Geiger v. Tower Automotive

• Decision Date: 04 September 2009
• Docket Number: No. 08-1314.,08-1314.
• Citation: 579 F.3d 614
• Parties: Raymond L. GEIGER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TOWER AUTOMOTIVE, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

579 F.3d 614

Raymond L. GEIGER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TOWER AUTOMOTIVE, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 08-1314.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: May 1, 2009.

Decided and Filed: September 4, 2009.

ARGUED:

Richard A. Meier, Law Office, Farmington Hills, Michigan, for Appellant. Philip B. Phillips, Foley & Lardner LLP, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee.

ON BRIEF:

Richard A. Meier, Law Office, Farmington Hills, Michigan, for Appellant. Philip B. Phillips, Jennifer L. Neumann, Foley & Lardner LLP, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee.

Before; KENNEDY, GIBBONS, and ROGERS, Circuit Judges.

GIBBONS, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which KENNEDY, J., joined. ROGERS, J. (p. 626), delivered a separate opinion concurring in the result.

OPINION

JULIA SMITH GIBBONS, Circuit Judge.

Raymond Geiger appeals the grant of summary judgment to Tower Automotive ("Tower") on his employment discrimination claims pursuant to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. § 623(a) and Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act ("ELCRA"), Mich. Comp. Laws §§ 37.2202 et seq. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan found that Geiger failed to make a prima facie showing of age discrimination under either federal or state law and entered judgment as a matter of law for Tower.

For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I.

The facts of this case arise from Geiger's termination from his employment at Tower. Geiger, born in 1943, worked as a Maintenance, Repair, and Operations ("MRO") Buyer for Tower's Elkton plant. He was employed as an MRO Buyer in 1998 and worked until his termination on November 11, 2005, when he was 62 years old. Ellen Moorman, the human resources manager, testified that Tower reduced the number of employees at the Elkton plant from 122 positions in 2000 to 61 positions in 2006. Most of these reductions took place because of downsizings. In 2005, Tower filed for bankruptcy, which further increased the need to eliminate positions. According to Alfred Buycks, the director of MRO purchasing, the president of Tower decided to centralize the purchasing responsibilities in light of the bankruptcy. Buycks stated that the vice-president of Tower instructed him to eliminate 15 buyer positions, reducing the staff from 21 buyers to 6. While the 21 buyers had each been assigned to a single facility, the 6 consolidated buyer positions would be responsible for geographic regions. As a result, Geiger's position at the Elkton facility was eliminated, and a single new position was created with responsibility for both the Elkton and Clinton facilities. Buycks, in consultation with his superior and with human resources, made the hiring decisions for the new buyer positions.

Geiger remembers learning of this planned centralization at some point in May of 2005. Buycks drafted an organizational chart around the beginning of May of 2005 with potential reassignments, listing Belinda Strong¹ as the MRO Buyer for the Elkton and Clinton facilities. Buycks allegedly modified this chart on May 13, 2005, by adding phone numbers of several of the employees, including Strong, to the chart. Buycks testified that he had not made any hiring decisions at that point and that the draft represented only "brainstorming." The fact that other individuals shown slated for the position were not actually chosen supports Buycks's testimony. On May 13, 2005, employees received an internal email notifying them that Tower would centralize many positions, including buyer positions.

Sometime during the early summer of 2005, Geiger alleges that his supervisor and materials manager Mike Rokicki arranged for Kevin Truemner, a younger employee, to receive training pertinent to Geiger's job and suggested that Geiger take a voluntary layoff for the one-week duration of the training. Geiger claims that this happened because "Mr. Rokicki thought [Geiger] was considering retirement and that he felt [it was] in the best interest of the Elkton business unit that he should have that role covered by a younger person." (Geiger's Dep. at 44.) Geiger was not considering retirement and complained to his immediate supervisor, Mike Murphy. Geiger was ultimately allowed to attend the training session instead of the younger employee.

