Furr v. Seagate Technology, Inc.

• Decision Date: 01 May 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-6181,95-6181
• Citation: 82 F.3d 980
• Parties: 70 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1325, 68 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,066 Robert S, FURR, Leslie Woosley, Bernard E. Ozinga, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY, INC., Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 980

82 F.3d 980

70 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1325,

68 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,066

Robert S, FURR, Leslie Woosley, Bernard E. Ozinga, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY, INC., Defendant-Appellant.

No. 95-6181.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

May 1, 1996.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma; David L. Russell, Judge (D.C. No. CIV-93-939-R).

Gary C. Pierson (Tony G. Puckett and Rochelle L. Huddleston, with him on the brief), of Lytle Soule & Curlee, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Defendant-Appellant.

Mark Hammons of Hammons & Associates, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Plaintiffs-Appellees.

Before BALDOCK, McWILLIAMS and KELLY, Circuit Judges.

PAUL KELLY, Jr., Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs-Appellees Robert S. Furr, Leslie Woosley, and Bernard E. Ozinga allege that their employment with Defendant-Appellant Seagate Technology, Inc. was terminated because of their age in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-34, and Oklahoma public policy. ¹ The case was tried to a jury, which returned a verdict in favor of the Plaintiffs. Seagate filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial, which was denied by the district court. This appeal followed.

I. Background

Seagate designs, manufactures and markets hard disk drives for computer systems. It has plants in 17 countries and over 30,000 employees worldwide. Seagate commenced operations in Oklahoma City on October 1, 1989, after purchasing an existing facility from another disk drive company. The Oklahoma City plant employed approximately 2,000 people.

In June 1991, Seagate's senior management determined that certain cost-containment measures would have to be taken to address an anticipated decline in profit margins. These measures included a company-wide reduction-in-force ("RIF"). The RIF was not undertaken as a desperate measure, but rather as a strategic business decision aimed at improving the company's position in the highly competitive hard disk drive market.

The initial RIF occurred in July 1991, with a second, smaller RIF in August 1991. Approximately 1,200 employees were laid off from Seagate nationwide, including fifty-four from Oklahoma City.

Plaintiffs Furr, Woosley, and Ozinga were employed by Seagate at its Oklahoma City plant, and all three were ultimately selected for the RIF. All three worked in separate departments in a hierarchy of about 240 employees called Design Engineering headed by vice-president Miran Sedlacek. Design Engineering included a variety of diverse talents and disciplines, and the three Plaintiffs worked for different managers and performed vastly different jobs.

Mr. Furr, 53, was a senior drafter who performed electrical drafting. James Becker was Furr's immediate supervisor. Mr. Becker reported to Bill Diffin, Director of Engineering Services, who in turn reported to Mr. Sedlacek.

Mr. Woosley, 58, was an engineering support specialist who worked in the photo lab, photocopying artwork master prints for other employees to use in making printed circuit boards. Stan Young was Mr. Woosley's immediate supervisor. Mr. Young, like Mr. Becker, also reported to Mr. Diffin.

Mr. Ozinga, 62, was a senior consulting mechanical engineer who worked on the mechanical areas of disk drive design. David West, Director of Advanced Technology and Concepts, was Mr. Ozinga's immediate supervisor, and Mr. West reported directly to Mr. Sedlacek.

In early July, 1991, Mr. Sedlacek was informed about the planned RIF and was told that the reduction would be 15% for his organization. Mr. Sedlacek called a meeting of the five directors under him, including Mr. Diffin and Mr. West, and instructed them to cut 15% of the employees in their respective groups. Mr. Sedlacek did not tell his directors who to select, nor did he personally select any employees for the RIF.

After the directors talked to their managers, and the managers and supervisors made their selections, Mr. Sedlacek held two meetings with all of his directors to discuss their selections. The focus of these meetings was to ensure that the functions selected would cause the least harm to the company.

A. Mr. Furr's Selection

After meeting with Mr. Sedlacek, Mr. Diffin met with the five managers under him, including Mr. Becker and Mr. Young, to inform them of the RIF. Mr. Diffin explained that each department would still have the same amount and type of work after the RIF and instructed his managers to select those that would least harm their department's ability to continue their operations. Each manager was required to select only employees from his own department. Mr. Diffin informed Mr. Becker that he would have to select two employees for the RIF.

