Herron v. Daimlerchrysler Corp.

• Decision Date: 03 June 2003
• Docket Number: IP00-1838-C B/S.
• Citation: 267 F.Supp.2d 941
• Parties: Gary HERRON, Plaintiff, v. DAIMLERCHRYSLER CORPORATION, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Indiana

267 F.Supp.2d 941

Gary HERRON, Plaintiff, v. DAIMLERCHRYSLER CORPORATION, Defendant.

IP00-1838-C B/S.

United States District Court, S.D. Indiana, Indianapolis Division.

June 3, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Gregory A. Stowers, Stowers, Weddle & Henn, Indianapolis, IN, for Plaintiff.

Susan B. Tabler, Ice Miller, Indianapolis, IN, for Defendant.

ENTRY ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

BARKER, District Judge.

I. Introduction.

This is an employment discrimination case brought pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-et seq. and 1981a. The plaintiff, Garry Herron, an African-American, alleges that his employer, DaimlerChrysler, discriminated against him on the basis of his race by subjecting him to unfavorable terms and conditions of employment, harassed him on the basis of his race, and then retaliated against him for complaining about his ill treatment. He alleges that his working conditions became intolerable so that he was forced to resign.

The case is before us on DaimlerChrysler's motion for summary judgment. For the following reasons, we GRANT DaimlerChrysler's motion.

II. Statement of Facts.

A. Background,

We recite the following facts in a light reasonably most" favorable to Mr. Herron as the party opposing summary judgment.

DaimlerChrysler hired Mr. Herron in May 1994 as an hourly production employee at its Kokomo Transmission Plant (KTP). At its KTP facility, DaimlerChrysler machines parts a:id assembles transmissions. These functions are carried out in departments, which are identified by number. Any given part might be sent through several different departments before it is sent to the assembly area where the transmissions are built.

In December 1994, Mr. Herron, a graduate of Indiana University, was promoted to a position as a Production Supervisor. The Kokomo facility is organized hierarchically. Production supervisors, such as Mr. Herron, operate on the front lines, overseeing the work of the hourly production employees on each shift. A "lead supervisor" may help coordinate the activities of the supervisors on the various shifts. Area managers oversee and evaluate the supervisors; manufacturing managers (who also are referred to as "business managers") oversee and evaluate the area managers; and a plant manager oversees and evaluates the manufacturing managers. According to Manufacturing Manager, William Schaefer, the plant manager and business managers had little contact with production supervisors or hourly employees. The plant manager and business manager were not located in the same area as the area managers, production supervisors, and hourly employees. Area managers were responsible for evaluating production supervisors; the business manager had to approve those evaluations. Ex. F (Smith Aff.), ¶¶ 5-7; Ex. B (Hall Dep.), pp. 8-10, 13; Ex C (Schaefer Dep.), pp. 11-14.

Each production supervisor is responsible for making a certain number of parts to feed to the assembly lines where the transmissions are made. If the production goal is not met, the result is "lost builds," a costly failure. From June 1997 to September 1997, for example, Department 8600 lost 872 builds at a total cost of $122,080.00. Supervisory personnel were subject to annual written performance reviews. Since Mr. Herron's appraisals are a significant element in this lawsuit, we address the evaluation form in some detail. Herron Aff., ¶¶ 7-9; Clark Dep. p. 7; Anderson Dep., pp. 12-13; Hall Dep., pp. 10,14-18.

According to Stipulated Exhibit No. 1, the appraisal form consists of five categories: (1) Supervisor's Assessment of Results; (2) Behavior Ratings; (3) Supervisor Comments; (4) Employee Comments; and (5) Signatures. Each category, in turn, consists of several elements, so that the evaluation form appears substantially as follows (omitting non-essential, details):

1. Supervisor's Assessment of Results.

a. Role Model: Consistently produced outstanding results based on goals and ongoing job responsibilities.

b. Significant Contributor: Consistently produced more than satisfactory results based on goals and ongoing job responsibilities.

c. Contributor: Consistently produced satisfactory results based on goals and ongoing job responsibilities.

d. Development Needed: Consistently produced less than satisfactory results based on goals and ongoing job responsibilities.

