Evans v. McClain of Georgia, Inc.

• Citation: 131 F.3d 957
• Decision Date: 18 December 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-9004,96-9004
• Parties: 77 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 965, 72 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,094, 134 Lab.Cas. P 33,629, 4 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 419, 11 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 896 Aric EVANS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. McCLAIN OF GEORGIA, INC., McClain Industries, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit)

Page 957

131 F.3d 957

77 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 965,

72 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,094,

134 Lab.Cas. P 33,629,

4 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 419,

11 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 896

Aric EVANS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. McCLAIN OF GEORGIA, INC., McClain Industries, Inc. Defendants-Appellees.

No. 96-9004.

United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit.

Dec. 18, 1997.

David J. Worley, Norman J. Slawsky, Jacobs & Slawsky, P.A., Atlanta, GA, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Thomas H. Williams, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer & Weiss, Detroit, MI, for McClain of Georgia and McClain Industries.

W. Warren Plowden, Jr., Jones, Cork & Miller, Macon, GA, for McClain of Georgia, Inc.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.

Before EDMONDSON and DUBINA, Circuit Judges, and LIMBAUGH ^*, Senior District Judge.

PER CURIAM:

Plaintiff-Appellant Aric Evans ("Appellant") appeals from the district court's grant of summary judgment on his claims of race discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. and 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (" § 1981") and for overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. For the reasons set forth, we reverse and remand.

Facts and Procedural Background

Defendants-Appellees McClain of Georgia, Inc. and McClain Industries, Inc. (collectively "Appellees") own and operate an industrial plant in Macon, Georgia, and fabricate there large steel trash bins and compactors. Prior to his discharge, Appellant had worked at Appellees' Macon plant for approximately eight years.

In July of 1994, the plant manager, Ken Graham, resigned. He was replaced on a temporary basis by the assistant plant manager, Al Buckalew. There appears to be no dispute that Appellant, in assisting Buckalew, was second in command. He contends that he was running the plant.

On October 3, 1994, Kenneth McClain, chairman of the board and president of McClain Industries, Inc., named Ken Cole as the new plant manager. Buckalew remained as an unofficial assistant plant manager and Appellant was, purportedly, next in line.

During this time there was an incident involving one of the leadmen at the plant, Tim Hall. Appellant contends that when Buckalew told Hall that Appellant was next in line to be the plant manager, Hall stormed out of the plant saying that he would not work for a "nigger." McClain, who was upset by the prospect of losing Hall, sent another employee to find him and, upon his return, allegedly promised Hall that he would be trained as the next plant manager at Appellees' Texas plant. After this incident, Appellant claims Hall was placed over him in the plant's managerial hierarchy.

Cole proved to be an incompetent manager and was terminated on November 22, 1994. He was replaced by Neal Flowers, a manager from one of Appellees' Oklahoma plants. Appellees claim Flowers was brought in to assist in the plant's conversion to a new product line.

Contemporaneous with all of these events was a campaign to organize a union at the plant. Whether or not Appellant was a management level employee, he was perceived by everyone as an integral part of the union's effort. In fact, Appellees' counsel, Thomas H. Williams, met with Appellant and informed him that he was not to engage in any further union activity because he was an assistant plant manager. Appellant denied his management status, noting that he was employed as an hourly wage earner.

Shortly thereafter, Appellant became a salaried employee. Although he admits being charged with supervisory responsibility, he contends that he was still treated as an hourly employee. To support his position, Appellant claims that he was not included in the plant's management meetings, did not make work assignments, and still had to report at 6:00 am with the hourly employees. Appellant maintains that he was only given a salary to remove him from the bargaining unit in an attempt to thwart the union's organization effort.

On February 22, 1995, the day before the union election, McClain asked for Appellant's keys, told him that he was fired, and even accused Appellant of threatening to shoot someone at the plant. Appellees now contend, however, that Appellant was not actually fired until February 24, 1995, the day after the union election.

Appellees claim that McClain fired Appellant because he had become a disruptive force in the plant and was intentionally creating racial tensions among the lower level employees. They further contend that Appellant was negligent in performing his duties and had threatened certain white employees.

