EEOC v. Wendy's of Colorado Springs, Inc.
| Decision Date | 27 December 1989 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 88-A-2013. |
| Citation | 727 F. Supp. 1375 |
| Parties | EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff, v. WENDY'S OF COLORADO SPRINGS, INC., Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Colorado |
Nelson G. Olsten, Robert O. Romero, Joseph W. Simms, Jr., E.E.O.C., Denver, Colo., for plaintiff.
Michael D. Nosler, Rothgerber, Appel, Powers & Johnson, Denver, Colo., for defendant.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") filed this suit on behalf of one Guy Case ("Case") under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a) (1982), claiming that Case was denied a demotion and discharged by Wendy's of Colorado Springs, Inc. ("Wendy's") because of his sex. The EEOC seeks Case's reinstatement (with retroactive seniority) to the position from which the Defendant terminated him, back pay with pre-judgment interest, costs and an injunction preventing Wendy's from discriminating on the basis of sex and engaging in any other unlawful employment practices in violation of Title VII.
The parties stipulated that all jurisdictional prerequisites for the filing of this suit have been met and that venue has been properly invoked. The case was tried to the court on November 28-30, 1989. The following shall constitute the court's findings of fact and conclusions of law in conformance with Rule 52(a), Fed.R.Civ.P.
Wendy's of Colorado Springs ("Wendy's") is a licensee of Wendy's International, a licensor of fast-food restaurants. At the time relevant to this litigation, Wendy's was owned by Richard Holland. Holland owned some twenty-three restaurants (stores) in Colorado, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, and operated some of them through Wendy's. Two of these restaurants were located in Pueblo, Colorado, the "North Store" on Elizabeth Street and the "South Store" on Northern Avenue. It is uncontroverted that these stores do most of their business on weekends and that Saturday is their busiest day.
Wendy's hired Case on January 20, 1985 as a Management Trainee in the North Store. At that time, Case discussed the work in which he would be involved with, among others, Thomas J. Van Horn ("Van Horn"), Wendy's Area Director. From that discussion, Case knew that his work schedule could change and that Angela Giannetto ("Giannetto") would be his boss.
Case's relationship with Giannetto during the first year was one of conflict. During his first four weeks on the job, he concluded that she was "sarcastic." In October, 1985, Gary Wyberg ("Wyberg"), a Wendy's Supervisor who, at that time, supervised the two stores in Pueblo, decided to transfer Giannetto and Case to the South Store "to give them both a fresh start." He also transferred Lonnie Lentz ("Lentz"), who was then the Assistant Manager at the South Store, to the North Store, where he became Unit Director. Case asked Wyberg if he could remain at the North Store to work with Lentz, but Wyberg refused his request.
Thomas J. Rodenkirch ("Rodenkirch") began working for Wendy's in January, 1986 as Director of Operations. In that capacity, he had responsibility for the day-to-day business operations of all of the restaurants owned by Holland. His immediate subordinate was Van Horn, who was Wendy's Area Supervisor for all the day shifts. Van Horn managed three Supervisors, one of whom was Wyberg.
Each restaurant's Unit Director was responsible for the actions of the Shift Managers. Shift Managers supervised Crew Leaders, who, in turn, directed Crew Members, who cooked and served the food and cleaned the restaurant. Each Shift Manager rotated shifts by working some day shifts followed by some night shifts; after that, each took some days off. Consequently, the schedule of work days and days off for each Shift Manager changed each week.
Rodenkirch believed that this system lacked consistency because Crew Members often worked with different Shift Managers. Therefore, he initiated changes shortly after he began working at Wendy's. Under the new regime, Shift Managers had fixed schedules, so that each Crew Member reported to one Shift Manager. Shift managers became Day or Night Shift Managers; each reported both to the Unit Director of the restaurant where he worked and to an Area Supervisor responsible for his shift. Meanwhile, Rodenkirch eliminated Assistant, Co-manager and Supervisor positions.1 It was clear that these changes would necessitate modifications of the work schedule. Therefore, soon after Rodenkirch initiated the changes, Wyberg met with the management of the South Store to explain how they would work.
Giannetto had responsibility for setting the South Store employees' schedules. After meeting with Wyberg, she implemented those modifications. In a meeting attended by Giannetto and Shift Managers Curt Romero ("Romero"), Ann Marie Wodishek ("Wodishek") and Case, it was decided that Wodishek, who had seniority, would become Day Shift Manager. Romero was next in seniority but did not want to be Night Shift Manager, so Case, who had the least seniority, was asked if he wanted the position. Case testified that he agreed to accept the promotion to Night Shift Manager at the South Store on the condition that he could have his weekends free to spend time with his wife, whose job permitted her to take off only Saturday and Sunday. In contrast, Giannetto testified that when Case was promoted, she told him that would try to work out a mutually acceptable schedule of days off but that his having weekends free was not a condition of becoming Night Shift Manager.
In any event, effective January 13, 1986, Wendy's promoted Case to the position of Night Shift Manager at the South Store. George Smith ("Smith") became Wendy's Night Shift Area director.
Giannetto scheduled Case to work weekends for a time. After he complained, she modified the schedule and gave him weekends off. Under the modified schedule, she and Wodishek (both of whom had more seniority than Case) ended up working weekends. In June, 1986, Giannetto reached the conclusion that the schedule should not operate in this way. She informed the Shift Managers that she was restoring the old schedule. Case was assigned to work weekends again.2
Case found the restoration of the previous schedule unacceptable and asked Giannetto if she would permit him to take off Friday and Saturday as an alternative. She refused. He offered to take off Sunday and Monday instead. She refused this suggestion also. By letter to Giannetto dated June 2, 1986, Case requested a demotion to the position of crew member because he believed that he stood a better chance of getting his weekends off if he held a position of lesser responsibility in the restaurant. Giannetto asked Wodishek if she needed another Crew Member on the day shift, but she did not.
Giannetto did not have the authority ultimately to grant or to deny Case's request, so she gave Case's letter to Smith, who discussed it with Rodenkirch. Smith took the position that people should move forward, not backward, in the company. Subsequently, there were several meetings at which Smith and Giannetto discussed Case's situation. Smith and Giannetto believed that it would not be good for Case or for the restaurant to grant the demotion because it would create internal problems based in part on difficulties Case had experienced in managing his shift.
Smith discussed the situation with Rodenkirch, who had the ultimate authority to terminate managers. Like Smith, he wanted individuals to move forward, not backward, in the organization. On June 16, 1986, under orders from Rodenkirch, Smith terminated Case. He filled out the employee status form indicating that this decision had been made, stating in writing that the reason for the termination was that Case, "refuse sic to work necessary time periods necessary sic to meet store needs."3
Although she criticized Case for not being "dealing positively" with his crew, Giannetto gave him mostly "average" and "very good" ratings in a March, 1986 evaluation, commenting that "Guy is a strong manager and dose sic control his store." Plaintiff also offered evidence that Wendy's relied upon a system of "progressive discipline" in which employees would be sanctioned with increasing severity for defects in performance. As to Case in his role as a Night Shift Manager, however, this system apparently was not used.
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