Felton v. Moneysworth Linen Serv., Inc.

• Decision Date: 22 January 2018
• Docket Number: No. 2:16–CV–85–D,2:16–CV–85–D
• Citation: 295 F.Supp.3d 595
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of North Carolina
• Parties: Derek FELTON, Plaintiff, v. MONEYSWORTH LINEN SERVICE, INC., Patrick C. Keenan, and John D. Keenan, Defendants

295 F.Supp.3d 595

Derek FELTON, Plaintiff,

v.MONEYSWORTH LINEN SERVICE, INC., Patrick C. Keenan, and John D. Keenan, Defendants

No. 2:16–CV–85–D

United States District Court, E.D. North Carolina, Northern Division.

Signed January 22, 2018

Derek Felton, Elizabeth City, NC, pro se.

John D. Leidy, Hornthal, Riley, Ellis & Maland, LLP, Elizabeth City, NC, for Defendants.

ORDER

JAMES C. DEVER III, Chief United States District Judge

On December 29, 2016, Derek Felton ("Felton" or "plaintiff") filed a pro se complaint against his former employer, Moneysworth Linen Service, Inc., ("Moneysworth"), and against Patrick C. Keenan (Moneysworth's President) and John D. Keenan (Moneysworth's Vice President) [D.E. 1]. Felton alleges age discrimination and retaliation pursuant to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, as amended, 29 U.S.C. §§ 621 to 639 ("ADEA"). See id. On August 15, 2017, Felton moved to quash his deposition [D.E. 14]. On August 28, 2017, defendants moved for summary judgment [D.E. 15] and filed a memorandum in support [D.E. 17] and a statement of undisputed material facts [D.E. 16]. On September 21, 2017, Felton responded in opposition [D.E. 21], and on October 3, 2017, filed his own affidavit [D.E. 22]. On October 9, 2017, defendants replied [D.E. 23]. As explained below, the court grants defendants' motion for summary judgment and denies Felton's motion to quash his deposition.

I.

Moneysworth is a linen company that serves hotels, motels, resorts, vacation rental management companies, and the New Hanover Regional Hospital (the "Hospital"). See [D.E. 16] ¶ 1.¹ Moneysworth has regular customers located throughout Eastern Virginia and Eastern North Carolina. See id.

Since April 2008, Charles McCauley ("McCauley") has been Moneysworth's general manager. McCauley oversees all operations, including the cleaning, folding, and packing operations in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. See id. ¶ 3.

Since 2014, the Hospital has been a substantial year-round customer for Moneysworth. In contrast to the Hospital, many of Moneysworth's other customers are seasonal. See id. ¶ 5.

In November 2014, Moneysworth hired Felton as a delivery truck driver. All Moneysworth employees are employed on an at-will basis, and none (including Felton) has ever had a written contract for a definite term. Moneysworth uses a tractor trailer to serve the Hospital route. For most of Felton's employment, Felton and C.J. Harris were the primary drivers for the Hospital route. See id. ¶¶ 4, 6, 11.

Moneysworth serves the Hospital seven days per week. Initially, McCauley scheduled Felton to work four days per week and Harris to work three days per week. Felton and Harris had a driver's helper who rode with them and helped to unload and load linens. Sometimes, Moneysworth also employed an additional helper who was assigned to work at the Hospital to assist with the truck when it arrived. At all times, Moneysworth required the driver to assist in unloading and loading the truck. See id. ¶¶ 8–9.

Patrick Keenan and John Keenan work primarily from offices in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, respectively. Each travel to the Elizabeth City facility on a weekly basis. At the Elizabeth City facility, John Keenan often saw Felton speaking with McCauley and it appeared to him that Felton occupied a lot of McCauley's time even though McCauley was not his supervisor. Rather, Dawn Fortenberry was Felton's supervisor. See id. ¶ 10.

Moneysworth follows a point system for taking disciplinary actions for attendance-related reasons. Moneysworth does not use a point system for any disciplinary infractions other than attendance. See id. ¶ 13.

In June 2015, Felton was ticketed for exceeding a safe speed. See id. ¶ 15. In October 2015, Felton was involved in a single-vehicle accident when his truck hit a pole in Vanceboro, North Carolina while driving to the Hospital. See id. ¶ 16. On November 2, 2015, Felton received a disciplinary warning for failing to ensure that the battery charger on his truck was properly connected. See id. ¶ 17.

In 2015, Hospital representatives telephoned McCauley and others at Moneysworth and complained about Felton. The Hospital representatives complained that Felton was moody, was difficult, rushed people, asked Hospital employees to assist him to load and unload linens, and often failed to remove all dirty linens from the Hospital. See id. ¶¶ 18–19. McCauley received more complaints concerning Felton than any other driver. McCauley told Felton about the complaints and told Felton that Moneysworth expected him to be courteous at all times and to remember that he was the face of Moneysworth. See id. ¶¶ 20–21.

