Hamilton v. Komatsu Dresser Industries, Inc.

• Decision Date: 12 May 1992
• Docket Number: No. 91-2472,91-2472
• Citation: 964 F.2d 600
• Parties: 58 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1401, 58 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 41,478 James HAMILTON, Gerald Crank, Anthony Russell, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. KOMATSU DRESSER INDUSTRIES, INCORPORATED, a Joint Venture, and Dresser Industries, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 600

964 F.2d 600

58 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1401,

58 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 41,478

James HAMILTON, Gerald Crank, Anthony Russell, et al Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. KOMATSU DRESSER INDUSTRIES, INCORPORATED, a Joint Venture and Dresser Industries, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 91-2472.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Dec. 12, 1991.

Decided May 12, 1992.

R. Wayne Harvey, Harvey & Stuckel, Peoria, Ill. (argued), for plaintiffs-appellants James Hamilton and Gerald Crank.

R. Wayne Harvey, Floyd C. Dailey, Harvey & Stuckel, Peoria, Ill., for plaintiffs-appellants Anthony Russell and Russell Carrell.

Roy G. Davis, Keck, Mahin & Cate, Peoria, Ill. (argued), for defendants-appellees.

Before POSNER, RIPPLE, and MANION, Circuit Judges.

MANION, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs-appellants, present and former employees of Komatsu Dresser Company and Dresser Industries, Inc. ("Dresser"), filed suit alleging, inter alia, that Dresser violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Dresser finding that the plaintiffs failed to timely file discrimination charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the plaintiffs appeal. We affirm.

I.

Dresser manufactures off-road trucks for the international mining and construction industries at a plant in Peoria, Illinois. In 1985, Dresser and the union representing its employees entered mid-term contract negotiations. The resulting, modified collective bargaining agreement reduced the number of positions at Dresser's Peoria plant, combining 170 single-skill positions into 28 multiple-skill positions.

To accomplish this change, Dresser and the union agreed to a program of "cross-training" under which each employee would be given an opportunity to train for the new multiple-skill positions. On November 1, 1985, all employees were classified as "second class" or "2-C" employees. As they successfully completed the training, employees would be reclassified as "first class" or "1-C" employees. First class employees were employees with the multiple skills necessary to perform one of the 28 new multiple-skill positions.

Dresser also agreed that no less than 15% of the bargaining unit jobs would be reserved for second class employees. This was in recognition of the fact that there were bound to be employees who, for whatever reason, would not be able to become first class employees. Second class employees were subject to a greater risk of lay-off than first class employees. If the number of second class employees exceeded the number of second class jobs, the second class employees would be laid off according to seniority.

Plaintiffs-appellants worked in Dresser's Electrical Assembly Department making the various electrical subassembly components that were eventually transferred to the Assembly Department for installation and testing in the trucks. The modified collective bargaining agreement combined the subassembly and installation jobs into one position known as the 1-C Electrical Assembler position. The 1-C Electrical Assembler position was more physically demanding than the electrical subassembly position held by each of the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs were subject to medical restrictions limiting their ability to do strenuous work. Thus, in January 1986, to determine whether the plaintiffs should be permitted to train for the 1-C Electrical Assembler position, they were examined by Dresser's company doctor. The company doctor concluded that the plaintiffs were physically unable to undergo the training necessary for the 1-C positions. In February 1986, Dresser notified the plaintiffs that they would not be permitted to train for the new 1-C positions.

On February 7, 1986, the union filed a general grievance on behalf of all employees denied training for 1-C positions. The union claimed that Dresser violated the modified collective bargaining agreement by disqualifying the plaintiffs (and others) from cross-training due to medical reasons. The grievances went to arbitration on January 16, 1987, and on June 5, 1987, the arbitrator found in favor of Dresser.

On February 26, 1986, soon after this grievance was initiated, Dresser allowed the plaintiffs to enroll in the 1-C training program. The plaintiffs participated in various sessions of the 1-C training program from February through November 1986. On December 8, 1986, Dresser promoted all the 2-C Electrical Assemblers to 1-C Electrical Assemblers--except for the five oldest Electrical Assemblers, including the plaintiffs, and one other employee. Plaintiffs Hamilton, Crank and Russell were laid off on or about February 19, 1987. Plaintiff Carrell continued to work but, in March 1988, was denied a promotion.

