Equal Emp't Opportunity Comm'n v. S. Haulers, LLC
| Decision Date | 10 April 2013 |
| Docket Number | CIVIL ACTION NO. 11-00564-N |
| Parties | EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff, ALFONZO WILLIAMS, Intervenor-Plaintiff, v. SOUTHERN HAULERS, LLC, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Alabama |
This action is before the Court on a motion for partial summary judgment (docs 104-105) filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"), plaintiff herein, and on a motion for summary judgment (docs. 107-109) filed by the defendant, Southern Haulers, LLC ("Southern Haulers"). This action has been referred to the undersigned Magistrate Judge (doc. 19) pursuant to the consent of the parties (doc. 18) to conduct all proceedings and order the entry of judgment in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 636(c) and Fed.R.Civ.P. 73. Upon consideration of these motions (docs. 104-105, 107-109), the briefs filed in opposition thereto (docs. 111-112, 115, 117)1 , the parties' replies (docs. 124, 131)2 , the supplemental briefs (docs. 130, 132, 135, 139-140), and all otherpertinent portions of the record, the Court concludes that the EEOC's motion for partial summary judgment (doc. 104-105) is due to be DENIED as MOOT and that Southern Haulers' motion for summary judgment (docs 107-109) is due to be GRANTED.
In addition to the aforementioned cross-motions for summary judgment, the EEOC has filed a motion to exclude Southern Haulers' experts (doc. 122), Southern Haulers has filed a brief in opposition (doc. 137), and the EEOC has filed a reply (doc. 141). In view of the decision that Southern Haulers is entitled to summary judgment in this case, which is not predicated on the evidence challenged in this motion to exclude, it is ORDERED that the motion to exclude is hereby DENIED as MOOT.
The EEOC filed this action on September 30, 2011, pursuant to Sections 706(f)(1) and (3) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-5(f)(1) ("Title VII") and Section 102 of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, 42 U.S.C. § 1981a. (Doc. 1 at ¶ 1). An Amended Complaint was filed on November 16, 2011 (Doc. 4). The EEOC alleges that, since April 2009, Southern Haulers engaged in discriminatory hiring practices against Alfonzo Williams and a class of African-Americans, which includes only Alton Kelly, at Southern Haulers' Brewton terminal. (Doc. 4 at ¶ 7). The Complaint specifically alleges that Southern Haulers discriminated against Mr. Williams and other African-American applicants at its Brewton, Alabama terminal when it failed to hire them. (Doc. 4, at 1).
Alfonzo Williams was granted leave of Court to intervene (doc. 24) and filed his Complaint on February 1, 2012 (doc. 25). Williams' Complaint tracks the EEOC's Complaint in all material aspects. Cf. Docs. 4 and 25.
1. Southern Haulers is a limited liability corporation owned by R&J Trucking, Inc. ("R&J"), a corporation based out of Youngstown, Ohio. (Doc. 109-1 at 9; Doc. 115 at p. 14 ¶ 1). Southern Haulers and R&J share personnel in accounting, payroll, accounts payable and receivable, safety, and human resources. (Doc. 109-1 at 9, 12; Doc. 115 at p. 14 ¶ 2).
2. Southern Haulers has three terminals in Alabama: one in Brewton, one in Calera, and one in Decatur. (Doc. 109-1 at 15; Doc. 115 at p. 14 ¶ 3).4 Each terminal operates independently of one another to the extent that the terminal manager alone determined whether he had "enough trucks filled by drivers to handle the freight out of his terminal." (Doc. 109-1 at 19).5 Truck drivers are hired specifically for one terminal,and they work exclusively from that terminal. (Doc. 109-1 at 19).6 For example, if the applicant was seeking a truck driving job in the Brewton, he would have to complete an application at the Brewton terminal. (Doc. 109-1 at 47).7
3. At the time of his deposition in 2012, Rob Reed ("Reed") had served for sixteen and one half years as Vice-President of Finance for R&J and remains so employed. (Doc. 109-1 at 9; Doc. 115 at p. 14 ¶ 6). From April 1, 2003 through April13, 2012, Daniel Fire ("Fire") served as Corporate Safety Director for R&J. (Doc. 109-1 at 14; Doc. 109-2 at ¶ 2; Doc. 115 at p. 14 ¶ 6).
4. John Triezenberg ("Triezenberg") has been the Terminal Manager of Southern Haulers' Brewton terminal since approximately 2007. (Doc. 109-3 at 6; Doc. 115 at p. 14 ¶ 7). As Terminal Manager, Triezenberg determined when to fill his trucks with drivers based on the freight available in his area8 , and therefore when to accept applications for truck driver positions to forward to corporate. Triezenberg did not have authority to hire a truck driver for Southern Haulers. (Doc. 109-1 at 15-16; Doc. 109-3 at 20).9 Triezenberg characterized his role in the hiring process, in pertinent part as follows:
The driver comes in -- if we are accepting applications, a driver comes in and fills out an application. I review it for -- to make sure that it's filled out completely. And then I forward it up to our safety department and they will do the background checks if we are hiring.
