Grubb v. W.A. Foote Memorial Hosp., Inc.

• Decision Date: 20 August 1984
• Docket Number: Nos. 82-1879,82-1888,s. 82-1879
• Citation: 741 F.2d 1486
• Parties: 35 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1048, 35 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 34,615 Charles H. GRUBB, Plaintiff-Appellee, Cross-Appellant, v. W.A. FOOTE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, INC., a Michigan corporation, Defendant-Appellant, Cross-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 1486

741 F.2d 1486

35 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1048,

35 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 34,615

Charles H. GRUBB, Plaintiff-Appellee, Cross-Appellant, v. W.A. FOOTE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, INC., a Michigan corporation Defendant-Appellant, Cross-Appellee.

Nos. 82-1879, 82-1888.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

Argued Jan. 24, 1984.

Decided Aug. 20, 1984.

John H. Schomer, Dykema, Gossett, Spencer, Goodnow & Trigg, Edward M. Richters (argued), Jackson, Mich., for defendant-appellant, cross-appellee.

Joseph C. Marshall III (argued), Dickerson, Wright, Moon, Van Dusen & Freeman, Robert P. Young, Detroit, Mich., for plaintiff-appellee, cross-appellant.

Before ENGEL and WELLFORD, Circuit Judges, and WEICK, Senior Circuit Judge.

WEICK, Senior Circuit Judge.

Defendant-Appellant W.A. Foote Memorial Hospital, Inc. (Hospital) appeals to this Court, and Plaintiff-Appellee Charles H. Grubb (Grubb) cross-appeals, from a judgment of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, after a bench trial in an action brought by Grubb against Hospital under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. Secs. 2000e to 2000e-17, the Civil Rights Act of 1870, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1981, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. Secs. 621-634, and (through the pendent jurisdiction of the court) brought under Michigan common law and the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, Mich.Comp.Laws Secs. 37.2101-.2804. Grubb filed this suit, after exhausting administrative remedies with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. Department of Labor, and Michigan Civil Rights Commission, alleging that the elimination of his position as assistant laundry director at the Hospital, and the consequent termination of his employment there, constituted race and age-based discrimination as well as a breach of an implied contract of employment under the doctrine of Toussaint v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield, 408 Mich. 579, 292 N.W.2d 880 (1980).

The District Court found in favor of Grubb on his claim of racial discrimination, but found for Hospital on Grubb's age discrimination and implied contract claims. 533 F.Supp. 671 (E.D.Mich.1981). The final judgment of the District Court awarded Grubb $57,689.60 in back pay, $1,560.00 in lost meal allowance, $19,758.59 in interest, $25,000.00 in damages for emotional distress, and attorneys fees of $42,227.66 plus interest. Hospital was also ordered to reinstate Grubb for the purposes of all fringe benefits, and to pay "front pay" until he is reinstated to the same or a comparable position at Hospital or he reaches the age of seventy. However, the court did not require Hospital to reinstate Grubb to his job immediately.

For the reasons hereafter stated, we reverse the judgment in favor of Grubb for racial discrimination, and affirm the judgment in favor of Hospital denying Grubb's age discrimination and breach of implied contract claims.

I.

Grubb was born of a black mother and white father in River Creek, Virginia, on March 4, 1916. He obtained a seventh-grade education in the Virginia schools, but was unable to attend high school on account of his race. However, he later acquired a high school graduate equivalency certificate while in the U.S. Army during the Second World War.

After the war, Grubb and his wife relocated to the area around Jackson, Michigan, where they have since remained and raised a family of six children. In 1957, after working as a Yellow Cab Company mechanic for ten years, Grubb went to work at the Sisters of Mercy Hospital (Mercy Hospital), where he served initially as a laundry worker who picked up soiled linen from hospital rooms. Four years later, in 1961, he was promoted to laundry manager. Although fairly inexperienced in laundry administration when he began, Grubb took numerous non-credit courses in laundry and general management sciences at local colleges, and he was ultimately certified as proficient by the American Institute of Laundry, a professional trade society. His lifelong struggle to improve himself made him the focus of an article in the local newspaper during the late 1960's. ¹

Throughout his service at Mercy Hospital (and later at Defendant Foote Memorial), Grubb was respected for his competence and hard work, and always evaluated as average or better in his job performance. ² Beginning in 1964, he was assisted by a laundry supervisor, Mrs. Rosella Fountain, a woman two years older than Grubb, who had worked in the laundry at Mercy Hospital since 1940. The two apparently worked well together, with Grubb having responsibility for the overall management of the laundry facility (including preparing the budget, ordering supplies, and maintaining quality control), while Mrs. Fountain directly supervised the laundry workers, occasionally helped with the laundry work herself, and performed employee scheduling.

