Farmland Foods v. DUBUQUE HUMAN RIGHTS

• Decision Date: 17 December 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-0063.,02-0063.
• Citation: 672 N.W.2d 733
• Parties: FARMLAND FOODS, INC., Appellee, v. DUBUQUE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, Appellant, and Samuel O. Taylor, Intervenor-Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

672 N.W.2d 733

FARMLAND FOODS, INC., Appellee, v. DUBUQUE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, Appellant, and Samuel O. Taylor, Intervenor-Appellant.

No. 02-0063.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

December 17, 2003.

William G. Blum, Dubuque, for appellant.

Dorothy A. O'Brien of O'Brien & Greve, P.L.C., Davenport, for intervenor-appellant.

Michael R. Lied of Howard & Howard Attorneys, P.C., Peoria, Illinois, and Brendan T. Quann of O'Connor & Thomas, P.C., Dubuque, for appellee.

CADY, Justice.

This employment case centers on a variety of complaints of discrimination by an employee of a meatpacking plant over the course of his employment. A local human rights commission awarded damages. The district court reversed the decision of the human rights commission on judicial review and dismissed the complaint. On appeal, the court of appeals reversed the decision of the district court. On further review, we vacate the decision of the court of appeals and affirm the judgment of the district court.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

Samuel Taylor (Taylor) began working as a meat processor in a meatpacking plant located in Dubuque in 1983. He was twenty-five years old when he began his employment. The plant was owned by FDL Foods, Inc. In 1996, Farmland Foods, Inc. (Farmland) purchased the plant. Taylor continued to work at the plant after the purchase with no interruption in service. The plant slaughtered hogs and processed pork. The working conditions were noisy and cold, and many jobs were gruesome and bloody. The work was fast-paced, repetitious, generally stressful, and sometimes unstimulating. The continuous flow of the product along production lines required a coordinated, fast-paced effort by workers. Worker absenteeism was a frequent problem at the plant, especially in the "hog kill" department. This meant employees were often moved to other jobs to cover understaffed areas.

A union represented the employees. Many employment decisions affecting workers were governed by a collective-bargaining agreement, while other decisions were within the discretion of management and supervisors. Generally, the plant recognized seniority in making job assignments, and qualified employees with seniority could request to move to open positions.

Over the course of his employment, Taylor, who is black, became dissatisfied with shift and work assignments. He also experienced various confrontations and problems with supervisors, most notably Dick Sherman (Sherman). Sherman is white. The problems between Sherman and Taylor form the core facts of the litigation.

Each employee at the plant was assigned to a department, referred to as their "home base," and to a specific shift at the time employment began. Taylor was assigned to the "smoked meats" department, second shift. He was the only black man assigned to this department. Sherman was a supervisor in the smoked meats department.

One problem Taylor experienced during his employment at the plant was his inability to move from second shift to first shift. As early as 1984, Taylor was denied various requests to change shifts while other workers in the smoked meats department were able to move. Another complaint was based on Sherman's denial of Taylor's request to leave work early after he had completed his regularly assigned work, as other employees were able to do on occasion. As a result, Taylor was required to complete his shift. These incidents primarily occurred before or during 1989 or 1990. Another complaint occurred in 1990 when Taylor was temporarily assigned to a boxing job in the "ham wrap" department during the vacation of another employee and was told by his supervisor he needed to work faster. Although Sherman was not Taylor's supervisor that day, he intervened and threatened to write a disciplinary memo concerning the incident. No memo, however, appeared in Taylor's work records. Taylor filed a grievance over the incident, which was denied.

During the term of his employment, Taylor filed numerous grievances involving Sherman's actions. Taylor did not have significant problems with other supervisors during his employment. One of the grievances related to Sherman's conduct resulted in a minor change to departmental procedure. The rest were denied.

Taylor felt Sherman frequently singled him out for discipline and was overly critical of his work. One example involved a problem Taylor and other production-line employees encountered in placing nets around hams during a period of several months. Although the problem ultimately was attributed to the incorrect size of the nets, Sherman frequently criticized the workers on the line in a loud voice, and was particularly critical of Taylor for failing to meet production standards. Taylor, however, was never formally disciplined.

