Beam v. Se. Freight Lines, Inc.
| Decision Date | 19 August 2020 |
| Docket Number | 5:18-CV-124-D |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of North Carolina |
| Parties | DAVID BEAM, Plaintiff, v. SOUTHEASTERN FREIGHT LINES, INC., Defendant. |
David Beam ("Beam" or "plaintiff") alleges that his employer Southeastern Freight Lines, Inc. ("SEFL" or "defendant") discriminated against him in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. § 621, et seq., and the American with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. § 12111, et seq. [D.E. 13]. On December 6, 2019, Beam moved for summary judgment [D.E. 54] and filed a memorandum and statement of facts in support [D.E. 55, 56]. On December 27, 2019, SEFL responded [D.E. 60, 61]. On January 10, 2020, Beam replied [D.E. 65].
On December 20, 2019, SEFL moved for summary judgment [D.E. 57] and filed a memorandum and statement of facts in support [D.E. 58, 59]. On January 17, 2020, Beam responded [D.E. 67, 68]. On the same date, SEFL moved to strike Beam's responses [D.E. 71]. On January 30, 2020, Beam responded to SEFL's motion to strike [D.E. 74]. On February 13, 2020, SEFL replied [D.E. 76].
On March 25, 2020, the court referred, inter alia, SEFL's motion to strike to Magistrate Judge Numbers [D.E. 77]. On April 13, 2020, Magistrate Judge Numbers granted SEFL's motion to strike [D.E. 78]. On April 23, 2020, Beam appealed Magistrate Judge Numbers's decision [D.E. 79]. On April 29, 2020, SEFL responded [D.E. 80]. As explained below, the court overrules Beam's objections, affirms Magistrate Judge Numbers's decision, denies Beam's motion for summary judgment, and grants SEFL's motion for summary judgment.
On November 13, 1989, Beam began working for SEFL as an inbound supervisor in SEFL's Fayetteville, North Carolina facility. See Beam Dep. Ex. 2 [D.E. 55-1] 280; Beam Dep. [D.E. 55-1] 22-24. Beam was born on October 20, 1960, and he was 29 years old when SEFL hired him. See Beam Dep. at 8. On the same date, SEFL held an orientation for new employees, including Beam, where Beam's direct supervisor, Leggett Lovan, discussed equal employment opportunity at SEFL. See Beam Dep. Ex. 2 at 280; Beam Dep. at 22-23. Beam's responsibilities as inbound supervisor included supervising four pickup and delivery ("P&D") drivers. P&D drivers delivered freight stored at SEFL's Fayetteville facility to local customers. See Beam Dep. at 25. Beam held the inbound supervisor position for approximately one year. See id. at 28.
After one year, Beam became a break bulk supervisor at SEFL's Fayetteville facility. See id. Beam's responsibilities included supervising 15 SEFL associates concerning the consolidation of freight on common loads and the transfer of freight among SEFL's service centers. See id. at 29. Beam served as a break bulk supervisor for approximately 10 years until SEFL moved the break bulk supervisor position to another service center. See id. at 33, 38. After SEFL moved the position, the company asked Beam to serve as a P&D supervisor. See id. As P&D supervisor, Beam's responsibilities included serving as a dispatcher for 21 P&D drivers. See id. at 35.
While Beam worked as P&D supervisor, and until January 2011, Cecil Amerson ("Amerson") was the SEFL Service Center Manager in Fayetteville. See id. at 36; Davis Dep. [D.E. 55-3] 8-9. Amerson documented Beam's performance deficiencies from October 2006 to July 15, 2010, including issues concerning "telxon follow ups," improperly taking telxon credit, negativeinteractions with SEFL employees, reducing net hours, failing to take the lead when asked to review telxon reports to plan for an increase in workload, failing to enter cost data on three days, not responding to Amerson's requests, failing to make timely a "therefore" log, leadership issues, and time-management issues. See Beam Dep. at 99-116; Beam Dep. Exs. 12-17 at 304-12. As for Beam's failure to timely complete certain tasks, Amerson stated that "[t]his is the kind of stuff that gets managers and supervisors terminated." Beam Dep. Ex. 17 at 312; see Beam Dep. at 115-16.
SEFL did not have a specific policy concerning supervisor-performance issues. See Beam Dep. at 148-49; Shore Dep. [D.E. 55-2] 37. In evaluating supervisors, SEFL evaluates process data, performance numbers and goals, general leadership skills, and personnel management. See Shore Dep. at 17-18; Shore Dep. Ex. 1 [D.E. 55-2] 156-64; Davis Dep. at 88-89; Davis Dep. Ex. 9 at 250-55. Good performance numbers, alone, are insufficient for "exemplary" performance at SEFL, and do not mean a supervisor is free from other performance issues. See Shore Dep. at 142. Additionally, SEFL administers a "survey, discuss, and implement" process ("SDI") annually to its employees "to determine how engaged they are with their job and how well [SEFL is] leading them." Shore Dep. at 70-71, 112-13. Beam reviewed his SDI scores yearly, and SEFL personnel discussed the scores with him on at least one occasion. See Beam Dep. 71-73, 217-18.
