Douglas v. J.C. Penney Co., Inc.

• Decision Date: 30 March 2006
• Docket Number: No. CIV.A.03-30265-MAP.,CIV.A.03-30265-MAP.
• Citation: 422 F.Supp.2d 260
• Parties: Howard T. DOUGLAS, Plaintiff, v. J.C. PENNEY COMPANY, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

422 F.Supp.2d 260

Howard T. DOUGLAS, Plaintiff, v. J.C. PENNEY COMPANY, INC., Defendant.

No. CIV.A.03-30265-MAP.

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts.

March 30, 2006.

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Lorna M. Hebert, Murphy, Hesse, Toomey, and Lehane, Quincy, for J.C. Penney Co., Inc., Defendant.

Kayla Carter, Owens J.C. Penney Co., Inc., Legal Department, Plano, TX, for J.C. Penney Co., Inc., Defendant.

Michael O. Shea, Law Office of Michael O. Shea, Wilbraham, for Howard T. Douglas Plaintiff.

James A. Toomey, Murphy, Hesse, Toomey, and Lehane, Quincy, for J.C. Penney Co., Inc., Defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER REGARDING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

PONSOR, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Howard T. Douglas, an African-American male, has sued Defendant J.C. Penney Company, Inc. ("J.C.Penney") alleging discrimination on the basis of race and gender in violation of both federal and state law. The four-count complaint alleges that Plaintiff suffered: (1) discrimination, harassment, and a hostile work environment based on gender and sex, in violation of Title VII and Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151B (Count I and Count III); (2) discrimination, harassment, a hostile work environment, and retaliation based on ethnicity, race, and color, in violation of Title VII and Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151B (Count II and Count IV).¹

Defendant has moved for summary judgment, arguing that on the undisputed facts of record, Plaintiff lacks evidence sufficient to support his claims and justify a trial.

For the reasons outlined below, Defendant's motion will be allowed.²

II. FACTS

The facts are set forth below in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, the non-moving party. The factual record is extensive and the subject of some argument by counsel.³ The following summary of the record, however, constitute& a fair summary of the evidence in sufficient detail to support the court's ruling.

A. Plaintiffs J.C. Penney Career (1993-20022).

Plaintiff worked for J.C. Penney for approximately nine years. He was hired in Michigan in 1993 as a management trainee and was subsequently promoted to the positions of Merchandising Manager and Senior Merchandising Manager. In 1997, Plaintiff transferred to a store in Holyoke, Massachusetts, to work as Senior Merchandising Manager for the Men's Division.

During most of his tenure with J.C. Penney, Plaintiff was a successful employee who received positive performance reviews. He was consistently described in Performance Appraisals as a "high potential" employee, that is, someone in the top five percent of J.C. Penney employees. (See, e.g., Dkt. No. 32, Ex. 2, Miscellaneous Performance Appraisals.) He also consistently received high "Overall Performance Ratings" on J.C. Penney's five point scale; Plaintiff was regularly rated a "2," or "exceeds expectations." (See id.) In both 1994 and 1995, Plaintiff received sales awards, and in 1995, he was invited, "because of [his] personal success and strong `people skills,'" to become a mentor and "impart [his] `process of success' to ... trainees." (See id.)

After his transfer to the Holyoke store, Plaintiffs initial reviews were generally positive. In a Performance Appraisal for 1997, Store Manager Henry Lovan praised Plaintiff, noting that although he "has a very large assignment," he has "responded with solid plans of action." (See id.) The following year, although Lovan once again rated Plaintiff a "high potential" employee, his evaluation was slightly less favorable. Plaintiffs "Overall Performance Rating" was lowered to a "3," or "meets requirements." Lovan singled out associate development, leadership, and sense of urgency as Plaintiffs weaker areas. (See Dkt. No. 32, Ex. 1, Douglas Dep., Nov. 17, 2004, at Ex. 17 (rating Plaintiff "satisfactory" or "needs development" for these three areas, but "good" or "outstanding" for all six other management characteristics); see also id. ("Thomas is very professional in his approach to his assignment. He does have opportunities in the area of communication with [an associate] and needs to give more direct leadership to his team. His other area of opportunity is with urgency in getting floor moves completed in a timely basis and being 100% set for events to get the most sales out of them. Thomas is keenly aware of what's happening with the men[']s business but he really needs to become faster at getting the department set and ready for the customers.").)

In 1999, Lovan once again gave Plaintiff a "3" for overall performance. For the first time, however, Plaintiff was not identified as a "high potential" employee. Lovan also noted that Plaintiff "needs to be able to manage his time . . . [and] improve customer satisfaction." (See Douglas Dep. Ex. 18.) However, Lovan praised Plaintiff's dedication, organization, and relationship with his staff, and gave higher marks for "Management Characteristics" than he had the previous year. (See Douglas Dep. Ex. 18.)

