Haynes v. Level 3 Communications, LLC

• Decision Date: 08 August 2006
• Docket Number: No. 04-1307.,04-1307.
• Citation: 456 F.3d 1215
• Parties: Linda HAYNES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS, LLC, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

456 F.3d 1215

Linda HAYNES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS, LLC, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 04-1307.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

August 8, 2006.

Submitted on the briefs: John R. Olsen of Olsen & Brown, L.L.C., Niwot, CO, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Lisa Hogan, Richard P. Barkley, Meghan W. Martinez of Brownstein Hyatt & Farber, P.C., Denver, CO, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before TACHA, Chief Judge, BALDOCK and O'BRIEN, Circuit Judges.

O'BRIEN, Circuit Judge.

Linda Haynes filed suit against her employer, Level 3 Communications (Level 3), following the termination of her employment as part of a reduction in force (RIF). She alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-12213, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (sex discrimination), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. § 621. She also asserted a breach of contract claim. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Level 3, concluding Haynes failed to timely file her ADA, Title VII and ADEA claims and declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over her breach of contract claim. We exercise jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and AFFIRM.

Standard of Review

"We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo, applying the same legal standard used by the district court." Davidson v. Am. Online, Inc., 337 F.3d 1179, 1182 (10th Cir.2003) (quotation omitted). Summary judgment is appropriate if the evidence presented by the parties demonstrates "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." FED.R.CIV.P. 56(c). An issue of fact is "genuine" if the evidence allows a reasonable jury to resolve the issue either way and is "material" when "it is essential to the proper disposition of the claim." Bennett v. Quark, Inc., 258 F.3d 1220, 1224 (10th Cir.2001).

"The party moving for summary judgment bears the initial burden of demonstrating the absence of a genuine issue of material fact." Id. (citations omitted). If the movant does not bear the burden of persuasion at trial, it "may make its prima facie demonstration simply by pointing out to the court a lack of evidence for the nonmovant on an essential element of the nonmovant's claim." Id. (citations omitted). If the moving party properly supports its motion for summary judgment, "the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to go beyond the pleadings and set forth specific facts from which a reasonable jury could find in favor of the nonmoving party." Id. At all times, the record, and all reasonable inferences drawn from it, are considered in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. Id. With these standards in mind, we set forth the facts in the light most favorable to Haynes.

Background

After eight and a half years as a top sales person at her former employer IXC, Haynes followed her boss, David Weigand, to work at Level 3 in March 1999. Her title was "carrier sales manager" in the San Francisco office.¹ Initially, she worked directly for Weigand, but following his promotion, Paul Larson became her supervisor. At various times during Haynes' tenure at Level 3, Larson also supervised two other saleswomen, Mary Vargo and Cari Burich (located in the Los Angeles office), and two salesmen, Steve Stone and Shane Quivey.

Shortly after Larson became the carrier products unit supervisor, he began to recruit Quivey, a thirty-one-year-old male working in the internet products unit. When Quivey came to work in the carrier products unit, Larson treated Quivey and Stone with a marked preference compared with the saleswomen.² Haynes alleges Quivey acted inappropriately and did not follow company procedures, yet Larson protected him. Haynes also observed that Larson was gradually taking customer accounts away from Vargo and giving them to Quivey. As a result, Vargo was unable to meet her sales quota. Vargo complained about the situation to Larson and Wiegand, pursuant to Level 3's "open door policy."³ Shortly thereafter, Larson gave Vargo a poor performance evaluation and placed her on a "performance [improvement] plan (PIP)." (R. Vol. III at 413.) In February 2000, Vargo resigned.

While these events were taking place, Larson also began taking accounts away from Haynes and giving them to Quivey. Although Quivey was to give some of his accounts to Haynes in trade, he never did. Haynes claims Quivey also received favored treatment in the form of assignments to the best leads and better pricing for his clients.