Throughout 2015, McCauley had numerous conversations with Felton about Felton's duties and responsibilities to Moneysworth and the Hospital. See id. ¶ 22. On November 6, 2015, Felton emailed McCauley following one of these discussions. In the email, Felton complained that he did "not have a contact person" once he arrives at the Hospital, which "puts me at a great disadvantage because if anything goes wrong, I have no voice in the matter." Ex. 10 [D.E. 16–18]. Felton also stated that he sometimes left dirty linens at the Hospital because he had to conserve energy before driving back. See id. Felton's email frustrated McCauley because loading and unloading linens at the Hospital was an essential part of Felton's duties. See [D.E. 16] ¶ 23. McCauley also believed that Felton incorrectly expected his helper and Hospital employees to load and unload the truck. See id. ¶ 24.

In January 2016, Deb Keenan became Moneysworth's human resources manager. Deb Keenan and McCauley met with each driver and had each sign a document entitled "Driver Responsibilities." See id. ¶ 25. On January 9, 2016, Felton signed his Driver Responsibilities document. See Ex. 11 [D.E. 16–19]. The Driver Responsibilities document confirmed the duties and responsibilities for all drivers, including Felton, to avoid any misunderstandings or disputes and to help eliminate customer complaints. See id. The Driver Responsibilities document accurately reflected the duties expected of all drivers, including Felton. See id.; [D.E. 16] ¶ 26.

In March 2016, McCauley received two emails from Debbie Arenas ("Arenas"), a Hospital representative, complaining about Felton. See id. ¶ 28; Exs. 12–13 [D.E. 16–20, 16–21]. After receiving the email complaints from Arenas, McCauley met with Felton and discussed the complaints and Moneysworth's concerns about his performance. See [D.E. 16] ¶ 29. While discussing Arenas's complaints, Felton complained to McCauley about the length of the route to the Hospital, the performance of his helper LaDon White ("White"), and being tired. As for White, Felton complained that White did not provide enough assistance and was "disgruntled." Felton also complained about being tired because of the length of the Hospital route, the time spent at the Hospital, and the volume of linens that he had to help unload and load at the Hospital. See id. ¶¶ 30–31.

McCauley considered Felton's complaints and the Hospital's complaints. McCauley knew that he rarely received complaints from the Hospital when Harris worked. McCauley decided to revise the schedule and the assignment of the driver's helpers in order to address the concerns of Felton and the Hospital. See id. ¶ 33. Under the revised schedule, Felton and Harris would each work every other day. The revised schedule meant that one driver would work four days one week and then three days the next week, and the drivers would alternate between who drove four days each week. See id. ¶ 34.

Under the old schedule, Felton regularly worked more than 40 hours a week and was paid overtime for all hours worked over 40 hours in any work week. Felton worked four days each week and Harris worked three days each week. Felton averaged 48.73 hours per week versus 36.65 hours per week for Harris. Harris rarely worked over 40 hours. Felton had a higher hourly rate than Harris. Although reducing or controlling costs was not why McCauley revised the schedule, McCauley knew that the revised schedule would reduce costs. See id. ¶ 49.

McCauley also decided to assign William Chesson ("Chesson") to work as the primary helper for Felton. Chesson had been Harris's helper. McCauley felt Chesson could help reduce the time it took to unload and load linens at the Hospital when Felton was working. Chesson also held a CDL permit and could drive if Felton got tired. See id. ¶ 35.

Felton did not like the revised schedule and told McCauley that he wanted Moneysworth to use the old schedule. Specifically, Felton was unhappy about having his hours reduced. See id. ¶ 37.

At no time during Felton's employment did Felton ever complain to McCauley or anyone else at Moneysworth about his age or the relative ages of those who with whom he worked. Felton also never told McCauley or anyone else at Moneysworth that he believed the revised schedule had anything to do with Felton's age or anyone else's age. Felton also never threatened to file or filed any kind of discrimination charge as a result of the revised schedule or anything else. See id. ¶¶ 42–43, 71.

Between March 30 and April 8, 2016, Felton and McCauley had three separate email exchanges about the revised schedule and other issues. See id. ¶ 45: Exs. 15,16, 18 [D.E. 16–23, 16–24, 16–26]. On March 30, 2016, the first email exchange occurred. McCauley told Felton that he decided to revise the schedule for two primary reasons. First, based on his discussion with Felton about the challenges of the Hospital route, including Felton's concerns about his driver's helper and the difficulties of retrieving all soiled linens, McCauley to Felton that "it is NOT the responsibility of the Hospital employees to assist us." Ex. 15 [D.E. 16–23] 1. Second, McCauley discussed the Hospital's complaints about arrival times, soiled linens, and conflict. McCauley wrote: "It[']s my obligation to the Company,...