Karazanos v. Navistar Intern. Transp. Corp.

• Citation: 948 F.2d 332
• Decision Date: 18 November 1991
• Docket Number: No. 90-3367,90-3367
• Parties: 57 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 605, 57 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 41,081 George D. KARAZANOS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NAVISTAR INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION CORP., formerly known as International Harvester Company, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)

Page 332

948 F.2d 332

57 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 605,

57 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 41,081

George D. KARAZANOS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NAVISTAR INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION CORP., formerly known

as International Harvester Company, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 90-3367.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued Sept. 26, 1991.

Decided Nov. 18, 1991.

Dennis A. Berkson, Andrew W. Levenfeld (argued), Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff-appellant.

David J. Parsons (argued), Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon, Chicago, Ill., for defendant-appellee.

Before BAUER, Chief Judge, WOOD, Jr., Circuit Judge, and ESCHBACH, Senior Circuit Judge.

BAUER, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff George Karazanos sued his employer, Navistar International Transportation Corporation ("Navistar"), alleging unlawful discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-634 (1988) ("ADEA"). Karazanos appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Navistar. We affirm.

I.

Navistar terminated Karazanos in January 1985. He filed charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") in May 1985, alleging that he had been discriminated against based upon his age and national origin. Karazanos, who was born in Greece, was 46 years old when he was terminated. The EEOC issued a Notice of Right to Sue dated September 26, 1986, and Karazanos filed this action. Karazanos does not appeal the district court's grant of summary judgment on his national origin claim, so we consider only his age discrimination claim.

Karazanos began working for Navistar (formerly known as International Harvester Company) in 1968 as an Engineering Tester. Karazanos has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Nautical Government College in Athens, Greece. Before coming to Navistar, Karazanos spent nine years as an engineer in the Greek merchant marine. During his first ten years at Navistar, Karazanos worked as a technician in Department 550, the company's research and development department.

When Navistar began experiencing economic difficulties in 1979, it changed its employment structure to ensure that all employees were working at their full professional capacities. Karazanos was upgraded from technician to engineer. According to Karazanos' supervisors--Chief Engineer Tom Biros ("Biros") and Product Engineer Frank Bondarowicz ("Bondarowicz")--Karazanos had difficulty handling these new responsibilities. Karazanos denies this charge, and relies on a series of performance evaluations as support.

Navistar and Karazanos differ over the correct interpretation of the performance evaluations. The basic conflict is between the pre-printed achievement levels that the evaluator selected and the evaluator's written comments. Karazanos received primarily "M" ratings. The M achievement level is defined as "Meets position accountabilities; achievement which is expected from experienced and qualified individuals." Supplemental Record ("S.R."), Record 96, Karazanos Depo., Ex. 11. In Karazanos' evaluations, the pre-printed comments were often somewhat at odds with the evaluator's personal comments. For example, in a December 1979 evaluation, the evaluator marked boxes indicating that Karazanos "was [s]ometimes at a loss in other than routine situations. Frequent checkup required;" and "[h]as satisfactory knowledge of practically all phases of his work." Nevertheless, in his written comments, the evaluator said "recent problems ... have raised some doubts in my mind regarding George's capability as an engineer." S.R., Record 96, Karazanos Depo., Ex. 8. (emphasis in original). Similarly, in the January 13, 1981 evaluation, the evaluator again marked M; in his written comments he stated, "George's performance in general is adequate. However, improvement is required in the technical accomplishment accountability area, as noted above, to maintain overall performance at M level." S.R., Record 96, Karazanos Depo., Ex. 11. Subsequent evaluations continue this pattern: written comments reveal the evaluator's doubts regarding Karazanos' engineering ability and his willingness to accept responsibility and criticism. See, e.g., S.R., Record 96, Karazanos Depo., Ex. 11, 10/9/81, 3/6/84 evaluations.

In 1983, Navistar reassigned Karazanos to a different group in Department 550 in an attempt to utilize his skills better. Later that year he was promoted from senior engineer grade P-2 to grade P-3. Karazanos contends that this promotion was based upon merit. Navistar asserts that it represented compensation to employees for a long period of depressed wages. ¹ Regardless of the reason for it, Karazanos was the only engineer in Department 550 to receive a promotion and raise.

