Broadus v. O.K. Industries, Inc.
| Decision Date | 16 March 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 99-1529,99-1529 |
| Citation | 226 F.3d 937 |
| Parties | (8th Cir. 2000) CAROL BROADUS, APPELLEE, v. O.K. INDUSTRIES, INC., APPELLANT. Submitted: |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before Hansen and Fagg, Circuit Judges, and Nangle,1 District Judge.
O.K. Industries, Inc., appeals the district court's 2 judgment entered in favor of Carol Broadus after a jury trial. We affirm.
Carol Broadus was hired into the data processing department of O.K. Industries in 1987. She received several promotions over the years and was eventually promoted to the newly created position of Operations Coordinator in July 1991. With this promotion, she received a raise from $8.00 per hour to $9.00 per hour. She held this position until September 13, 1996, the date on which she terminated her employment. At that time, she was making $10.60 per hour (approximately $22,172 per year).
In her capacity as Operations Coordinator, Broadus's testimony explains that she was the first person called when a computer user was having a problem; she was available on-call 24 hours a day; she would attempt to fix the computer problem over the phone or go to the site to fix the problem; if she could not fix the problem, she would refer the call to someone else. Her supervisor, Robert Cloninger, testified that she was unable to fix only about five to ten percent of the computer problems that arose, "if that much." (Trial Tr. at 290.) Broadus also testified that she set-up computers and got them running; installed equipment and software; trained users on the computers and software; ran network back-ups; performed maintenance, including printer maintenance (changing toner cartridges and light printer cleaning); occasionally ran computer cables; conducted software training; built computers from scratch; installed wall jacks for computer cabling; installed printers; ordered equipment; swapped out broken computer parts; and trained accountants to operate the new fixed assets system. (Id. at 53-63.) In addition, she was the VAX security administrator and the Windows N/T server administrator. (Id. at 61.)
Cloninger testified that he asked his supervisor, Jim Hurt, on numerous occasions, to put Broadus on salary and that Hurt either ignored him or simply said no. (Id. at 300.) Cloninger also testified that all the men in the department were on salary and all the women in the department were paid hourly in 1995-1996. (Id. at 302.) Cloninger stated that he was directed by Hurt to hire men for technical positions and women for clerical positions. (Id. at 285.) Cloninger testified that in July 1996 Hurt instructed him to take away some of Broadus's duties and give them to Hoa Aunguyen because "ambitious young men [need] to be promoted." (Id. at 302.) Shortly after that, Cloninger was fired. Broadus left O.K. Industries in September 1996. Thereafter, her position was eliminated.
Gary Bunzel was hired as Cloninger's replacement in October 1996. Bunzel proposed that O.K. Industries discontinue out-sourcing printer maintenance and technical support to Compunet, a third-party service provider. Bunzel testified, however, that even after October 1997 work was still being out-sourced to Compunet under a contract that had been entered into prior to Bunzel's hiring at O.K. Industries. (Id. at 197.) As part of his plan to develop an in-house help desk, Bunzel hired Aaron Vorabooth in February 1997 and Ken McPhail in March 1997 as help desk technicians. Two additional technicians were hired later in 1997.
In April 1996, Marcus Mulson was hired at a rate of $9.00 per hour to help Broadus. According to Mulson's testimony, Broadus interviewed him, trained him, and supervised him. His primary duties were cleaning printers and other miscellaneous tasks, such as answering user calls, delivering computers, and configuring and repairing computers. Compunet trained Mulson to do printer cleaning. Broadus remained Mulson's supervisor until Aunguyen began to take over her duties. In March 1997, Mulson was put on salary at $22,000 per year. In May 1997, Mulson became the supervisor of Vorabooth and McPhail. He received a raise to $27,000 and then another raise that year to $27,810. Mulson testified that his job duties "more or less" remained the same. (Id. at 132.)
Vorabooth was hired in February 1997 as a help desk technician and placed on salary at $26,000 per year. Vorabooth testified that his duties initially consisted of cleaning printers, answering phones, and stocking and inventorying hardware. (Id. at 262.) After Bang Nguyen was hired in September 1997 to clean printers, Vorabooth testified that he started setting up computers and installing software. (Id. at 263.)
