COMM. ON HUMAN RELATIONS v. Kaydon Ring & Seal, Inc.

• Decision Date: 03 March 2003
• Docket Number: No. 118,118
• Citation: 149 Md. App. 666,818 A.2d 259
• Parties: STATE OF MARYLAND COMMISSION ON HUMAN RELATIONS v. KAYDON RING & SEAL, INC.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

818 A.2d 259

149 Md. App. 666

STATE OF MARYLAND COMMISSION ON HUMAN RELATIONS v. KAYDON RING & SEAL, INC.

No. 118, Sept. Term, 2002.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

March 3, 2003.

Patricia A. Wood, Assistant General Counsel (Glendora C. Hughes, General Counsel, on the brief), Baltimore, for appellant.

Barnett Q. Brooks (Barnett Q. Brooks & Assoc., LLC, on the brief), Baltimore, for appellee.

Argued before HOLLANDER, DEBORAH S. EYLER, and GREENE, JJ. DEBORAH S. EYLER, Judge.

The Maryland Commission on Human Relations ("Commission"), the appellant, challenges a judgment of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City reversing the Commission's decision that Kaydon Ring & Seal, Inc. ("Kaydon"), the appellee, terminated Andre Henry from employment because of his race, thereby committing an unlawful employment practice. The Commission presents two issues on appeal, which we have rephrased:

I. Did the circuit court err in failing to apply the correct standard of review and in exceeding its authority?

II. Was there substantial evidence in the record to support the Commission's decision?

For the following reasons, we shall reverse the judgment of the circuit court, vacate the Commission's decision, and remand the case to the Commission for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

On September 2, 1994, Andre Henry filed with the Commission an employment discrimination complaint against Kaydon. Henry, who is black and was born in Jamaica, alleged that Kaydon had discriminated against him by terminating his employment on the basis of his race and national origin.

The Commission investigated Henry's complaint and on November 16, 1995 issued a finding of probable cause. On May 21, 1996, after conciliation efforts failed, the Commission filed a statement of charges against Kaydon with the Office of Administrative Hearings.

The First ALJ Decision

On January 7 and 8, 1997, an Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") held an evidentiary hearing on the charges. The Commission called as witnesses Henry; a Commission supervisor; and six present or former employees of Kaydon. Kaydon called two of its employees. Numerous documents were admitted into evidence.

On August 28, 1997, the ALJ issued a written decision making factual findings, listed numerically, including the following. Kaydon is a Baltimore company that manufactures seals and gaskets. On June 1, 1994, it hired Henry to work as a machine shop operator in Intermediate Shop B, section 708 of its plant. Henry had some previous machine operating experience and held an associate's degree in aviation maintenance technology and a master of mechanics certificate from Eastern Airlines.

Upon being hired, Henry was placed on probation, as are all new employees at Kaydon. Kaydon's rules require that new employees serve a probationary period of between 60 and 120 days.

Larry Fiddler, a white male, worked as the "lead man" in Intermediate Shop B. Fiddler's duties included telling the machine operators which machines to run. Steve Skinner, also a white male, was the foreman in two sections of Intermediate Shop B, including section 708. When Henry was hired, Skinner had held the foreman's position for nine years.

As foreman, Skinner was Henry's immediate supervisor and was solely responsible for evaluating his performance. The criteria Skinner used to evaluate employees were safety, quality of work, productivity, and attitude. Skinner assessed employees based on what he was told about their performance and what he observed first hand. Sixty percent of the people Skinner supervised and evaluated were black. Skinner had full authority and discretion to fire the probationary employees he was charged with supervising.

New employees at Kaydon received little formal training. Instead, they were immediately put to work manufacturing products, and were assigned to various machine operators who showed them the proper methods for operating the machines. Thus, new employees received "on the job" training. During his period of probation, Henry operated the cam-turn machine, the outside diameter machine, the inside diameter machine, and the auto vent machine. Several of the employees who testified at the hearing trained him to operate those machines.

Kaydon imposed production goals and efficiency requirements on all employees, including probationary employees. Kaydon officials talked to the machine operators about the productivity requirements they were supposed to meet.