Mr. Becker supervised 14 employees, 9 engineers and 5 technicians. He determined that his two selections had to be from the technicians because the engineers could perform the work of the technicians, but the converse was not true. Mr. Becker then examined the tasks that each of the technicians was performing. Two were preparing printed circuit board layouts, another was performing several tasks, including new document production and photo lab and microfilm backup, and Mr. Furr and another technician, Modesto Adoptante, 58, were making engineering change orders and updating upgrades. In order to maintain people performing all of the various tasks, Mr. Becker selected one of the two technicians preparing circuit board layouts for the RIF and selected Mr. Furr over Mr. Adoptante. Mr. Becker testified that the selection decision was entirely his and that he kept Mr. Adoptante because he felt Mr. Adoptante was more productive than Mr. Furr. Mr. Becker based his selections exclusively on job elimination and productivity. After his layoff, Mr. Furr's job duties were performed by Mr. Adoptante and later absorbed by others in Mr. Becker's group; no one was transferred into Mr. Furr's former position or hired to take his place.

B. Mr. Woosley's Selection

Mr. Young also learned of the RIF in the early July meeting with Mr. Diffin, and Mr. Diffin told Mr. Young that he would have to select one person for the RIF. Mr. Young selected a temporary employee who would eventually depart anyway. It was unclear at the time whether the termination of a temporary employee would count toward the RIF requirements. Although the temporary employee was approved for the July RIF, Mr. Young reviewed his department to determine who he would pick if another selection was necessary.

Mr. Young's department consisted of nine employees, including the temporary. Three were scientists with degrees in chemistry; three employees, including the temporary, worked in the SMT lab; one independently operated the printed circuit lab; one maintained the specialized inventory of components used in the engineering department; and Mr. Woosley ran the photo lab. Mr. Young determined that the scientists, with their specialized knowledge, were indispensable, as were the employees operating the printed circuit lab and maintaining the specialized inventory. Mr. Young did not think that he could operate the SMT lab with only a single person (after losing the temporary), making the two remaining SMT lab employees vital. Thus, Mr. Young reasoned that Mr. Woosley was the next most expendable individual, behind the temporary, especially because other people under Mr. Diffin's management umbrella could, and had, performed Mr. Woosley's job in the photo lab.

Shortly after the July RIF, Mr. Diffin called a meeting of his managers, including Mr. Young, and announced that the group needed to lose another person. Mr. Diffin told Mr. Young that his department would lose the additional person, and Mr. Young agreed with that decision because every other department under Mr. Diffin had lost a permanent employee while he had only lost a temporary. Mr. Young selected Mr. Woosley, focusing exclusively on position elimination. Mr. Woosley's photo lab position was eliminated, although the photo lab duties still needed to be performed. A four-person, weekly rotation was set up to handle Mr. Woosley's former photo lab responsibilities, and this rotation system lasted two years. No one was hired into Mr. Woosley's former position.

C. Mr. Ozinga's Selection

Mr. West, Mr. Ozinga's manager, first learned of the RIF at the early July meeting with Mr. Sedlacek. Mr. West's organization consisted of eight specialized departments and developed integrated circuits. The technical employees in Mr. West's group were all electrical engineers, except Mr. Ozinga who was a mechanical engineer. Mr. Ozinga and one other consulting engineer reported directly to Mr. West.

Mr. West attempted to determine which specialities could be selected that would least impact his organization. He met with his managers and developed a RIF list, which included Mr. Ozinga because he was underutilized. Mr. West testified that as a mechanical engineer, Mr. Ozinga was an unnecessary luxury for his group, and he was unable to keep Mr. Ozinga busy, relying on other departments to provide work for him. In part due to his underutilization, Mr. Ozinga was considered a moderate to low performer, ranked among the bottom 15% of employees in Mr. West's department in performance.

Mr. West and the other directors under Mr. Sedlacek met with Mr. Sedlacek to discuss the people selected for the RIF. At that meeting Mr. West argued for the retention of some of his employees, including Mr. Ozinga. Mr. West succeeded in having one employee Mr. Jantz, 57, retained because there were other functions he could perform, but Mr. West could not convince the other managers to matriculate Mr. Ozinga into their departments. The other consulting engineer, five years older than Mr. Ozinga, was not selected for the RIF.

II. Waiver

As an initial matter, Plaintiffs contend that Seagate has waived its right to appellate review by failing to include, among...