Beginning in early 2000, Haynes' health began to decline. Sometime in May 2000, Larson demanded she come to work against her doctor's advice, only to have her attend a meeting at which she was directed to give Quivey one of her most lucrative accounts. According to Haynes, this was a "watershed" moment. Haynes confronted Larson and accused him of discriminating against her on the basis of her age and sex. As Haynes testified, "I realized that it was going to be a turning point, that [Larson] knew that I knew what he was doing." (R. Vol. III at 239.) Thereafter, Larson began to criticize Haynes to customers and management, harming her relationships with her customers and Mike Lanza, Larson's direct supervisor. On May 18 or 19, 2000, Haynes complained to Lanza that Larson was discriminating against her by giving the benefits of her work to someone else.

Eventually, due to Larson's alleged discriminatory management, Haynes was unable to meet her sales quota. Larson informally counseled Haynes several times regarding her sales performance throughout 2000. By August 2000, Haynes met only a small percentage of her sales quota.⁴ In early to mid-September, Larson met with Haynes and again informally counseled her on her performance.

On September 18, 2000, Haynes e-mailed Scott Roberts, Senior Vice-President of Sales and Marketing, and asked to exercise the open door policy.⁵ In the e-mail, Haynes complained of Larson's management style and his failure to support her. On September 19, 2000, Haynes sent a second e-mail to Roberts explaining her position regarding Larson's lack of management skills in more detail and requesting help in resolving the problem. She complained Larson's lack of support caused customers to get angry with her and, in turn, caused Larson to reassign her accounts to Quivey. She also alleged Larson had been unavailable to help close deals, fell asleep during customer calls and had told her not to discuss her problems with upper management. Several e-mails indicate Haynes continued to ask Roberts to assist her in receiving support and it appears Roberts responded appropriately.

On October 3, 2000, Larson issued Haynes a formal, written warning noting she had reached only fifty percent of her year-to-date quota. On October 24, 2000, Roberts e-mailed Haynes to inform her he had asked Randy Hester, Director of Human Resources, to contact her regarding her request for an open door meeting. On October 26, 2000, Haynes responded with another request for a meeting. On November 1, 2000, Haynes and Hester talked via telephone. In preparation for the meeting, Haynes forwarded the September 19, 2000 e-mail she had sent to Roberts detailing her complaints. Following the two-hour call, Hester telephoned Lanza and Larson to find out why Haynes' accounts had been moved. He was told some accounts were moved by upper management and others at the request of the customers. Hester did not investigate further.⁶

The next day, Lanza sent an e-mail to his staff, including Larson. The e-mail stated in relevant part:

[N]o one is to take ANY issue to my superiors without first bringing it to my attention. I want to be very clear about this. Nothing goes over my head unless I have been made aware of it and AGREE that it should be escalated. If there is a part of this message that is unclear call me and I will be happy to clear up any confusion. I want a response back from each of you stating you have read this and understand it.

(Vol. III at 361.) Larson forwarded Lanza's message to Haynes, Burich and Quivey with his own admonishment, "Please make sure everything goes through Mike and I before it goes any higher." (Id.)

Eleven days later, on November 13, 2000, Larson placed Haynes on a PIP he devised with Hester's assistance. The PIP listed five objectives, including a requirement that Haynes "[m]eet or exceed 100% of [her] monthly sales quota . . . for December '00 and January '01." (R. Vol. III at 363.) It also stated, "[i]t is crucial you understand how important your required improvement is, since continued unsatisfactory sales performance will result in further disciplinary action." (Vol. III at 363.) Finally, the PIP informed Haynes if she discussed its terms and conditions with any other Level 3 employees, she was subject to immediate termination.

Nine days after Haynes was placed on the PIP, her physician informed Level 3 she was placing Haynes on a two week medical disability for consultation with specialists. Five days later, Haynes took a medical leave of absence. The first twelve weeks of leave were taken pursuant to the Family Medical Leave Act. After that time, Haynes took indefinite leave under Level 3's medical leave policy. She received short-term disability payments from Level 3's third-party insurance carrier through February 26, 2001. However, the third-party insurance carrier denied her request for long-term disability payments. It is undisputed Level 3 had no control or influence over this decision.

Haynes remained on medical leave until Level 3 terminated her employment on June 18, 2001, as part of a RIF. Larson and Lanza's employment, among others, was also terminated in the same RIF. Roberts made the decisions as to which employees would be terminated. One of the criteria for termination under the RIF was an employee's placement on a PIP.

Haynes filed a charge of...