Tower produced a spreadsheet which listed the current MRO Buyers and also listed six MRO Buyer positions to be reduced. Geiger was one of the six "[c]andidates for reduction." Shortly after this spreadsheet was generated, Buycks encouraged all MRO Buyers to apply for one of the new MRO Area Buyer positions. He believes he contacted all of the MRO Buyers individually to encourage them to apply, but he does not remember speaking with Geiger. Geiger claims that he was never contacted. Strong says that she was personally contacted and encouraged to apply, although Buycks does not remember this conversation either. Based on this sequence of events, Geiger claims that he was not seriously considered for the job.

Murphy assisted Geiger in filling out the online application for the job, but Tower claims that it never received his application. Nevertheless, both Geiger and Strong were interviewed for the position. On July 8, 2005, Linda Kreuter, the manager of human resources, sent Buycks an email, instructing him that he "should plan to contact the current plant MRO Buyers to make sure they are aware of and apply for the positions and talk with them personally about the role." Another version of the same email, presumably the original version of the email, was found during discovery and stated that Buyck "should plan to contact those MRO buyers that you want to make sure apply for the positions and talk with them personally about the role" (emphasis added). The district court permitted Geiger to depose Kreuter about the alteration, and the parties provided supplemental briefing on the issue. Kreuter stated in her deposition that she did not recall changing the email, nor did she know how it was changed. It is unclear who altered this email, when the alteration occurred, or why. Geiger claims that the alteration indicates Tower's intention to cover up its illegal age discrimination against him.

In September of 2005, Buycks offered Strong the position, and she accepted. Buycks explained that he chose Strong because of her "systems and computer skills, being a team player, having a full understanding of MRO materials at her plant, and ... also her interpersonal skills, dealing with upper leadership." (Buycks's Dep. at 48.) He further explained that although Geiger was a hard and dedicated worker, "some of his skill sets weren't as up-to-date ... [w]hen it comes to systems, Power Point, Excel, things of that nature." (Buycks's Dep. at 49-50.) Buycks also stated that Strong's interpersonal skills were more impressive than Geiger's. Cannon interviewed both candidates and recommended Strong for the position, saying that he was impressed by Strong's performance at the Clinton facility, particularly the policies and procedures she implemented. Murphy, Geiger's immediate supervisor, stated that Geiger was a "good employee" and performed to his expectations, although his time management skills and organizational skills were "not excellent." (Murphy's Dep. at 8.) According to Buycks, age played no role in his decision to hire Strong.

On November 11, 2005, Geiger's employment was terminated. Moorman stated in her deposition that no one was hired to replace him, and his former responsibilities have been distributed among hourly union employees. Geiger claims that he was the only person who was not reassigned to another position within Tower after the centralization. Geiger filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, alleging age discrimination in violation of the ADEA and the ECLRA.

During the course of discovery, Geiger found two additional documents and a comment made during a deposition that he claims further indicate that he was terminated on account of his age. First, meeting notes from an "MRO Centralization Meeting" list Rokicki as having concerns that Geiger might file an age discrimination suit against Tower. Specifically, the notes state: "Ray Geiger has been identified as potential [reduction in force]. [Rokicki] is concerned with age discrimination issue he will follow up with [human resources]." Second, in response to an email from Cannon regarding the fact that an employee leaked the information that Geiger's employment was going to be terminated, Rokicki stated: "Just a FYI. I'm still sticking with the Friday plan [to terminate Geiger], although [Geiger] will probably be fishing for info from me later today.... P.S. I just cannot shake this feeling that we're doomed!" Third, in her deposition, Moorman was asked why a document had Geiger listed as laid off rather than terminated. She responded, "I maybe made a boo-boo."

Tower filed a motion for summary judgment. After hearing argument, the district court granted the motion, finding that Geiger had not established a prima facie case of age discrimination under the heightened standard applicable to work force reductions. The district court found that Geiger had not provided evidence to challenge Tower's proffered reason that his discharge was due to Tower's work force reductions. Geiger filed a motion for reconsideration, which was denied by the district court. Geiger v. Tower Auto., No. 06-13633-BC, 2008 WL 544958, at *2 (E.D.Mich. Feb.25, 2008). Geiger timely appealed to this court.

II.

We review a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. See Niemi v. NHK Spring Co., Ltd., 543 F.3d 294, 298 (6th Cir.2008). Summary judgment should be granted when the moving party can "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." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Once the moving party has met its...