2. Behavior Ratings,

a. Role Model

b. Highly Effective

c. Effective

d. Development Needed

e. Cannot rate or not applicable Supervisor Rating: This is the Supervisor's rating of the employee's behavior, which constitutes one-third of the individual and overall behavior ratings. Each rating is converted to a numerical score for calculation:

Role Model = 4, Highly Effective = 3, Effective = 2, Development Needed= 1

3. Supervisor Comments.

This space is provided for free-form comments by the supervisor. The supervisor may provide, for example, a summary of the appraisal data, overall comments or suggestions on the employee's performance, comments regarding employee development, or other relevant comments not addressed in the body of the appraisal document.

4. Signatures.

Both the supervisor and employee are expected to sign and date the appraisal form. For the employee, the signature (as is stated on the document) is merely an acknowledgment that he or she has discussed the appraisal with the supervisor. An employee signature is not necessarily meant to imply concurrence with the ratings of comments. Therefore, even an employee who is dissatisfied with the appraisal should be encouraged to sign the document.

An employee's rating may affect whether he or she gets a raise and, if so, the amount.

B. Events Giving Rise to this Lawsuit.

Central to this lawsuit is a wide divergence between the parties' perceptions of the material facts. Mr. Herron argues, with factual support, that his performance as a production supervisor was consistently very good. He makes this claim by focusing on his production numbers and on supervisory comments based on those numbers. Meanwhile, DaimlerChrysler focuses, also with factual support, on what it calls Mr. Herron's "volcanic" personality and other character traits such as a supercilious attitude and an inability to get along with employees and other supervisors. While DaimlerChrysler does not contest Mr. Herron's contention that his production levels were good, it claims that it found need for improvement in his performance based on these non-production deficiencies. Manufacturing Manager Bill Schaefer, who occupied a position two levels above in Mr. Herron's chain of command, summarized these perceived deficiencies in February 1999. After Mr. Herron filed a complaint with Daimler-Chrysler's Workplace Diversity Group, Mr. Schaefer wrote in response to questions posed by workplace diversity investigator Marvin Moore:

I think Gary is an average supervisor^] By that I mean he will get the job done, he knows what needs to happen overall to supply his customer with the requirements. Sometimes getting that done, he isn't as professional as I would like to see. I think he lacks the human element in working with people. A lot of times he feels no matter at what cost, whether dollars and [cents], or whose toes he steps on or how hard, his focus is on making the task successful, even at the cost of relationship problems. He causes a lot of controversy[,] more directed at the human element than is necessary to get the job done. He is not a people's person, thinking he will take the authority to get the task done himself. Most of his conflict is related to people.

Def. Ex. C (Schaefer Dep.) pp. 34-35; quoting Schaefer Dep. Ex. 10. Also see Larry Hall Dep. Ex. 7.

Thus, for example, Mr. Herron points out that in 1997, when he worked in Department 8600 under the supervision of Richard Huffman, Mr. Huffman was obviously impressed by Mr. Herron's ability to generate production and to keep his employees engaged in the production process. Mr. Huffman also rated him highly for being "completely bias free" with respect to his employees and for his encouragement of workplace diversity. Mr. Herron points to Mr. Huffman's favorable comment that, "for six months Gary Herron carried the department for me." There were times when Mr. Huffman would ask Mr. Herron to build 1100 parts knowing that he had the production capacity to produce only 800. "[B]ut he would do it," Huffman enthused. Schaefer Dep. Ex. 5.

Similarly, Mr. Herron notes that for the first eleven months of 1999, Department 8100 lost several thousand builds. Supervisors Steve Degenkolb and Jason Barnes were responsible for a significant percentage of the lost builds. Within a month of Mr. Herron becoming a supervisor in Department 8100, the department did not lose any builds. In sum, states Mr. Herron: "Plaintiff never failed to produce the parts he was required to produce while in Department 8100." Herron Aff., ¶ 35. Yet supervisors Degenkolb and Barnes were rated "significant contributors" for 1999, while he was not.

While Mr. Herron focuses on his demonstrated ability to generate production, DaimlerChrysler points to instances in which Mr. Herron's attitude and personality interfered with workplace relations among employees and supervisors. Thus, for example, On May 23, 1996, Mr. Herron met with Area Manager Ron Abney after an hourly employee named Chelly Landis complained to Mr. Abney that Mr. Herron was rude and unprofessional. Mr. Abney informed Mr. Herron that he had received complaints not only from Mr. Landis, but from other employees. Mr. Herron requested a meeting with management. The next day, a meeting was held among Messrs. Abney, Mullins, and Manufacturing Manager Bill Schaefer. Mr. Mullins's memo of this meeting noted that Mr. Herron's conduct at the May 24 meeting mirrored his conduct during the March 28 meeting. According to...