Taylor also complained that Sherman generally watched over him more than he watched the other employees and treated him differently than white employees. On one occasion, Taylor and three other employees were working when the machine they were using broke down. As the employees were waiting for it to be repaired, Sherman assigned Taylor and another employee to perform other jobs, but did not assign the other two employees to another job. At times Sherman criticized Taylor for using the restroom outside regular break time. Taylor also felt Sherman singled him out for returning to the production line late from breaks. One white employee occasionally returned a minute or so late from break with no comment from Sherman. None of the incidents resulted in any form of discipline.

After Farmland purchased the Dubuque plant in 1996, the smoked meats department was substantially reduced in size due to reduced production. Consequently, most of the smoked meats employees, including Taylor, were laid off and reassigned to other departments. When a worker was laid off because of the lack of work in the assigned department, the company reassigned the worker to a different department, and the worker was then considered to be a temporary worker in that department until such time as they could return to their home base. Taylor was reassigned to the hog kill department. Most of the jobs in the hog kill department were physically demanding, messy, and unpleasant. Sherman did not work in the hog kill department.

After Taylor was assigned to the hog kill department, he complained about his job assignments and requested a different job on several occasions. His supervisor denied the requests. He was also formally disciplined for leaving his job without permission on one occasion to go to the superintendent to complain about the manner he was being treated by supervisors. The disciplinary document was later removed from the file, and Taylor was later given the job he wanted.

Taylor was recalled to the smoked meats department in the fall of 1997 and was again under Sherman's supervision. He felt Sherman badgered him about working too slowly after he returned. Taylor was unfamiliar with the job he was assigned, and Sherman wanted him to work faster. Sherman talked to Taylor more than once a week about the need to work faster. Taylor was subsequently laid off, and reassigned to the hog kill department in December 1997. He was eventually given the vacuuming job he requested in the hog kill department, and worked at this job until early April 1998.

In the spring of 1998, Taylor began to hear that Farmland had called other employees back to the smoked meats department. He felt he should also be transferred back to the smoked meats department and was chided by coworkers for not being called back.

On April 6, 1998, his supervisor assigned another employee to do Taylor's vacuuming job after the employee reported to work with a light-duty restriction imposed by a doctor. The employee was given Taylor's vacuuming job, and Taylor was assigned to the "pans" job. Taylor was unhappy about the move. When he reported to work the next day, April 7, his supervisor again assigned him to do the pans job. Taylor objected and demanded to meet with another supervisor, who was not immediately available to talk to Taylor. He then cleaned out his locker and quit. Taylor believed many of the problems he experienced during his fifteen-year employment were racially motivated. He also believed the actions of Sherman were discriminatorily motivated. However, Sherman never used any racially derogatory language toward Taylor, and no employee ever heard Sherman use such language in talking to other employees. At unspecified times during his employment, Taylor observed racial graffiti on the bathroom walls and was called racially derogatory names by two employees.

Shortly after Farmland purchased the plant, the new plant manager conducted an investigation into Taylor's complaints of discrimination at Taylor's request. The manager concluded that no racial discrimination had taken place in the plant. Instead, the manager concluded that Sherman and Taylor had a personality conflict. Sherman was a demanding supervisor, and Taylor was not the type of person to back down from a confrontation. Two other employees felt Sherman picked on Taylor at times because of his race, but were unable to identify a reason to support their belief other than Taylor generally seemed to be the target of Sherman's supervisory conduct.

On April 28, 1998, Taylor filed a complaint of discrimination against Farmland with the Dubuque Human Rights Commission. On January 11, 1999, an administrative law judge issued a finding of probable cause. Taylor then amended his complaint to allege racial discrimination, racially hostile work environment, constructive discharge, and unlawful retaliation.

Following a hearing, an administrative law judge issued recommended findings of fact and conclusions of law. The judge believed the evidence did not support the claims and recommended the complaint be dismissed. On April 9, 2001, the human rights commission adopted the findings of fact of the...