Greywoode v. Sci. Applications Int'l Corp.

• Decision Date: 09 May 2013
• Docket Number: Case No. 2:12–cv–0004–MEF.
• Citation: 943 F.Supp.2d 1355
• Parties: Emile GREYWOODE, Plaintiff, v. SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama

943 F.Supp.2d 1355

Emile GREYWOODE, Plaintiff,

v.SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, Defendant.

Case No. 2:12–cv–0004–MEF.

United States District Court,

M.D. Alabama,

Northern Division.

May 9, 2013.

Cynthia Forman Wilkinson, Wilkinson Law Firm PC, Heather Newsom Leonard, Heather Leonard, PC, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiff.

Jeremiah J. Rogers, John Richard Carrigan, Katherine E. Reeves, Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart, P.C. Birmingham, AL, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

MARK E. FULLER, District Judge.

Plaintiff Emile Greywoode (“Plaintiff” or “Greywoode”) brings this lawsuit, alleging claims of race and national origin discrimination, hostile work environment, and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. Specifically, Greywoode alleges that his former employer, Defendant Science Applications International Corporation (“Defendant” or “SAIC”), subjected him to a “hostile and disrespectful” work environment based on his race (black) and his national origin (Sierra Leone, Africa), discriminated against him on these bases by disciplining him and ultimately terminating his employment, and also terminated him in retaliation for making complaints about discourteous and discriminatory treatment he was receiving from white co-workers.

Now before the Court is Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. # 21), which was filed on October 29, 2012. Having reviewed the submissions of the parties and the record as a whole, the Court finds that, for the reasons explained below, Defendant's motion is due to be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

I. JURISDICTION AND VENUE

This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over the claims in this action under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343. The parties do not contest personal jurisdiction or venue, and the Court finds adequate allegations in support of both.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, summary judgment is appropriate “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The party asking for summary judgment “always bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion, and identifying those portions of ‘the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any,’ which it believes demonstrates the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.” Id. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548. The movant can meet this burden by presenting evidence showing there is no dispute of material fact, or by showing the non-moving party has failed to present evidence in support of some element of his case on which he bears the ultimate burden of proof. Id. at 322–23, 106 S.Ct. 2548.

Once the moving party has met its burden, the non-moving party must “go beyond the pleadings and by his own affidavits, or by the ‘depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file,’ designate ‘specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.’ ” Id. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548. To avoid summary judgment, the non-moving party “must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts.” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). On the other hand, a district court ruling on a motion for summary judgment must believe the evidence of the non-movant and must draw all justifiable inferences from the evidence in the non-moving party's favor. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). After the non-moving party has responded to the motion for summary judgment, the district court must grant summary judgment if there is no genuine dispute of material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. SeeFed.R.Civ.P. 56(c).

III. FACTS

The Court has carefully considered the submissions of the parties in support of and in opposition to the motion. The submissions of the parties, when viewed in the light most favorable to Greywoode, the non-moving party, establish the following material facts:

A. Overview of Greywoode's Employment with SAIC and the SFMIS Team

SAIC is a scientific, engineering, and technology applications and software company that provides various products and services to government and commercial customers. On September 15, 2006, Greywoode was hired by T.J. Nola (“Nola”) to work as a senior software engineer on SAIC's Security Forces Management Information Systems (“SFMIS”) team in Montgomery, Alabama. In connection with his employment, Greywoode received an ethics manual and was also made aware of SAIC's anti-harassment and discrimination policies.

The SAIC team members with whom Greywoode worked during the majority of his employment ¹ were: Venkat Paruchuri (“Paruchuri”) (Indian), senior software engineer; Madan Shah (“Shah”) (Indian), senior software engineering and technical lead; James Caskey ² (“Caskey”) (white), database administrator; Trish Gober (“Gober”) (white), site manager; Michael Ivison (“Ivison”) (white), system engineer and functional lead; Asa Padgett (“Padgett”) (black), system administrator; Trish Silva (“Silva”) (white), test manager ³ and engineer; and Mark Jozwiak (“Jozwiak”) (white), system engineer and functional lead.⁴ Greywoode was the only member of the SFMIS from Africa.

During the majority of his employment with SAIC, Greywoode's immediate supervisors were Shah and Gober. Shah oversaw the technical aspects of Greywoode's employment, while Gober handled personnel matters.⁵ Neither Ivison nor Caskey were Greywoode's supervisors. Throughout his employment with SAIC, Greywoode worked in the position of senior software engineer; however, in early 2009, Greywoode was made lead Java programmer by Gober. Greywoode's employment with SAIC was terminated for poor work performance on July 15, 2009.

B. Greywoode's Allegations of Harassment and Discrimination

During Greywoode's employment with SAIC, there were various interpersonal conflicts among the SFMIS team members, leading to very poor morale. Greywoode contends that these conflicts were more than mere work “disagreements.” Indeed, Greywoode claims that he was harassed and discriminated against because of his race and national origin and that he was further retaliated against through written discipline and eventual termination for complaining about harassment and discrimination.

To support his claims, Greywoode points the Court to several instances of harassing ⁶ or discriminatory conduct.

1. The “Aspect Ratio” Comments

In early 2007, Greywoode complained to Nola that Ivison was constantly objecting to Greywoode's use of a certain aspect ratio in one of his designs. Greywoode considered Ivison's critique to be harassment because Ivison was not a software engineer, and therefore, was not qualified to critique his work or to oppose one of his engineering decisions. After Greywoode complained to Nola, Ivison's critique of his use of aspect ratio immediately stopped.

2. The “Atrocious” Comment

In May 2009, Ivison shouted at Greywoode during a team meeting and called his work “atrocious.” Immediately after the meeting ended, Gober told Ivison to apologize to Greywoode, which he did. This is the only incident where Ivison called Greywoode's work “atrocious.”

3. Tasks Assignments

After Ivison became responsible for preparing the team members' work assignments, Greywoode complained that he was being given too much report construction and not the Java development tasks he desired to help him “learn the application” and become an asset to the company. Ivison instead assigned the Java tasks to Shah and Ronald Buchanan (“Buchanan”),⁷ another SFMIS engineer. It is undisputed that Shah and Buchanan had more experience than Greywoode in applying Java to the application at the time the assignments were made. After complaining to Shah, Ivison, and Gober about the tasks he was receiving, Greywoode was given more opportunities to perform Java programming and was later made lead Java programmer by Gober in early 2009.

In the spring of 2008, Greywoode also complained to Ivison that he did not assign Greywoode sufficient tasks on an OPM project that provided additional remuneration above his salary. The majority of these tasks went to Paruchuri and Shah because Greywoode was already behind on his regular work, which affected the schedule. Moreover, the programmers who were assigned a larger portion of these tasks were fast programmers and had the time to accommodate extra work. After complaining, Greywoode asked Ivison to change the assignments, but Ivison refused. Greywoode then complained to Shah, who increased his OPM assignments. Greywoode received additional remuneration for this work.

4. Office Assignments

Greywoode, who worked in a shared office,⁸ was “bypassed” for a private office on two occasions. The first instance was when Caskey moved into a private office shortly after beginning his employment with SAIC. Greywoode believed he should have received this office based on seniority. However, Caskey, who was database administrator, moved into the office that was occupied by the previous database administrator. Caskey also asked Shah if he could move into that office, and Shah agreed. After Caskey moved and learned that Greywoode had taken offense, Caskey offered Greywoode his private office, but Greywoode declined because he preferred the window in his office (the office that Caskey moved into did not have a window).

The second incident involved Silva moving into a vacant private office in August 2008. Greywoode mistakenly believed that Caskey was responsible for...