The plaintiffs then filed charges of age and handicap discrimination with the Illinois Department of Human Rights and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"). Hamilton filed on February 19, 1987, the day he was laid off; Russell filed on February 26, 1987, seven days after he was laid off; Crank filed on August 2, 1987, 164 days after he was laid off; and Carrell filed on August 2, 1988, about 150 days after he was denied a promotion. The EEOC dismissed the charges as untimely filed and issued a right to sue letter. On February 15, 1989, the plaintiffs filed a multi-count complaint in the district court alleging that Dresser violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621 ("ADEA"), the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq., the Illinois Human Rights Act, Ill.Rev.Stat., ch. 68, para. 1-101 et seq., and the Illinois Constitution by refusing to train them for the 1-C positions and then laying them off on the basis of age and physical handicap.

The district court granted summary judgment for Dresser on all counts of the complaint. The plaintiffs, however, appeal only the district court's decision on the ADEA counts. The district court found that Dresser was entitled to summary judgment on these counts because the plaintiffs had failed to timely file charges with the EEOC. Timely filing a charge of age discrimination with the EEOC is a prerequisite to maintaining an action under the ADEA. 29 U.S.C. § 626(d). In a deferral state such as Illinois, an ADEA plaintiff must file an EEOC charge "within 300 days after the alleged unlawful practice occurred...." 29 U.S.C. § 626(d)(2). The district court found that the unlawful employment practice occurred when Dresser refused to allow the plaintiffs to fully train for the 1-C positions in February 1986. Accordingly, the plaintiffs were required to file charges with the EEOC by December 1986, and their filings in 1987 and 1988 were too late. The district court also found that, although Dresser allowed the plaintiffs to participate in the 1-C training, equitable estoppel principles did not apply to toll the filing period. The plaintiffs dispute both findings. ¹

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo, applying the same standard as that employed by the district court. Stark v. Dynascan Corp., 902 F.2d 549, 551 (7th Cir.1990). We will affirm the grant of summary judgment "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 judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.Pro. 56(c).

II.

In Illinois, an employee may bring an age discrimination suit under the ADEA only if he filed a charge with the EEOC "within 300 days after the alleged unlawful practice occurred...." 29 U.S.C. § 626(d)(2); Stark, 902 F.2d at 551. Determining when this filing period begins to run "requires us to identify precisely the 'unlawful employment practice' " of which the plaintiffs complain. Delaware State College v. Ricks, 449 U.S. 250, 257, 101 S.Ct. 498, 503, 66 L.Ed.2d 431 (1980). The limitations period begins to run at "the time of the discriminatory acts," not when "the consequences of the acts became most painful." Id. at 258, 101 S.Ct. at 504. See also Davidson v. Indiana-American Water Works, 953 F.2d 1058, 1059 (7th Cir.1992) ("This limitations period begins to run on the date that the defendant takes some adverse personnel action against the plaintiff, and not when the full consequences of the action are felt.").

The district court, applying Ricks, found that the discriminatory act was Dresser's refusal to train the plaintiffs in February 1986. Thus, the plaintiffs were required to file charges with the EEOC within 300 days of first being notified that they would not be allowed to participate in the required 1-C training, or by December 1986. Their February 1987, August 1987, and August 1988 filings were too late. The plaintiffs, however, argue that they timely filed charges with the EEOC because the discriminatory act did not occur until they were actually laid off in February 1987 (and, for Carrell, when he was not promoted in March 1988).

We agree with the district court that the layoffs and failure to promote were only consequences of the refusal to train. The plaintiffs could not be reclassified as 1-C employees because they were not allowed to complete the 1-C training. Because the plaintiffs were 2-C employees, they were more vulnerable to layoffs under the modified collective bargaining agreement. It is undisputed that, under the modified agreement, if the plaintiffs had been trained and then reclassified as 1-C employees, they would not have been laid off. The plaintiffs do not claim that the seniority system in the modified agreement was itself discriminatory; the plaintiffs were laid off and denied promotion under the facially neutral seniority system because they were 2-C employees, not because of their age. The neutral application of a non-discriminatory seniority system is not itself a discriminatory act. See Lorance v. AT & T Technologies, Inc.,...