Alvariza v. Home Depot, Civil Action No. 05-cv-02590-EWN-BNB.

• Decision Date: 14 March 2007
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 05-cv-02590-EWN-BNB.
• Citation: 506 F.Supp.2d 451
• Parties: Luis ALVARIZA, Merri Beth Baldwin, Rebecca Gutierrez, and Katherine Boaz, Plaintiffs, v. HOME DEPOT, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Colorado

506 F.Supp.2d 451

Luis ALVARIZA, Merri Beth Baldwin, Rebecca Gutierrez, and Katherine Boaz, Plaintiffs, v. HOME DEPOT, Defendant.

Civil Action No. 05-cv-02590-EWN-BNB.

United States District Court, D. Colorado.

March 14, 2007.

David H. Wollins, David H. Wollins, P.C., Jonathan J. Hellman, Jonathan J. Hellman, P.C., Denver, CO, for Plaintiffs.

Christine Kessler Lamb, Daniel Ernest Friesen, Allan L. Hale, Hale Friesen, LLP, Denver, CO, for Defendant.

ORDER AND MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

NOTTINGHAM, District Judge.

This is an employment discrimination case. Plaintiff Katherine Boaz instituted this action against Defendant Home Depot, asserting claims for: (1) age discrimination in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq. (2006) ("ADEA"); (2) gender discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (2006) ("Title VII"); and (3) promissory estoppel. This matter is before the court on "Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment on Plaintiff Katherine Boaz's Claims and Brief in Support" (# 49), filed on August 21, 2006. Jurisdiction is based on 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1367 (2006).

FACTS

1. Procedural History

On December 20, 2005, Plaintiff Boaz and three other plaintiffs (collectively, "Plaintiffs") filed their complaint in this court. (Verified Compl. and Demand for Trial by Jury [filed Dec. 20, 2005].) On January 30, 2006, Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint, asserting claims for age, gender, and race discrimination as well as claims based on the theory of promissory estoppel. (Verified Am. Compl. and Demand for Trial by Jury [filed Jan. 30, 2006] [hereinafter "Compl."].) Plaintiffs discrimination claims are based solely on gender and age. (Id. ¶¶ 251-76.)

On August 21, 2006, Defendant filed four motions for summary judgment, addressing the claims of each Plaintiff separately. (Def.'s Mot. for Summ. J. on Pl. Katherine Boaz's Claims and Br. in Supp. [filed Aug. 21, 2006] [hereinafter "Def.'s Br."]; Def.'s Mot. for Summ. J. on Claims of Pl. Baldwin and Br. in Supp. [filed Aug. 21, 2006]; Def.'s Mot. for Summ. J. on Claims of Pl. Gutierrez and Br. in Supp. [filed Aug. 21, 2006]; Def.'s Mot. for Summ. J. on Pl. Alvariza's Claims and Br. in Supp. [filed Aug. 21, 2006].) In its motion concerning Plaintiff (hereinafter "Plaintiff'), Defendant asserts: (1) Plaintiff can come forward with no evidence of age or gender discrimination; (2) Plaintiff come forward with no evidence in support of a prima facie case of disparate treatment; and (3) Plaintiffs promissory estoppel claim is wholly unsupported by the law and facts. (Def.'s Br. at 11-19.) On November 7, 2006, Plaintiff filed her response. (Resp. of Pl. Katherine Boaz to Def.'s Mot. for Summ. J. [filed Nov. 7, 2006] [hereinafter "Pl.'s Resp."].) On November 21, 2006, Defendant filed its reply. (Def.'s Reply Br. in Supp. of Mot. for Summ. J. on Pl. Katherine Boaz's Claims [filed Nov. 21, 2006] [hereinafter "Def.'s Reply"].)

On November 6, 2006, Plaintiffs filed a motion for sanctions based on alleged abuses of the discovery process by Defendant. (Mot. for Sanction of Adverse Inferences under Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 37[c] [filed Nov. 6, 2006] [hereinafter "Mot. for Sanctions"].) Therein, Plaintiffs requested sixty-three adverse factual inferences that would undermine Defendant's summary judgment motions. (Id. at 12-40.) On November 7, 2006, I referred the motion to Magistrate Judge Boland. (Mem.[filed Nov. 7, 2006].) On March 1, 2007, Magistrate Judge Boland issued an order denying Plaintiffs' motion for sanctions. (Order [filed Mar. 1, 2007].)