In January 2011, Mark Davis ("Davis") became SEFL Service Center Manager and Beam's direct supervisor in Fayetteville. See Davis Dep. at 8-9. Davis was the same age as Beam, and they got along at the beginning of Davis's tenure. See Beam Dep. at 117, 130. Davis noticed similar performance issues to those Amerson documented concerning Beam. In June 2011, Davis began documenting his observations of Beam's performance that he later shared with Beam, (i.e., "write ups"). See Davis Dep. at 222-23; Beam Dep. Exs. 18-32 at 313-55; Beam Dep. at 126-27. From June 2011 to May 2017, Davis issued fourteen write ups to Beam. See Davis Dep. at 223, 230;Beam Dep. Exs. 18-24, 26-32 at 313-21, 323-55. After each write up from Davis to Beam, Davis would meet in person with Beam to discuss the issue. Beam did not contest the accuracy of Davis's conclusions contained in the write ups. See Davis Dep. at 223-25; Beam Dep. 140-42. Although Beam did not agree with Davis's conclusions, Beam recognized that Davis identified legitimate business concerns and ways for Beam to improve. See Beam Dep. at 121, 129, 133, 140-42, 167-69, 235-36.
In late 2014, SEFL moved Beam from the P&D supervisor role to the outbound supervisor role. See Beam Dep. at 39-40. In this role, Beam managed four SEFL employees. See id. at 71. Davis made the decision based on Beam's SDI scores that reflected lower employee satisfaction in Beam's division as compared to SEFL as a whole, the write ups and follow-up conversations with Beam, and that the outbound supervisor role required less from Beam. See Davis Dep. at 61-65; Shore Dep. at 113-18; Shore Dep. Ex. 3 at 167-70.
On December 10, 2014, shortly after assuming the outbound supervisor role, Beam went to the hospital because he "thought [he] was having a heart attack." Beam Dep. at 45. Beam remained at the hospital for testing for three days. See id. at 46. Beam was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia ("SVT"), a nerve disorder that causes a quickened heart rate. See id. at 45-46. Over the next five months, Beam had four SVT episodes that required him to take approximately 35 minutes away from his work for treatment. Following each episode, Beam returned to work. See id. at 46-51. On one occasion, Davis took Beam to the hospital. See id. at 54-55, 242. On June 18, 2015, Beam underwent cardiac ablation surgery to treat his SVT. See id. at 44, 52. Beam took vacation days for the surgery, and SEFL did not count those days as absences. See id. at 44, 46, 48, 52. When Beam returned to work after the surgery, Beam did not have any work restrictions and continues not to have restrictions. See id. at 52. For continuing treatment, Beam takes medication and has a yearlycheckup. See id. at 56. SEFL did not question whether Beam could physically perform his job after the surgery. See id. at 239. After returning from surgery, Beam met with Davis and SEFL Regional Human Resources Manager Tonya Clayton ("Clayton"). They asked "if [Beam] was prepared to move on with [his] job," which Beam understood to be an inquiry into whether he was "fit for the job." Id. at 59-60. Beam responded "yes." Id.
In October 2015, Davis and Davis's direct supervisor, SEFL Regional Vice-President for Region 2 Kim Shore ("Shore"), discussed performance issues they observed concerning Beam's work. See Beam Dep. 159-60; Beam Dep. Ex. 26 at 323; Davis Dep. at 15; Shore Dep. at 5-6, 123-24. During the meeting, Davis noted that Beam "was struggling" as outbound supervisor, a relatively easy position at SEFL. Beam Dep. at 162-63. Beam stated that Davis and Shore should "look at the data and the numbers from [his] shift." Id. at 161. On October 5, 2015, following the meeting, Davis sent Beam a write up listing Davis's concerns about Beam's performance and stating his expectation that Beam improve. See Beam Dep. Ex. 26 at 323.
On April 1, 2016, Davis sent Beam another write up. See Beam Dep. at 166-69; Beam Dep. Ex. 27 at 324. In the write up, Davis identified six performance issues and noted that, when talking to Beam concerning the performance issues, "either [Beam was] not listening or [he was] ignoring [Davis]." Beam Dep. Ex. 27 at 324. On April 7, 2016, Davis sent Beam a write up concerning Beam's failure to make sure part-time employees did not work beyond the maximum number of hours permitted. See Beam Dep. at 171; Beam Dep. Ex. 28 at 325. Davis and Shore sent Beam to Charlotte for a one-week SEFL outbound operations training to improve his performance, and Beam thought the training beneficial. See Beam Dep. at 202, 204, 206, 209; Shore Dep. at 30.
On December 2, 2016, Davis issued Beam a write up concerning his failure to properly code a shipment that resulted in a delivery failure to one of SEFL Fayetteville's biggest customers.See Beam Dep. 172-73; Beam Dep. Ex. 29 at 326. On January 23, 2017, Davis issued Beam a write up concerning ten work-performance issues. See Beam Dep. 173-74; Beam Dep. Ex. 30 at 327. On May 15, 2017, Davis issued Beam a write up...
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