Ardrey v. United Parcel Service

• Decision Date: 19 August 1985
• Docket Number: No. C-C-82-323-P.,C-C-82-323-P.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of North Carolina
• Parties: Marcus ARDREY, James Cherry, Bessie Easterling, et al., Plaintiffs, v. UNITED PARCEL SERVICE, Defendant.

615 F. Supp. 1250

Marcus ARDREY, James Cherry, Bessie Easterling, et al., Plaintiffs, v. UNITED PARCEL SERVICE, Defendant.

No. C-C-82-323-P.

United States District Court, W.D. North Carolina, Charlotte Division.

August 19, 1985.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Michael A. Sheely, Sheely & Brooks, Charlotte, N.C., for plaintiffs.

William W. Sturges, Weinstein, Sturges, Odom, Groves, Bigger, Jonas & Campbell, P.A., Charlotte, N.C., for defendant.

ORDER

ROBERT D. POTTER, Chief Judge.

The Plaintiffs filed this action on May 20, 1982 alleging they were discriminated against by the Defendant because of race, sex, and age in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (Section 1981) and 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq. ("ADEA"). By Order of April 9, 1984 the ADEA claims were dismissed. The trial was heard before the undersigned on November 26, 27, 28, and December 21, 1984 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Plaintiffs were represented by Michael A. Sheely and the Defendant was represented by William W. Sturges. After a full trial of the matter, the Court, having carefully considered the testimony and exhibits, enters the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:

FINDINGS OF FACT

(1) The Defendant, United Parcel Service ("UPS") is a corporation engaged in the interstate transportation of parcels. It employs in excess of fifteen employees and is an "employer" within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b) and a "person" within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 1981.

(2) Local Union No. 71 of the Teamsters is the bargaining agent at UPS for the bargaining unit in which the majority of the Plaintiffs are members. The positions covered by the collective bargaining agreement include package car drivers, feeder drivers, part-time loader/unloaders, sorters, car washers, mechanics, and building maintenance. The policy of UPS in reference to full-time bargaining unit positions provides that for every three openings two openings would be filled by part-time bargaining unit employees and the third opening would be filled from the street.

(3) There are twelve Plaintiffs in this litigation who were all employed at the West Carolina District of UPS. This district encompasses the western part of North Carolina and all of South Carolina.

(4) The Plaintiff, Marcus Ardrey, a black male is currently employed by UPS as a full-time car washer shifter. He asserts claims of racial discrimination in the denial of package car driver position and preloader position.

(5) The Plaintiff, James Cherry, a black male, is currently employed by UPS as a full-time package car driver. He asserts claims of racial discrimination in the denial of a preloader position and in the issuing of warnings to him. In addition, he claims the warnings were issued in retaliation for his opposition to practices illegal under Title VII.

(6) The Plaintiff, Bessie Easterling Brown, a black female, is currently employed by UPS as a feeder driver. She alleges racial discrimination in the issuance of warnings to her, the denial of time off, her one day discharge and her general treatment by the supervisors.

(7) The Plaintiff, Lewis Funderburk, a black male, is currently employed by UPS as a feeder driver. He alleges racial discrimination in the assignment of feeder driver equipment.

(8) The Plaintiff, Horace Jenkins, a black male over forty, was formerly¹ employed by UPS as a package car driver. He alleges age and racial discrimination in the denial of light duty work, the removal of the responsibility of "call tags" and "one shots" and the assignment of equipment. His ADEA claim has already been dismissed and summary judgment in favor of UPS was granted on his light duty claim.

(9) The Plaintiff, Joyce Massey, a black female, was formerly employed by UPS as a part-time simulator. She alleges sex and race discrimination in her discharge after she was laid off by UPS. She was not a member of Local Union No. 71.

(10) The Plaintiff, Eugene Neal, a black male, is currently employed by UPS as a feeder driver. He alleges racial discrimination and retaliation in the denial of a supervisor position and in assigning overtime work. He further testified that racial discrimination exists in the assignment of feeder driver equipment.

(11) The Plaintiff, Matthew Smith, a black male, is currently employed by UPS as a feeder driver. He alleges racial discrimination in the assignment of feeder driver equipment and the issuance of warnings and suspensions.

(12) The Plaintiff, Carl Watts, a black male, is currently employed by UPS as a part-time loader. He alleges racial discrimination in the denial of a package car position and in the issuance of warnings.

