Ciarlante v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 97-1174
| Decision Date | 30 April 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 97-1152 and 97-1725,97-1174 and 97-1725,No. 97-1174,Nos. 97-1152,97-1174,97-1152 and 97-1725,s. 97-1152 |
| Citation | 143 F.3d 139 |
| Parties | 135 Lab.Cas. P 10,150, 13 IER Cases 1569 Louis A. CIARLANTE; Thomas A. Marshall, Individually and on Behalf of a Class of Individuals, Appellants/Cross-Appellees in Appeal, v. BROWN & WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CORPORATION; The American Tobacco Company; American Brands, Inc. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation and The American Tobacco Company, Appellants/Cross-Appellees in Appeal |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
John M. Elliott, Timothy T. Myers, Frederick P. Santarelli (argued), Elliott, Reihner, Siedzikowski & Egan, Blue Bell, PA, for Louis A. Ciarlante and Thomas A. Marshall, Individually and on behalf of a Class of Individuals.
Barry Simon (argued), Christopher J. Moran, Simon Higgins & Moran, P.C., Philadelphia, PA, for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation; The American Tobacco Company.
Before: BECKER, ROTH and GARTH, Circuit Judges.
This appeal requires us to decide whether the district court properly granted summary judgment to the plaintiff class against the defendants. The district court held as a matter of law that the defendants' Chester, Virginia administrative center was the plaintiffs' "single site of employment" under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, 29 U.S.C. § 2101(a)(3)(B), and therefore awarded damages and attorneys' fees to the plaintiffs. We hold that a genuine issue exists as to whether the Chester center was the plaintiffs' "single site of employment," so that the district court's grant of summary judgment was improper. We will reverse and remand.
The plaintiffs in this action are a class of over one hundred former employees of the American Tobacco Company ("the Company"), who worked throughout the United States as traveling salespeople. Officially titled Field Sales Representatives ("sales representatives"), the plaintiffs were each assigned to a geographical district in which they were responsible, along with other sales representatives, for selling the Company's products to wholesalers and retailers in that district. Altogether, the Company employed over one thousand sales representatives, located in 150 different districts covering the entire United States. Sales representatives were each provided a company car, and spent an overwhelming proportion of their time "on the road" visiting customers within their district.
The sales representatives communicated with other employees at the Company mostly by telephone. There were two primary contacts. First, each sales representative kept in close contact with a district sales manager, who, like the sales representatives, lived and worked in the designated district. Each district sales manager was responsible for managing the handful of sales representatives assigned within the district; like the sales representatives, most district sales managers worked from home, and had no other permanent office. The sales representatives' second significant contact was with the Company's administrative center in Chester, Virginia. Sales representatives called the Chester center every day to check messages, and also contacted the center regularly to order supplies.
The events that prompted this lawsuit occurred on January 11, 1995, soon after the defendant Brown & Williamson acquired the Company from American Brands, Inc. On that day, the Company summoned the sales representatives to "sales meetings" held across the country. At the "sales meetings," Company officials announced to the sales representatives that they were being laid off, effective immediately. The sales representatives were forced to hand over their keys, samples, and distribution lists to Company representatives before they were allowed to leave. The Company also encouraged the employees to sign release forms, which would entitle each employee to a week's pay and job counseling services in exchange for a waiver of rights to additional benefits.
The plaintiffs in this action are employees who did not sign the release form. They brought suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Brown & Williamson, American Tobacco, and American Brands, Inc. (collectively, "B & W") alleging that B & W had violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act ("WARN"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 2101-09, by failing to warn the plaintiffs of their impending layoffs. 1 Enacted in 1988, WARN requires that employers provide written notice to those employees who will be subject to a "mass layoff" sixty days before the layoff occurs. See 29 U.S.C. § 2102(a). 2 Congress defined a "mass layoff" as "a reduction in force which ... results in an employment loss at the single site of employment during any 30-day period for ... at least 50 employees." 29 U.S.C. § 2101(a)(3) (emphasis added). The Act entitles affected employees who are not notified of an impending "mass layoff" to damages from their former employer in an amount equal to back pay for each day of the violation, for up to sixty days. See 29 U.S.C. § 2104(a).
Following class certification, it became clear that the plaintiffs' recovery hinged on whether B & W's action was a "mass layoff." Specifically, the central question was whether the action had resulted in an employment loss of more than fifty employees at one "single site of employment" as required by 29 U.S.C. § 2101(a)(3)(B). 3 In an order dated September 23, 1996, the district court announced that it would treat pending discovery applications as cross-motions for summary judgment, focusing on the "single site" requirement. The parties responded with both evidence and legal argument attempting to show as a matter of law that the single site requirement had (or had not) been satisfied.
The sales representatives argued that they were entitled to judgment as a matter of law because the Chester, Virginia administrative center was their "single site of employment." The sales representatives offered statements by former employees suggesting that the Chester center was the primary contact point for sales representatives in the field. According to the statements, sales representatives received their instructions from and reported to the administrative center in Chester. App. 2208-10; App.1936. Each sales representative was required to call Chester every day to check messages, which frequently included instructions from management left on the sales representative's voice mail. App.1936-37. Sales representatives also communicated with the Chester center to obtain sales materials, supplies, and other items they needed to perform their jobs. App. 2178-79. The sales representatives argued that they were entitled to judgment because their affidavits proved that the Chester center was their "single site of employment."
B & W's affidavits and arguments pointed to a different conclusion. According to B & W, it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law because the sales representatives' "single site[s] of employment" were the geographical districts where they actually worked. B & W maintained that the districts were the true hubs of the sales representatives' activities, as the local district sales managers were the employees who directed, managed, and monitored the sales representatives. B & W relied on various sources for support. First, they offered the affidavit of Mr. Randy Groonwald, a district sales manager from Milwaukee, who stated that his sales representatives were assigned work from him, not from Chester, Virginia. Groonwald also reported that he was responsible for the day-to-day concerns of his sales representatives, including hiring, training, job performance reviews, and approval of expenses. App. 1017-18. Groonwald's statements were supported by B & W's internal documents, which showed that supervision of sales representatives was the major task of district sales managers. App. 1223. B & W also relied upon its official job description for the sales representative position, which indicated that the sales representatives' primary contact within the company was with their district sales managers. App. 1226.
In response to the sales representatives' position that Chester was their single site of employment, B & W maintained that the Chester center was simply an administrative hub through which certain mailings and messages authored outside of Chester were sent to the sales representatives. Sales representatives were hired, trained, and instructed within their district, B & W noted; they worked entirely within their district; and they reported to their district sales managers within their district. Sales representatives did not regularly visit the Chester, Virginia center. In fact, named plaintiff Thomas A. Marshall visited the center only twice, on special trips to recognize his outstanding sales record, App. 2266, and named plaintiff Louis A. Ciarlante never visited Chester at all. App. 2376. Accordingly, B & W argued that the districts, rather than the Chester center, were the plaintiffs' "single site of employment." Because there were fewer than fifty employees within each geographic district, B & W claimed that its action could not constitute a "mass layoff" under 29 U.S.C. § 2101(a)(3), and that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
In an order dated November 6, 1996, the district court concluded as a matter of law that the Chester center was the plaintiffs' single site of employment and entered summary judgment in their favor. The district court reasoned that the voluminous record in the case "establishes, without any genuine dispute, that all instructions, assignments, rules, and orders to the plaintiff salesmen emanated from the Chester, Virginia headquarters." As a result, the Chester center was the plaintiffs' single site of employment. The court recognized that the local district sales managers played a...
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