Bauer v. Metz Baking Co.
| Decision Date | 04 August 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. C 98-4058-MWB.,C 98-4058-MWB. |
| Parties | Judy A. BAUER, Plaintiff, v. METZ BAKING COMPANY, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa |
Shelly A. Horak, Sioux City, Iowa, for Judy A. Bauer.
Robert L. Lepp (argued), Mary L. Hewitt of McGill, Gotsdiner, Workman & Lepp, P.C., Omaha, NE, John D. Mayne, Mayne & Mayne, Sioux City, Iowa, for Metz Baking Co.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION ...............................................................898
A. Procedural Background ...................................................898
B. Factual Background ......................................................898
II. LEGAL ANALYSIS .............................................................900
A. Standards For Summary Judgment ..........................................900
B. Direct Evidence Of Discrimination
1. The "direct evidence" paradigm .......................................901
2. Bauer's "direct evidence" ............................................903
a. The speaker .......................................................903
b. The content .......................................................904
c. The causal link ...................................................905
C. Circumstantial Evidence Of Discrimination ...............................906
1. The circumstantial evidence paradigm .................................906
2. Bauer's circumstantial evidence ......................................907
a. Bauer's prima facie case .............................................907
b. Metz Baking's legitimate, non-discriminatory reason ...............908
c. Bauer's showing of pretext ........................................909
III. CONCLUSION .................................................................910
Perhaps like beauty, discriminatory intent is in the eye of the beholder. To the plaintiff employee in this case under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq., her immediate supervisor's question, "Wouldn't it be nice if you'd retire and then you could work in your garden?" is direct evidence of age discrimination, or at least evidence of discriminatory intent demonstrating that the employer's proffered legitimate reason for terminating the plaintiff was pretextual. To the defendant employer, the supervisor's question is an innocuous "stray remark" with no significance to its decision to terminate the plaintiff five months later for persistent poor performance. The court must decide on the employer's motion for summary judgment whether there is sufficient factual dispute on the question of discriminatory intent to allow this case to go to a jury.
Plaintiff Judy A. Bauer filed her complaint in this matter on June 2, 1998, against her former employer, defendant Metz Baking Company, asserting that she was terminated from her employment on April 24, 1997, in violation of the ADEA. She seeks reinstatement and damages on her claim of age discrimination, as well as liquidated damages for a "willful" violation of the ADEA, arising from Metz Baking's decision to terminate her and force her into involuntary retirement. Metz Baking answered the complaint on July 27, 1998, asserting that Bauer was terminated for good cause unrelated to her age, specifically, continued deficient performance after warnings that improvement was required. A jury trial in this matter is scheduled to begin on November 8, 1999.
However, on April 30, 1999, Metz Baking moved for summary judgment on Bauer's age discrimination claim, asserting that there is insufficient evidence of discriminatory intent for this case to go to a jury. Metz Baking asserts first that Bauer has no direct evidence of age discrimination. Moreover, Metz Baking asserts that, under the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting paradigm for circumstantial evidence cases, Bauer cannot generate a prima facie case of age discrimination, because she cannot show that she was meeting her employer's qualification requirements and legitimate expectations for her position. Finally, Metz Baking argues that Bauer's claim fails at the third stage of the burden-shifting analysis, because Bauer has failed to present any evidence sufficient to raise a jury question that Metz Baking's proffered legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for its decision to fire her is a pretext for age discrimination. Bauer resisted Metz Baking's motion for summary judgment on each of the grounds asserted on May 25, 1999.
The court heard oral arguments on Metz Baking's motion for summary judgment on July 27, 1999. Plaintiff Judy A. Bauer was represented by Shelly A. Horak of Sioux City, Iowa. Defendant Metz Baking Company was represented by Robert L. Lepp, who argued the motion, and Mary L. Hewitt of McGill, Gotsdiner, Workman & Lepp, P.C., in Omaha, Nebraska, and John D. Mayne of Mayne & Mayne in Sioux City, Iowa.