Skinner expected the employees he supervised to perform their jobs well. He had a short temper, and would become upset with employees who were not performing up to his expectations.

Henry had problems with his job performance, including low productivity and gross efficiency ratings, sitting down on the job, leaving his assigned work area without permission, and leaving early for breaks and lunch. Henry's productivity ratings and gross efficiency ratings were significantly lower than those of other employees in the same department. Skinner discussed these performance problems with Henry. Skinner was not satisfied with the quality of Henry's work.

On August 12, 1994, Skinner extended Henry's probationary period for 60 days, for additional training. At the same time, Skinner and Arnold Ford, a Union Representative, met with Henry and told him his performance was unsatisfactory.

When Kaydon hired Henry, it also hired two other machine operators: Steve Butz and Tom Morgan. Both men are white and American born. Like Henry, Butz and Morgan were put on probation and received "on the job" training.

Butz had previous experience as a machine operator. He performed satisfactorily during his probationary period at Kaydon. After 60 days, Skinner decided, based on Butz's performance, that Butz had successfully completed his probation. Butz completed his probation by outperforming Henry and Morgan.

Unlike Butz, Morgan was not an efficient employee and did not perform satisfactorily, in Skinner's view. For that reason, Morgan did not successfully complete his probationary period.

Morgan's father also was employed by Kaydon. At Kaydon, it was not unusual for an employee to be given special treatment because one of his parents was a Kaydon employee. This preferential treatment, a form of nepotism, was extended to Kaydon employees of all races and national origins.

During his probationary period as a machine operator, Morgan applied for a trucker's job at Kaydon. The job, which paid less than the machine operator's job, was advertised plant-wide. Morgan was the only person who made a bid for the trucker's job. He did not apply for any other jobs at Kaydon. Morgan was qualified for the trucker's job, and was offered the job for that reason. Morgan accepted the offer.

Henry did not apply for the trucker's job or any other job at Kaydon.

Ten days after Henry's probation was extended, Skinner fired him. Skinner did so "because he was angry that a lot of production was lost as a result of [Henry's] not operating all the machines Skinner had assigned him to operate that day."

After Henry was discharged, Kaydon offered the next machine operator's job to a black man. That person did not appear for his physical examination, however, and therefore was not hired.

Black and white employees and employees of various national origins were hired by Kaydon to work in the departments supervised by Skinner. Skinner fired employees who were black, white, and of various national origins. From September 1992 to September 1994, in addition to Henry, four employees were discharged in section 708: a white American female fired for attendance problems; a white American male fired for missing time; a white Russian born male who was terminated for inability to perform; and a black American male who was terminated for inability to perform. Both white and black employees successfully completed probation while being supervised by Skinner.

Skinner did not consider race or ethnicity when he trained or terminated employees. No one ever told him that Henry felt harassed or discriminated against based on race or national origin.

After making those findings, the ALJ proceeded to address the Commission's charges, under Md.Code (1994), article 49B, section 16(a), that Kaydon had terminated Henry's employment because of his race or national origin. The ALJ decided the charges by applying the analytical framework for evaluating claims of employment discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as articulated by the United States Supreme Court in McDonnell Douglas v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973). Under the McDonnell Douglas framework, applicable when the complainant does not have direct proof of an intent to discriminate, the complainant first must establish a prima facie case of discrimination. Prima facie proof gives rise to a rebuttable presumption of discrimination, which shifts the burden of production to the employer to state a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the action complained about. When the employer does so, the complainant then must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the employer's stated reason for the termination was a pretext. Texas Dep't of Cmty. Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 255, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981); Killian v. Kinzer, 123 Md.App. 60, 68, 716 A.2d 1071 (1998); Brandon v. Molesworth, 104 Md.App. 167, 188, 655 A.2d 1292 (1995),aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 341 Md. 621, 672 A.2d 608 (1996).

The ALJ decided that the Commission had established a prima facie case of intentional discrimination and that Kaydon then met its burden of production by stating a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for terminating Henry: namely, that Henry's job performance, including his performance on the day he was fired, was unsatisfactory, both independently and relatively, that is, in comparison to other employees in the same position. The...