Andre v. Bendix Corp.
| Decision Date | 03 October 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-2296,84-2296 |
| Citation | 774 F.2d 786 |
| Parties | 38 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1819, 38 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 35,570, 3 Fed.R.Serv.3d 182 Jane ANDRE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. The BENDIX CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Lawrence C. DiNardo, Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather & Geraldson, Chicago, Ill., for defendant-appellant.
John C. Hamilton, Parker, Brunner & Hamilton, South Bend, Ind., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before CUMMINGS, Chief Judge, CUDAHY, Circuit Judge, and TIMBERS, Senior Circuit Judge. *
Plaintiff Jane Andre was hired by defendant The Bendix Corporation for a supervisory position in its Energy Controls Division in South Bend, Indiana, at least in part on the basis of her sex. She was fired within a year, and brought this Title VII action alleging that the termination was also on the basis of her sex. After a bench trial, the district court found that Andre had been fired on account of her sex, and awarded her $186,092 in lost wages as well as ordering that she be reinstated. 584 F.Supp. 1485 (N.D.Ind.1984). Bendix appeals, raising two issues: first, that the evidence was insufficient to support a finding of intentional sex discrimination, and second, that the district court violated Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure by adopting, virtually verbatim, Andre's post-trial brief as its decision. This is a hard case. If we were sitting as triers of fact, we would certainly have difficulty finding that Andre had been discriminated against on account of her sex. However, the different question now before us is whether the finding of the district court that there was discrimination is clearly erroneous. In that respect, because we are unable to follow the reasoning of the district court, and are unable to affirm the district court finding of sex discrimination on the grounds it gives, we vacate the judgment of the district court and remand for a new trial.
In the early part of 1978 Andre sent her resume to a very large number of manufacturing corporations, including Bendix. At Bendix, her resume was eventually routed from F.G. Cousins, who was responsible for recruiting, to A.E. Clark, Vice President and Group Executive of the Aerospace Group, with a notation "Any interest in a senior level female?" Pl. Ex. 18. Clark called Ted Moore, Director of Operations for the Energy Control Division, and described Andre's qualifications, apparently in gender-neutral terms. Moore responded "I'd like to meet that man," and was corrected by Clark. Moore continued to show interest, and Andre was invited to South Bend for interviews twice.
After his interview with Andre, Moore wrote a memo to his immediate superior, Alex Stefucza, General Manager of the Energy Controls Division, with a copy to Jeanne Rideout, Director of Employee Relations at the Energy Controls Division, concerning his impressions. Pl. Ex. 23. He found Andre's academic background and technical understanding impressive. However her work experience was exclusively in staff or support positions. He felt she lacked experience supervising a large number of employees or managing a production line. He also felt he observed a defensiveness in Andre in her attribution of the rejection of her proposals in prior employment to her sex and not to the merit of the proposals. Moore proposed, however, that Andre be hired at the Superintendent level where she would get manufacturing supervisory experience and her supervisory abilities could be evaluated. If those were found adequate she could be promoted within 18-24 months to a managerial position in manufacturing. However, Moore conceded that there was some risk to his proposal. In an apparent reference to what could be described as the large number and short tenure of the jobs in Andre's employment history, he found there was no evidence in the record that she had the "necessary emotional stability" to work as a supervisor.
Eventually an offer of two jobs was extended to Andre. She accepted the position of Superintendent in the Manufacturing area of the Energy Controls Division. Pl. Ex. 1. She was offered a salary of $2920 per month, and told that the maximum in the grade level was $3110 per month, and in the next logical progression was $3775 per month. Consistent with Moore's proposal, Andre understood that the offered position was in part a trial for 4-6 months before she would be considered for a manufacturing managerial position. She understood that the salary she would be receiving was very high for a superintendent's position but also that some increase could be available if she moved to a managerial position. She also understood that the position was "up or out," for there would be "no place else to go" if things did not work out. Finally, and probably most important, it was clear to Andre that the division had been undergoing reorganization. The various local players were trying to create two manufacturing managerial positions, one of which (at the "Director" level) was intended for Dale Franz, who at that time was Manager of Manufacturing Services, and the other of which (at the "Manager" level) would be open for Andre, but the national headquarters had not yet approved the reorganization. Andre further understood that should she move up to a managerial position it could be resented by longtime employees, especially those who would also be candidates for the position. See Pl. Ex. 15, pp. 1-2.