McPhail was hired as a help desk technician in March 1997 and placed on salary at $25,000 per year. He testified that his duties consisted of cleaning and maintaining printers, answering calls from users, installing and repairing computers, and troubleshooting. (Id. at 245.) McPhail also testified that he built computers from scratch and ran cable. When McPhail became the help desk supervisor after Mulson left in March 1998, McPhail was making about $37,000 per year.
Nguyen was hired as a help desk technician in September 1997 at a salary of $20,000 per year. Nguyen testified that his primary duty was to clean printers, but he also answered user calls, repaired computers, and ran cable. In October 1998, Nguyen was given a raise to $25,000 per year. (Id. at 277.)
Broadus filed a complaint against O.K. Industries alleging discrimination on the basis of gender in violation of the Equal Pay Act (EPA), 29 U.S.C. § 206 (1994), and the Arkansas Civil Rights Act (ACRA), Ark. Code Ann. §§ 16-123-101 through 108 (Michie Supp. 1997). In the first trial, Broadus alleged that she was paid less than Aunguyen and Mulson for performing substantially equal work. The jury found in favor of Broadus and awarded her a total of $22,500 in back pay, liquidated damages, and punitive damages. O.K. Industries filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law or a motion for a new trial. The district court granted the motion for a new trial because the back pay award was excessive. In addition, the district court concluded that Aunguyen was not a valid comparator because he had more skills and responsibilities than Broadus had in the position.
In the second trial, Broadus alleged that she was paid less than Mulson, Vorabooth, McPhail, and Nguyen for performing substantially equal work in violation of the EPA and the ACRA. The jury again found in favor of Broadus and awarded $3,452 in back wages for the period of June 16, 1994, through June 16, 1995, under the EPA, $3,452 in back wages for the period of June 16, 1995, through September 13, 1996, under both the EPA and the ACRA, and $15,000 in punitive damages under the ACRA. Liquidated damages were awarded, pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), in an amount double the amount of the back wages, $6,904. The judge remitted to $0 the $3,452 back wages award under the ACRA in order to avoid duplicative relief. The final award entered against O.K. Industries totaled $28,808. O.K. Industries appeals, raising several questions of law.
To establish a violation of the Equal Pay Act, an employee must demonstrate that the employer paid male and female employees different wage rates for substantially equal work. See EEOC v. Universal Underwriters Ins. Co., 653 F.2d 1243, 1244 n.3 (8th Cir. 1981). O.K. Industries sought dismissal of this claim as a matter of law, but the district court denied the motion. A case is properly dismissed only if "it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief. " Breedlove v. Earthgrains Baking Cos., 140 F.3d 797, 799 (8th Cir.) (quoting McCormack v. Citibank, NA, 979 F.2d 643, 646 (8th Cir. 1992)), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 921 (1998). We review the denial of a motion to dismiss de novo. See id.
O.K. Industries first argues that the district court erred in denying its motion to dismiss because, as a matter of law, Broadus could not compare her compensation to that of her non-immediate male successors. O.K. Industries contends that this issue should not have gone to the jury because Mulson, in particular, did not make more than Broadus until a year after Broadus quit. Additionally, O.K. Industries asserts that the factual circumstances of this case do not warrant non-immediate successor comparisons because the jobs duties of Broadus and those of the male successors were not substantially similar as a result of the restructuring of the data processing department.
We note initially that we "have not held that Equal Pay Act comparisons must stop with an immediate predecessor or successor as a matter of law. " Clymore v. Far-Mar-Co., 709 F.2d 499, 502 (8th Cir. 1983). To the contrary, we have held that "[i]f the factual circumstances of a case indicate . . . that non-immediate comparisons are appropriate, neither the statute nor the cases prohibit, as a matter of law, such comparisons in analyzing equal pay violations." Id. at 503. "[A]n Equal Pay Act violation must be determined in light of all appropriate facts, including, when factually supportable, non-immediate predecessor comparisons." Id.
In the circumstances of this case, the use of non-immediate successor comparators was appropriate. Broadus was the only person employed at O.K. Industries in the position of Operations Coordinator. She had no immediate predecessor or contemporaneous comparator who engaged in substantially equal work. In terms of her immediate successor comparator, Aunguyen, the district court concluded that he was not an appropriate comparator because he had additional responsibilities in his position, but the district court did not come to...
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