(13) The Plaintiff, Cheryl Pettigrew, a black female, was formerly employed by UPS as a tracer clerk. She alleges racial discrimination in her treatment by her supervisor, her training and her subsequent discharge.

(14) The Plaintiffs, Jerome Morrow and Henry Tyson, black males, are currently employed by UPS as full-time car wash shifters. They allege racial discrimination by having to work in a racist atmosphere.

(15) All of the Plaintiffs allege racial discrimination by being subjected to work in a racist atmosphere.

(16) All of the Plaintiffs filed a timely charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") and exhausted their administrative remedies.

A. ARDREY — PACKAGE CAR DRIVER

(1) On April 7, 1980 Mr. Ardrey applied for a full-time package car position. His application revealed he was convicted on July 16, 1979 of a DUI and his license was suspended for six months.

(2) Applicants for driving jobs must meet designated pre-qualification requirements before they are accepted as candidates to qualify as drivers. One of these requirements is that an applicant must have an acceptable driving record for the past three years. Such a record has been defined as one that does not have a license suspension or revocation within the past three years for, among other reasons, driving under the influence.

(3) Mr. Ardrey was denied the opportunity to qualify for a driving job because he did not have an acceptable driving record for the preceding three years because of the DUI conviction.

There is not any evidence that any white person was allowed to qualify without meeting the three year clean record requirement. Mr. Ardrey does not contend that the Company's failure to qualify him because of his DUI was a pretext for discrimination.

(4) Mr. Ardrey complains because he was mistakenly told by two white management employees that it was only two years. Mr. Johnson, a black supervisor, told Mr. Ardrey that it was three years. It is not clear why Mr. Ardrey contends the mistake is suppose to correlate to race.

(5) The Court finds that Mr. Ardrey failed to show that in applying for the package car position he was treated differently because of his race. (The Plaintiff's Proposed Findings of Fact also state that Mr. Ardrey failed to prevail on this claim.)

B. PRELOADER — ARDREY AND CHERRY

1. Ardrey's Training

(1) Mr. Ardrey was hired by UPS in August 1973 as a part-time trailer unloader. He was in the military between August 1975 and August 1979. In October 1979 he returned to UPS as a part-time unloader.

(2) On February 11, 1980 Mr. Ardrey began training for a full-time preloader position on the sortrac. The qualification period is thirty days.

(3) The sortrac is a 250 feet long conveyor belt with twelve slides on each side of the conveyor belt. Belts carry packages which are diverted down the slides for loading into package vans. There are approximately forty package cars parked on each side at the end of the slides for loading. The slides are eight to ten feet long and ten feet wide. The higher end of the slide is about five and a half feet and the lower end is about three feet. There are return conveyor belts beneath the slides.

(4) Preloaders also work in the "boxline" area which is next to the sortrac. Packages in the boxline are delivered to the preloaders by being placed in cages which are on a continually running conveyor belt. The parties disagree as to what is the easiest area to work on the sortrac.

(5) The keyers divert packages to the slides and cages. A package which is incorrectly keyed and does not belong on a slide is a missort or miskey.

(6) Ken Hudson, a white male, supervised six employees on one side of the sortrac and Jim Stone supervised the employees on the other side. Mr. Hudson's immediate supervisor was Rich Young, the sortrac manager.

(7) Mr. Ardrey's qualification supervisor was Ken Hudson. Mr. Ardrey was assigned slides A-54 and A-25, side by side in the sortrac area.

(8) The job of preloader is to remove the packages from the slide and load them in the designated locations inside the package cars. There were three to four vans assigned to each slide. The packages were placed in the package cars in terms of a sequence determined by the route of the package car. A "sequence chart" established the order. A "sequence number" was determined by an address. Certain customers, due to their volume, receive sequence numbers. Eighty percent of the packages loaded on the cars are placed within twenty percent of the sequence numbers in the car. The sequence chart was a computer print out which was usually received daily at the beginning of the shift. The sort work hours were from 11:00 p.m. to 8:00 or 8:30 a.m.

(9) UPS implemented standard training programs for training employees attempting to qualify for the various positions. Each training program was designed for the needs of the particular position.

(10) UPS utilized a standard training program for training preloaders. At the completion of the training period the employee is required to meet an established minimal level of competency in order to be qualified (receive seniority) as a preloader.

(11) To...