Appellant claims that after the incident with Tim Hall, McClain began to harass him in an attempt to force him to resign. He explains that McClain continually changed his job duties and reduced his responsibilities. He insists that he was denied promotions and ultimately terminated because of his race. He also maintains that he was wrongfully denied overtime compensation in violation of the FLSA.

The district court granted summary judgment against Appellant on both claims. Evans v. McClain of Georgia, Inc., 934 F.Supp. 1383 (M.D.Ga.1996).

In concluding that Appellant could not establish a prima facie case of discriminatory failure to promote, the district court completely discounted the probative value of the incident involving Tim Hall. The court stated:

Whether or not Tim Hall made the racially offensive statement attributed to him, nothing in the record suggests that Hall received a preferential promotion or that Hall was placed in a position of greater responsibility or prestige than Plaintiff enjoyed. While the record fails to describe the nature of Hall's position or the scope of his authority, it does not suggest that he was in a position above the Plaintiff, but rather shows that Plaintiff and Hall each had responsibility for a separate phase of the plant's operations, and were assistant managers of approximately equal status.

Evans, 934 F.Supp. at 1388.

Although the district court concluded that Appellant could establish a prima facie case of discriminatory discharge, it held that he made no showing of pretext to overcome Appellees' legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons for his termination.

Finally, the district court concluded that Appellant was ineligible for overtime compensation under the FLSA because he was working in an executive capacity and was a salaried employee.

Appellant raises four points on appeal: 1) the district court erred in analyzing his discrimination claims under the standard announced in McDonnell Douglas v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), because he presented direct evidence of discrimination; 2) the district court erred in concluding that his circumstantial evidence was insufficient as a matter of law on the issues of failure to promote and discriminatory discharge; 3) the district court erred in concluding that no reasonable trier of fact could conclude that he had established failure to promote and discriminatory discharge in light of the subsequent decision of the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") in a related case; and 4) the district court erred in concluding that he was exempt from the overtime requirements of the FLSA.

Standard of Review

This Court reviews de novo a district court's grant of summary judgment, applying the same legal standards that bound the district court, and viewing all facts and any reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Hale v. Tallapoosa County, 50 F.3d 1579, 1581 (11th Cir.1995); McGuire Oil Co. v. Mapco, Inc., 958 F.2d 1552, 1557 (11th Cir.1992). Summary judgment is appropriate only when "there is no genuine issue of material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c).

Direct Evidence

"When there is direct evidence that discrimination was a motivating factor in the challenged employment decision, the appropriate analysis is different from that employed in a case where only circumstantial evidence is available." Trotter v. Board of Trustees of University of Alabama, 91 F.3d 1449, 1453 (11th Cir.1996); Bell v. Birmingham Linen Service, 715 F.2d 1552, 1556 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1204, 104 S.Ct. 2385, 81 L.Ed.2d 344 (1984). The basis for the analysis is that once a plaintiff produces direct evidence of a discriminatory motive, and the trier of facts accepts this testimony "the ultimate issue of discrimination is proved." Bell, 715 F.2d at 1556. As such, "the defendant may avoid a finding of liability only by proving by a preponderance of the evidence that it would have made the same decision even if it had not taken the [illegitimate criterion] into account." Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228, 258, 109 S.Ct. 1775, 1795, 104 L.Ed.2d 268 (1989).

Appellant argues that McClain's statements, conduct, and attitudes are direct evidence of his discriminatory motive. See EEOC v. Alton Packaging Corp., 901 F.2d 920 (11th Cir.1990) (general racially discriminatory remarks constitute direct evidence of decisionmakers' failure to promote black employees for discriminatory reasons). At his deposition, McClain testified that Appellant intimidated white employees by his "strut." He further testified that Appellant, "a very large, very strong, very muscular black man," was attempting to intimidate "three smaller or overweight white men."

These statements and others in Appellees' brief, however inappropriate they may be, are not direct evidence of a discriminatory motive with respect to Appellant's claims of failure to promote or discriminatory discharge. See Burrell v. Board of Trustees of Georgia Military College, 125 F.3d 1390, 1393 (11th Cir.1997)("Direct evidence is evidence, which if believed, proves [the] existence of fact in issue without inference or presumption.") (internal quotation omitted). At best, these statements merely suggest a discriminatory...