filed an action in district court seeking declaratory relief and damages on the theory that their terminations violated the ADEA, the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, 29 U.S.C. § 1854 et seq., and the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12111 et seq. The district court granted Defendants-Appellees' motion for summary judgment on all claims. The workers appeal only the disposition of their ADEA claim.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW AND JURISDICTION

We review de novo a district court's grant of summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. Buono v. Norton, 371 F.3d 543, 545 (9th Cir. 2004). Rule 56(c) provides that summary judgment is warranted when the "pleadings, the discovery and disclosure materials on file, and any affidavits show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." A "genuine issue" of material fact will be absent if, upon "viewing the evidence and inferences which may be drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the adverse party, the movant is clearly entitled to prevail as a matter of law." Jones v. Halekulani Hotel, Inc., 557 F.2d 1308, 1310 (9th Cir. 1977). Summary judgment is inappropriate if reasonable jurors, drawing...