2. Factual Background

a. Plaintiff's Performance

Plaintiff began working for Defendant as an hourly receiving associate in May 2000. (Def.'s Br., Undisputed Facts ¶ 1; admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 1.) In March 2002, Plaintiff requested and received a transfer from Defendant's store in Denver, Colorado to its store in Greeley, Colorado. (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 2; admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 2.) In October 2002, District Manager Robert Hardy promoted Plaintiff to Assistant Store Manager for Operations ("ASM"), a salaried managerial position. (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 3; admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 3.)

On April 23, 2004; Plaintiff received a performance review with an "improvement needed" rating, which stated:

[Plaintiff] needs to understand that her position as the [] ASM comes with daily operational responsibilities that may seem tedious and time intensive, but are necessary duties to running an effective business. Policies and procedures were not followed when [Plaintiff] often times [sic] failed to provide consistent leadership to [sic] the condition of the building during Opening and Closing shifts.... [Plaintiff] needs to ensure that all daily activities are completed on a timely basis and that she strictly follows up with business and support levels. [Plaintiff must] [e]nsure that all functions of the [] ASM position including the Opening and Closing of the building are completed on time [sic] and all necessary paperwork is completed on a timely basis.

(Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 8; admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 8.) The review also "noted that [Plaintiff] lived with an hourly Associate and openly fraternized with hourly Associates and this has contributed to a perception of favoritism among ... Associates." (Id., Ex. C at 1 [Performance and Development Summary].)

Also on April 23, 2004, Plaintiff a "Final Counseling Performance Notice" ("Final Notice"), which outlined a number of Plaintiffs performance deficiencies, such as unsatisfactory store conditions and failure to "meet operational processes." (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 9; admitted in relevant part at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 9.) The Final Notice set a variety of specific goals aimed at helping Plaintiff improve her job performance. (Id.) Plaintiff admits the items identified in the Final Notice were within her area of responsibility and were legitimate goals for her to achieve. (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 10; admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 10.) The Final Notice also stated: "If immediate improvement is not observed, significant progress is not sustained, or an acceptable level of performance is not met within [sixty] days, [Plaintiffs] employment will be terminated." (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 11; admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 11.) Plaintiff understood these expectations. (Id.)

b. Operations Meetings

As an ASM, Plaintiff was required to hold bimonthly operations meetings with a representative from each of her store's five operational departments.¹ (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 12; admitted in relevant part at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 12; see also Def.'s Reply, App. A ¶ 12 [Reply Concerning Undisputed Facts].) In order to evidence the occurrence of such meetings for her superiors, Plaintiff would record the names of attendees in an "operations binder."(/d., Undisputed Facts ¶ 16; admitted in relevant part at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 16; Def.'s Br., Ex. 1 at 103-04 [Boaz Dep.].)

On May 27, 2004, Plaintiff held an operations meeting with only two associates present. (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 14; admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 14.) A few days later, District Loss Prevention Manager Ty Wheeler conducted a routine audit of operations at the Greeley store. (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 17; admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 17.) Finding no record of the May 27, 2004 meeting in the operations binder, he requested information about the meeting from Plaintiff.(Id.) Plaintiff explained she had yet to transfer her notes of the meeting to the binder, but provided Mr. Wheeler with her notes, which listed Gina Guerrero as present at the meeting. (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 18; admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 18.) Ms. Guerrero had not been in attendance at the meeting. (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 15; admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 15.)

A few days after speaking with Mr. Wheeler, Plaintiff transferred her notes to the operations binder, writing them on the official form concerning operations meetings. (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 19; admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 19.) Again, Plaintiff listed Ms. Guerrero as present at the meeting. (Id.) Plaintiff contends Ms. Guerrero attended the meeting "by proxy," but admits that her notes fail to reflect this contention. (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 20; admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 20.) Plaintiff that the May 27 meeting is the only operations meeting that anyone ever attended "by proxy." (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 21; admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 21.)

In Defendant company, falsification of company documents normally justifies termination. (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 22; admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 22.) During her employ, Plaintiff that falsification of documents violated Defendant's Code of Conduct. (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 23; admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 23.)

c. Plaintiff's Termination

Upon discovering that Ms. Guerrero had not been present at the May 27 meeting, Mr. Wheeler and Human Resources Manger Dedra Joysen investigated whether Plaintiff had falsified company documents. (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 24; admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 24.) The investigation revealed that Plaintiff: (1) admitted' to having falsely recorded Ms. Guerrero's presence at the meeting; and (2) held the meeting without a bookkeeping representative despite the fact that someone from bookkeeping was required to attend. (Id., Undisputed Facts ¶ 25; deemed admitted at Pl.'s Resp., Resp. to Undisputed Facts ¶ 25.)² Defendant determined that Plaintiffs falsification of documents could be attributed to Plaintiff...