In 1975, Defendant Foote Memorial purchased Mercy Hospital from the Sisters of Mercy. Effective September 1st of that year, Mercy became known as "Foote West" while the Defendant's original facility became known as "Foote East." The merger of the two institutions occasioned the consolidation of various services which had been performed at both hospitals, with a view toward eliminating redundancy and effecting cost savings. A committee was formed in December 1975 to study and make recommendations to Hospital's administration regarding consolidation of the laundries at the two facilities. Among the members of the committee were Grubb and Willard Carl (then aged 34 or 35), the manager of the laundry at Foote Memorial since 1973.

The committee's final report recommended that the two laundries be consolidated at one location, and that only one laundry manager and one assistant manager be retained. The supervisor position held by Mrs. Fountain (there had been no comparable position at Foote Memorial) was to be abolished upon consolidation. However, between September 1975 and March 1976, the two laundries continued to function as before--entirely separately under the direction of their respective managers. No action was taken to eliminate Mrs. Fountain's position.

There is no indication that the committee report was ever acted upon by Hospital administration; however, in March 1976, Mr. Carl was appointed Director of Laundry for both facilities, and Grubb was designated as assistant director. ³ For approximately one year after those appointments were made, Grubb continued to manage the laundry at Foote West, assisted by Mrs. Fountain as laundry supervisor, but Grubb was now required to report to Carl and follow his instructions.

In or about February 1977, Carl presented a proposed 1977-78 budget to his superior, Associate Hospital Administrator Harold Petke, in which he recommended elimination of the assistant director post (held by Grubb) and retention of the supervisor position (held by Mrs. Fountain) when the two laundries were physically consolidated into one facility at Foote East in the summer of 1977. When Petke (who had served as Grubb's immediate supervisor at Mercy Hospital) asked Carl about his reasons for abolishing Grubb's position, Carl replied that Mrs. Fountain was more cooperative, had longer years of laundry experience, and worked better with "the women" (the laundry workers) than Grubb, and that he needed a working supervisor who would be willing to "pitch in" occasionally and help with the laundering work. Carl told Petke that there "wasn't a place" for Grubb. (App. at 58).

According to the trial testimony of Petke and the Hospital's personnel director, Gerald Culhane, Carl was given no objective criteria on which to base his decision regarding which supervisory position to eliminate in the consolidation process. Although Culhane "assumed" that Carl applied Hospital's usual layoff practice--considering the affected employees' relative performance, potential and length of service--both Carl and Petke testified that they were unaware of any particular layoff policy, and Carl never considered placing Grubb in the supervisor job. Apparently Carl was given near-plenary authority over his department's budget, and his proposal was ratified as a matter of course by his superiors in Hospital's administration.

During the transition year from Carl's appointment as overall laundry director until the laundries were finally consolidated, there was apparent friction between Carl and Grubb. According to Grubb's later testimony, Carl began to deal directly with Mrs. Fountain (a white woman), and allegedly told Grubb that the supervisor would thenceforth report directly to him (Carl) since "[n]o black guy should be a boss over white women." (App. at 303). On another occasion, Carl apparently ordered Grubb to fire three minority (two black, one Hispanic) laundry employees before the Foote West laundry became unionized (the Foote East laundry had been unionized before the merger). According to Grubb, when he failed to follow that instruction, Carl said, "When are you going to fire those niggers?" (App. at 298).

At trial, Carl testified and denied making such racist remarks, and both Mrs. Fountain and Lurlene Osborne (one of the black women whom Carl wanted to fire) testified that they never heard Carl use racial epithets or saw him discriminate against minority employees. Although Mrs. Osborne acknowledged that Grubb had warned her about Carl's wish to fire the women, she said he did not tell her why. Up through the date of his termination, Grubb never reported these alleged racist remarks to anyone in Hospital's administration.

Grubb also testified that, on several occasions, Carl made comments about Grubb's allegedly poor health, suggesting it was time for him to retire. And on one occasion when the two men disagreed over the type of bed sheet to use, Carl allegedly remarked, "Well, I know you are old and set in your ways." (App. at 301). At that time, Grubb was 60 or 61 years old.

From February 1977 until July 1977, rumors...