The court will discuss here only the nucleus of undisputed facts pertinent to the present motion for summary judgment. In its legal analysis, the court will address where necessary Bauer's assertion of genuine issues of material fact that may preclude summary judgment on her age discrimination claim.
Metz Baking hired Judy Bauer on March 14, 1977, as a receptionist/typist in its Sioux City, Iowa, facility. Eventually, in April of 1995, Metz Baking assigned Bauer to a newly combined position of receptionist and order desk clerk, where Bauer remained until she was terminated on April 24, 1997. Bauer's job performance reviews in her various positions during the twenty years she was employed by Metz Baking were somewhat uneven. In 1979, 1987, and 1988, for example Bauer received above-average overall annual performance evaluations. However, in 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1992, she received only average annual evaluations, and from 1993 on received "below standard" annual evaluations.
Prior to the fall of 1996, Bauer received occasional "warnings" or other corrective disciplinary notices from her various supervisors. These disciplinary actions and notices included warnings for tardiness, failure to complete tasks, and other mistakes in the performance of her job duties. From the fall of 1996 on, however, such warnings became more frequent and more serious. For example, on October 1, 1996, Bauer received a note from her immediate supervisor, Kathy Kelly, the Office Manager, concerning tardiness. On November 11, 1996, Kelly gave Bauer a "Corrective Discipline Action Notice" for unsatisfactory job performance, stemming from her failure to put telephone "T-com" switches up before leaving, which caused 26 route drivers to be unable to call in, and also stemming from complaints about the unprofessional manner in which Bauer had answered or handled various telephone calls. On March 10, 1997, Kelly gave Bauer another Corrective Discipline Action Notice for unsatisfactory performance related to failure to complete tasks, improper handling of telephone calls, and improper documentation of orders, including a warning that the next disciplinary step would be a suspension. On March 27, 1997, Kelly gave Bauer another Corrective Discipline Action Notice notifying her of her suspension for three days for unsatisfactory performance related to unprofessional handling of telephone calls. At the time of this notice, Bauer was given a "Last Chance Agreement," which listed specific expectations for improving her job performance, and stated that failure to meet these expectations at any time during the next twelve months would result in her termination. Bauer signed the Last Chance Agreement on April 3, 1997.
Matters came to a head on April 14, 1997, when Kelly gave Bauer a further Corrective Discipline Action Notice advising her that she would be suspended for nine days for unsatisfactory performance of her order clerk duties on April 3, 8, and 9, and improper handling of telephone calls. Bauer admits the order clerk errors stated in this notice. The errors identified in the notice were in violation of the Last Chance Agreement, and the notice specifically stated that the suspension was subject to a review of Bauer's personnel record and a decision regarding her continued employment.
On April 24, 1997, Sandy Francis, Metz Baking's Human Resources Manager, sent Bauer a notice informing her that, upon review of her employment record, she was being terminated for continued performance deficiencies. Bauer was 58 years old at the time of her termination. Pursuant to Metz Baking's employment policies, the decision to terminate Bauer was made by the Director of Human Resources, at that time, Gary Wright, then 38 years old, after he reviewed Bauer's personnel file and consulted with Sandy Francis (then age 40), Kathy Kelly (then age 33), and Charlotte Adams, the Controller at Metz Baking's Sioux City, Iowa, facility (then age 43).
Bauer was replaced by Bonnie Langley, then age 35. Langley, however, was also terminated just months later, in September of 1997, for performance deficiencies similar to those charged against Bauer. Langley's replacement, then age 39, voluntarily left on October 15, 1997. Two other persons subsequently filled Bauer's position, one in her late twenties, who left for maternity leave after about six months and did not return to work, and one in her mid-thirties, who continues to work for Metz Baking, although the position Bauer formerly filled no longer exists, following a restructuring of the Sioux City facility. Metz Baking points out, and Bauer does not dispute, that three people in their thirties and early forties who worked under Kathy Kelly were terminated at various times for performance deficiencies.
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