Barrett v. Whirlpool Corp.

• Decision Date: 23 February 2009
• Docket Number: No. 08-5307.,08-5307.
• Citation: 556 F.3d 502
• Parties: Lynette BARRETT; W.T. Melton; Treva Nickens, Plaintiffs-Appellants, Eugene Julien; Larry Schuster; Diana Simmons, Plaintiffs, v. WHIRLPOOL CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

556 F.3d 502

Lynette BARRETT; W.T. Melton; Treva Nickens, Plaintiffs-Appellants, Eugene Julien; Larry Schuster; Diana Simmons, Plaintiffs, v. WHIRLPOOL CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 08-5307.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: December 3, 2008.

Decided and Filed: February 23, 2009.

ARGUED: David W. Sanford, Sanford, Wittels & Heisler, Washington, D.C., for Appellants. Adam C. Wit, Littler Mendelson, Chicago, Illinois, for Appellee. Elizabeth Ellen Theran, United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae. ON BRIEF: David W. Sanford, Sanford, Wittels & Heisler, Washington, D.C., Kevin H. Sharp, Drescher & Sharp, Nashville, Tennessee, for Appellants. Adam C. Wit, Keith C. Hult, Littler Mendelson, Chicago, Illinois, Jeffrey S. Hiller, Littler Mendelson, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellee. Elizabeth Ellen Theran, United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae.

Before: COLE and COOK, Circuit Judges; EDMUNDS, District Judge.^*

OPINION

COLE, Circuit Judge.

Lynette Barrett, W.T. Melton, and Treva Nickens (collectively, "Plaintiffs"), employees or former employees of Whirlpool Corporation ("Whirlpool"), appeal a grant of summary judgment in favor of Whirlpool in this race-discrimination and retaliation case. Plaintiffs allege that they were discriminated against on the basis of their friendships with and advocacy for certain African-American co-workers in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq. ("Title VII"), and 42 U.S.C. § 1981 ("§ 1981"). The district court found that Plaintiffs failed to establish the requisite degree of association with their African-American co-workers to support their claim of discrimination based on such association and that, in any case, Plaintiffs were not subjected to a hostile work environment or retaliation. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the district court's grant of summary judgment against Plaintiffs Barrett and Melton and against Nickens on her retaliation claim, REVERSE the district court's grant of summary judgment against Nickens on her hostile work environment claim, and REMAND for trial on that claim.

I. BACKGROUND

Whirlpool's LaVergne, Tennessee Division manufactures built-in refrigerators, air conditioners, dehumidifiers, and related products. At any given time, it employs up to 2100 employees, approximately twenty percent of whom are African-American.

A. Plaintiff Lynette Barrett

Barrett, who is Caucasian, has been employed by Whirlpool since 1984 and is currently a technician in the built-in refrigerator department. She has worked in a number of different positions and departments within Whirlpool.

Barrett alleges that in approximately 2001 she heard Dale Travis, a co-worker with an alleged history of racially harassing behavior, make three (or possibly four) racist comments. On one occasion, while Barrett was conversing with an African-American friend, Helen Lust, Travis said about Lust, within hearing distance of supervisor Bill Westberry, "the nigger bitch will get what's coming to her." (Joint Appendix ("JA") 824-25.) When Barrett told Travis she did not approve of his language, he called her a "bitch" and told her to "mind [her] own business." (JA 825-26.) Barrett complained to Westberry, who told her to "leave it alone." (JA 828.) On a second occasion, after Barrett had helped an African-American co-worker, Lisa Majors, obtain a promotion, Travis said to Barrett and Majors's sister, "[w]ell, she'll be an uppity nigger now." (JA 830.) Barrett reported this comment to Beverly Gordon, her supervisor, who said she "would take care of it," but Barrett does not know if Gordon took any action. (JA 832.) On a third occasion, while in Westberry's office, Barrett overhead Travis tell a racist joke, and Westberry "snickered" at the joke. On another occasion (which may or may not have involved racist comments), Barrett told Travis she did not like his language, and he responded that he had a nine-millimeter gun. As a result, Barrett feared that Travis might harm her for reporting his other racist remarks, though she did not mention the nine-millimeter comment to a supervisor. Travis was terminated in 2003 for excessive absenteeism.