Andre started working at Bendix on September 18, 1978. When she arrived a reorganization had been temporarily completed, but without the creation of a second managerial position in manufacturing. Dale Franz had been laterally transferred to the single Manufacturing Manager position. 1 Andre was placed as a "General Supervisor," apparently functionally equivalent to a superintendent. She was subordinate to Franz. She was told there would be another reorganization in about 9 months, and she would have a chance to prove herself as a supervisor until that time.
During Andre's tenure she was involved in a number of incidents in the factory. These events included a dispute over the proper handling of a union grievance only two weeks after Andre started work; a dispute in January 1979 over the issuing of a pass to an hourly worker who wished to be excused from weekend overtime work; a dispute over a reprimand to one of the shift supervisors reporting to Andre, also in January; disputes in February over the proper handling of a phone call to a hourly production worker and over whether an injured worker was able to operate his usual machine; and disputes over proper methods for running and evaluating procedures in Department 125, the department supervised by Andre. After each of these incidents, and at other times, Franz wrote memoranda to Andre's file detailing what he found inadequate or inappropriate in her handling of the situations. Bendix claims these and other incidents show Andre was unable to function as a supervisor. She claims they show Bendix was out to get her because of her sex. We think they show some sort of conflict between Franz and Andre. 2
In January 1979 Franz met with Andre to discuss performance and productivity in Department 125. He may have told Andre that the department was meeting its goals. In early February Andre was given a hand-printed report of the department's productivity. Def. Ex. A. The report showed that the objectives set for increasing productivity had been met, but that production output was slightly below the objective at that point. Franz apparently felt that output could be caught up quickly, and requested Andre to convey the results to each of her production supervisors.
Moore met with Andre on March 2, 1979. He spoke in general language to the effect that she had a "people problem" and that he was getting negative feedback from people in the department, but would not elaborate. He showed Andre a memo she had written to a production supervisor subordinate to her, and said it showed a lack of sensitivity. The memo had been written without a full knowledge of the relevant facts (as Andre now admits) and accused the supervisor of "needing a shot of male hormones." Pl. Ex. 5, p. 2. Andre said that the memo showed she was angry, not insensitive, but acceded to Moore's suggestion that she attend a sensitivity training workshop, which she did (at Bendix's expense) in May. Moore also suggested that Andre try to change her image, perhaps by rolling back the production figures or "playing dumb."
Franz completed a three-month evaluation of Andre on March 6, 1979, almost six months after she had started work. Pl. Ex. 8. The report was negative. It stated that she had not demonstrated technical abilities related to the Department 125 processes, that her salary was out of line with her performance and level of responsibility, and that she was incorrigible. Franz did not show the report to Andre or allow her to respond, but sent the report to her file.
Moore wrote a memorandum about Andre to Rideout on March 12, 1979, recording various criticisms of her performance. Pl. Ex. 9. Moore used the memorandum as a cover to transmit to Andre the several memoranda Franz had written and placed in her file. Moore gave Andre the memoranda at a meeting between them on March 21, 1979. Moore said he did not want to hear Andre's side of the story, but told her she had the right to file written rebuttals, though apparently in a tone of voice Andre claims led her to believe that she would be fired if she did prepare rebuttals.
Andre did prepare a memorandum in response to the meeting. Pl. Ex. 10. The memorandum was addressed to Moore, with both Franz and Rideout receiving copies. In her memorandum Andre recognized the difficulty "in trying to acclimate a female from a predominately development environment to one of production," and that she had been "working hard since last week's meeting to...
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