Karazanos claims that Navistar began compiling a negative personnel file in 1984 so that it could terminate him. Bondarowicz gave Karazanos an "I" rating in his March 1984 evaluation. Level I is defined as "[i]mprovement required before performance is fully acceptable." In his written comments, Bondarowicz stated that Karazanos required "more attention to details" and "must come up with specific recommendations, not general." S.R., Karazanos Depo., Ex. 13. Biros and Bondarowicz informed Karazanos in October 1984 that because his performance had not improved since March, they were placing him on probation for ninety days. They warned Karazanos that unless his performance significantly improved by the end of the ninety days, he would be subject to termination.

Four separate incidents led Biros and Bondarowicz to put Karazanos on probation. The most significant incident occurred during the course of the so-called "9-liter project." Karazanos was assigned as the engineer in charge of modifying a nine-liter engine to satisfy the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") 1985 model year emission standards ("the 9-liter project"). One portion of the engine, the cover to a part called the torque capsule, was not redesigned. Because of changes made to the engine, it no longer fit. Navistar did not discover the oversight until the engine was shipped out for testing. Karazanos testified that he was aware that there was a tight fit in general, but because he could perform all the tests assigned to him with the cover off, he had no occasion to discover the problem. Karazanos denied that it was his responsibility to catch the error. He informed his supervisors that it was the design engineers responsibility to check the cover. They disagreed. Because Karazanos was the Project Engineer, Navistar believes it was his responsibility to make sure that everything in the engine fit properly, or at least to tell someone if there was a tight fit. We agree, as the district court properly determined, this is not an unreasonable expectation. See Karazanos v. Navistar Int'l Transp. Corp., No. 86 C 10097, 1990 WL 140986, at *2, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12763, at * 4 (N.D.Ill. Sept. 27, 1990). Karazanos was in charge of the entire modification. It seems reasonable to expect the head of a project to check his subordinates' work. It cost Navistar approximately $4000 to fix the cover, but production of the engine was not delayed. Navistar claims that the error could have been disastrous had it not been discovered or if it had delayed the production schedule. The engine did meet the EPA emission standards.

Other incidents contributed to Karazanos' probation. In an engine smoke test, Karazanos was asked to replace one supplier's nozzles with another's. Karazanos only replaced seven of the eight nozzles in the system. This made the data collected during the test unusable. Moreover, Karazanos did not realize that the performance was bad or that he had made a mistake. See S.R., Rec. 96, Bondarowicz Depo. at 61-62. During another test, Karazanos exceeded the engine's peak firing pressure. Karazanos also made two technical errors in a letter, which Navistar believes showed that he did not understand the nature of his work. In addition, Karazanos refused to work overtime, and neglected to run an emissions test on a pump. These events, coupled with the mistake on the 9-liter project led Biros and Bondarowicz to put Karazanos on probation.

Karazanos' performance did not improve. After the probationary period, Biros contacted Human Resources Manager David Baron. They discussed whether it was possible to retain Karazanos in a technical capacity only, and thereby avoid terminating him. They decided that because his poor performance was due to technical incapability, he could not be retained. Karazanos was terminated in January 1985. He was replaced by an engineer 19 years his junior.

II.

It is well established that review of a district court's grant of summary judgment is de novo. See, e.g. La Preferida, Inc. v. Cerveceria Modelo, S.A., 914 F.2d 900, 905 (7th Cir.1990). In order to uphold a grant of summary judgment, we must "view the record and all inferences drawn from it in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion," Lohorn v. Michal, 913 F.2d 327, 331 (7th Cir.1990), and conclude there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). First Wisconsin Trust Co. v. Schroud, 916 F.2d 394, 398 (7th Cir.1990). Summary judgment is only appropriate when the record reveals that no reasonable jury could find for the nonmoving party. Doe v. Allied-Signal, Inc., 925 F.2d 1007, 1008 (7th Cir.1991). Further,

[t]he workload crisis of the federal courts, and realization that Title VII is occasionally or perhaps more than occasionally used by plaintiffs as a substitute for principles of job protection that do not yet exist in American law, have led the courts to take a critical look at efforts to withstand defendants' motions for summary judgment.

Palucki v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 879 F.2d 1568, 1572 (7th Cir.1989).

To succeed on his age discrimination claim, Karazanos must prove "that he would not have been discharged ...