Other than these several incidents involving Travis, Barrett testified that she never heard any racial slurs used at Whirlpool, although Barrett also was present in a group of employees when, around the time of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a white employee named Robert Stanford suggested that there should be a "James Earl Ray Day." Barrett believes she informed her then-supervisor, Mark McCool, of this comment and that McCool said he would take care of it. Barrett does not know what action he took, if any, but she never heard Stanford make another racist comment.

Barrett saw two instances of racist graffiti in the restroom at Whirlpool—a large triangle composed of the word "nigger," and the letters "KKK." Another employee reported the graffiti, and it was painted over within a couple of days. Barrett also saw and reported racist graffiti consisting of the letters "KKK" and a picture of a noose on a maintenance cart used by an African-American employee. Barrett reported the graffiti to her supervisor, Buck Bingham, who is African-American. Whirlpool made a report of the event and repainted the cart.

Barrett alleges that a manager in the Human Resources Training Department, Wendy Beam, acted coldly toward Majors, refusing to make eye contact with or sit next to her. According to Barrett, Beam disapproved of Barrett's friendship with Majors and, as a consequence, directed desirable work away from Barrett. Barrett complained to another supervisor about Beam's coldness toward Majors, although Barrett apparently never complained about the alleged redirection of work. Majors did not share Barrett's perceptions about Beam, stating that she never felt "shunned" by Beam and often spoke with and sat next to Beam in meetings.

Barrett was friendly toward black employees on the assembly line, and she alleges that, as a result, four white employees "gave [her] the cold shoulder," "snubbed" her, and would not talk to her. (JA 840-43.) One white employee, a non-supervisory "group leader" named Mark Watwood, allegedly would "snirl his nose and turn and walk off" when Barrett said "hello" to the black employees in the area. (JA 841.) He would also pretend not to hear Barrett's work-related requests for materials. According to Barrett, Watwood and three other white employees on the line would turn their backs on her when she spoke to a black employee but would smile at her when she was speaking to a white employee. This negative reaction came from only a few white employees, and no one explicitly said anything to Barrett about her friendliness toward black employees. Barrett agreed that the "vast majority" of white employees "had no problem" with her relationships with black employees. (JA 842.)

B. Plaintiff W.T. Melton

Melton, a Caucasian employee, began working at Whirlpool in 1995. She had two surgeries in 2005 that interfered with her ability to work, and her doctor restricted her from doing various types of work. Whirlpool eventually placed her on physical layoff, and her employment ended in late 2006 or early 2007.

Melton alleges that she heard Travis call African-American employees "niggers," and according to a response to an interrogatory, Travis said to her "[m]ay the Klan be with you" approximately once a week from 1995 to 2003. (JA 991.) However, in her later deposition, Melton did not assert that Travis uttered this phrase directly to her, much less that he had said it to her regularly over an eight-year period. On one occasion when Travis used this phrase, Melton complained to a supervisor, Steven Knight. In approximately 2003, Travis said to Melton and another employee, "[m]issed you ladies at the Klan meeting last night." (JA 652.) Melton was told by a black co-worker that a supervisor named Charlie Fisher used the term "nigger lover," though Melton never heard a supervisor use this term. She also was told that a group leader who treated her badly had used the term "nigger lover." Melton alleges that "lots of people" used the term "nigger lover," although she did not name any other specific people or state that she had heard the term firsthand. (JA 970.) Melton said she did not complain about the use of this term because "it was common knowledge that it did no good and I needed my job." (JA 650.) She said that harassment was "pervasive all over the plant." (JA 650.) She overheard a manager, a union representative, and several other employees use the word "nigger," with one employee using it on a daily basis. She heard Caucasian employees joke about having a "watermelon day" and a "James Earl Ray Day." In about 2005, a Caucasian employee asked Melton how she could "stand the smell" of an African-American woman with whom Melton regularly ate lunch. (JA 653-54.)

Melton claims that after she returned from her surgeries, she was treated worse than other employees who had returned from medical leave. She was not allowed to return to the office job she had had before the surgeries but, rather, was placed in a physically demanding, lower-paying job. She believes that Fred Contreras, an employee in the Human Resources department, was responsible for this decision, and she thinks he based his decision on the fact that she "was always defending someone it seemed." (JA 939-41.) Melton states that the people she defended were usually of a different race or did not speak English well. She testified, without elaboration, "[t]he ones that defended the black people ... didn't get by with anything ... [t]hey had to stay on their toes." (JA 972.) Melton claims she suffered "harassment" for being friendly with black co-workers: in 2005 and 2006, white employees would "walk around" her in the hallway...