In the 2000 Performance Appraisal, Lovan rated Plaintiff a "4," or "not meeting minimum requirements, improvement needed." Plaintiff was warned that he had ninety days to improve his rating to a "3" or better, and informed that if his performance subsequently dropped below a satisfactory level again, his rating "could be changed to a `5' and [his] employment could be terminated." (Douglas Dep. Ex. 19.) Once again, Plaintiff was not rated a "high potential" employee. (Id.) Lovan also focused on Plaintiff's poor judgment, referring to Plaintiff's personal involvement with female associates at the store and disclosure of confidential information to a new associate. (See id. ("[Douglas] continues to show poor judgement by involving himself with female store associates resulting in conflicts in and out of store.... We cannot continue to have disruptive issues [concerning Douglas] and female associates in the store.")); id. ("He has shared confidential associate information with a new associate and has d[i]vulged store personnel issues from an incident that occurred back in February 2000.") Lovan also noted in passing that Plaintiff's sales were down 5.5% for the year. (Id.; see also Dkt. No. 28, Attach. 1, Douglas Dep., Nov. 17, 2004, at Ex. 23 (noting that in fiscal year 2000, the Holyoke Men's Division ranked twenty-third out of twenty-three stores in the district).) Nonetheless, Lovan gave Plaintiff positive or satisfactory ratings for all but one of the "Management Characteristics" (See Douglas Dep. Ex. 19 (giving Plaintiff a rating of "ND" or "needs development" for judgment).)

Plaintiff does not believe that Lovan's Appraisal was in any way discriminatory. (See Douglas Dep. 142:8-16; see also id. at 107:12-108:24 (commenting that no J.C. Penney employee other than Store Manager Serena Olsen discriminated against Plaintiff).) Plaintiff also concedes that Lovan's Appraisal was "accurate except for" the reference to sharing confidential information. (See Douglas Dep. 141:15-24.). However, Plaintiff believes that Lovan rated him a "4" not as a reflection of Plaintiff s job performance, but purely on the basis of his involvement with female associates. (See Dkt. No. 32, Attach. 1, Pl.'s Statement Disputed Material Facts ¶ 12 ("Lovan wrote nothing in [the narrative portion of the evaluation] about sales figures and/or leadership and/or core standards being a significant issue, i.e. one calling for a `4' rating"); id. ¶ 13 ("Lovan wrote that Plaintiff's employment could be terminated, again emphasizing that the alleged social issues between the Plaintiff and female associates had been disruptive rather than emphasizing any issues with sales, coaching and/or training, core standards, cleanliness, and/or presentation standards."); see also Douglas Dep. Ex. 19 (only negative "Management Characteristics" rating is for judgment).)

A number of changes occurred in 2001. In January, J.C. Penney instituted a centralized buying procedure. Buying, which had previously been a key function of Senior Merchandising Managers, was transferred to a central office. As a result, Senior Merchandising Managers had their titles changed to Senior Department Managers ("SDM").⁴ This new position required a greater emphasis on presentation and customer standards. J.C. Penney also introduced new "Core Standards" that it used to evaluate, employees.

The Holyoke store also experienced changes in 2001. In March, Serena Olsen replaced Lovan as Store Manager. In addition, the Holyoke store endured construction and remodeling for most of 2001.

Olsen formally evaluated Plaintiff for the first time at the mid-point of fiscal year 2001. (See Douglas Dep. Ex. 20.) Douglas was once again rated a "4," or "improvement needed," and reminded of the possible consequences if he failed to improve. (Id.) Olsen noted that "[s]ales results continue to struggle below district average" in the Men's Division and singled out three factors—sense of urgency, leadership, and associate development—as "key attributes that are contributing to this loss." (Id.)

Plaintiff's submission in this litigation offers detailed objections to Olsen's midyear Appraisal. He contends that Olsen "lodged generalized criticism" and "failed to provide specific examples." (Pl.'s Facts ¶ 16.) Olsen criticized Plaintiff both for failing to "empower" associates and for a lack of leadership; he contends that such criticism is contradictory because when he did "empower" associates by delegating tasks, Olsen used this as evidence of his failure to lead. (See id.) Plaintiff also disputes Olsen's contention that he failed to provide adequate direction to his associates; he says that he held regular meetings with associates. (See id. (citing Douglas Dep. 142-49).)

Plaintiff and Olsen met to discuss the mid-year Appraisal in late September 2001. (See Dkt. No. 32, Ex. 8, Olsen Dep. 178:11-179:3, Nov. 18, 2004.) Plaintiff then took a series of steps to address the issues raised in the Appraisal....