(Doc. 116-3 at 7). Triezenberg further testified that he did not forward any applications for hire in 2009. (Doc. 116-3 at 7)(emphasis added).10 Although Triezenberg could notrecall taking any applications when he was not hiring in 2007, 2008, and the first quarter of 2009, if he took an application when he was not hiring, he kept it on his office windowsill "for a minimum of ninety days and then I would discard them." (Doc. 109-3 at 7, 19; Doc. 116-3 at 10). Triezenberg stated that there may have been times when he held on to applications longer than ninety days, but it was only because "I don't go through that stack everyday." (Doc. 109-3 at 23; Doc. 116-3 at 10). No evidence has been proffered that any truck driver was ever hired based on an application received by Triezenberg during a time defendant was not hiring drivers, specifically during 2009, but held onto for more than ninety days.
6. Reed testified that, "[i]f we were hiring the Brewton terminal would have a sign put outside on their - put on the fence outside the fence . . . [and] we may run ads in the local papers for the respective terminals." (Doc. 109-1 at 15).
7. Triezenberg testified that he "did not recall" advertising in any newspaper, posting a notice on the bulletin board outside of Southern Haulers, or sending any "feelers" out about a truck driving position available around the time Mr. Bartlett was hired on April 24, 2008, or having at that time "any new contract or business that necessitated hiring a driver." (Doc. 116-3 at 9). Triezenberg does not advertise open truck driving positions on the internet. (Doc. 109-3 at 15; Doc. 115 at p. 15 ¶ 11).11
8. Daniel Fire ("Fire"), the former Corporate Safety Director, made all hiring decisions with regard to truck drivers at the Brewton Terminal through April 13, 2012. (Doc. 109-2 at 2-3; Doc. 109-1 at 14).12 In 2008, Southern Haulers hired five drivers for the Brewton terminal. (Doc. 109-4 at ¶ 8; Doc. 115 at 16). Two of these five drivers were African-Americans, namely Lamont Holland ("Holland") and James Durant ("Durant"). (Doc. 109-4 at ¶ 9). Holland and Durant personally presented their applications to Triezenberg, who forwarded them to Fire, who made the decision to hire them. (Doc. 109-4 at ¶¶ 7, 9, 10).13
9. Prior to 2009, truck drivers at the Brewton terminal primarily picked up Municipal Solid Waste from "transfer stations" and delivered it to landfills on a daily basis. (Doc. 109-1 at 24; Doc. 115 at p. 17 ¶¶ 24-25). In August 2008, Southern Haulerslost its business with the Biloxi, Mississippi transfer station. (Doc. 109-3 at 32).14 Starting in late November or early December 2008 and continuing through 2009, Southern Haulers' revenue was down about thirty-five percent due to the loss of business and the poor economy. (Doc. 109-1 at 39).15 In the first quarter of 2009, SouthernHaulers lost its business with the Prattville, Alabama transfer station when the station was hit by a tornado. (Doc. 109-3 at 17-8, 32).16
10. The Prattville transfer station was never rebuilt, and Southern Haulers never regained the lost business, which displaced approximately nine (9) drivers from the Brewton terminal. (Doc. 109-3 at 17-18, 32).17 Triezenberg met with the drivers to explain the slow down and placed some of the drivers at the Brewton Terminal on four-day workweeks as an alternative to layoffs. (Doc. 109-3 at 18, 34).18
11. Triezenberg stopped accepting applications for truck driver positions during the first quarter of 2009, (before the end of March 2009), because there was no need to hire truck drivers. (Doc. 109-3 at 17; Doc. 109-4 at 4; Doc. 109-1 at 15).19 SouthernHaulers did not have any vacant truck driving positions at its Brewton terminal in 2009. (Doc. 109-1 at 15; Doc. 109-3 at 17-18, 32; Doc. 109-2 at 3; Doc. 109-4 at 3).20
12. Alfonzo Williams testified that, a "couple of months" before April 2009, he began talking to random truck drivers at the Chevron gas station in Brewton whom he believed to be employed by Southern Haulers. (Doc. 109-6 at 17; 24; Doc. 115 at p. 19 ¶ 37). Williams claims that each truck driver he spoke with told him that Southern Haulers was hiring. (Doc. 109-6 at 24; Doc. 115 at p. 19 ¶ 38). Williams cannot identify any of the truck drivers with whom he spoke. (Doc. 109-6 at 24; Doc. 115 at p. 19 ¶ 39). The EEOC states it is undisputed that the only information Williams could provide concerning these truck drivers is that they were "white" and "all looked the same." (Doc. 108 at p. 8 ¶ 40; Doc. 115 at p. 19 ¶ 40).21
13. Sometime in March 2009, Williams talked to Southern Haulers' truck drivers on his CB radio who told him that Southern Haulers was hiring. (Doc. 108 at p. 8 ¶ 41, citing Doc. 109-6 at 20; Doc. 115 at p. 19 ¶ 41). Williams cannot identify any of the drivers with whom he spoke on the CB. (Doc. 109-6 at 20; Doc. 115 at p. 19 ¶ 42).
14. On April 13, 2009,...
To continue reading
Request your trial