Jones v. Southcorr, L.L.C.

• Decision Date: 08 July 2004
• Docket Number: No. 1:03CV00499.,1:03CV00499.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of North Carolina
• Parties: Tucson W. JONES, and wife, Yvonne C. Jones, Plaintiffs, v. SOUTHCORR, L.L.C., Defendant.

324 F.Supp.2d 765

Tucson W. JONES, and wife, Yvonne C. Jones, Plaintiffs, v. SOUTHCORR, L.L.C., Defendant.

No. 1:03CV00499.

United States District Court, M.D. North Carolina.

July 8, 2004.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Tucson W. Jones, Asheboro, NC, pro se.

Yvonne C. Jones, Asheboro, NC, pro se.

Melissa M. Kidd, Helms Mulliss & Wicker, P.L.L.C, Hamlin Landis Wade, Jr. Smith Helms Mulliss & Moore, Charlotte, NC, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BEATY, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This matter is currently before the Court on a Motion for Summary Judgment [Document # 12] filed by Defendant Southcorr, L.L.C. ("Defendant" or "Southcorr") as to Plaintiffs Tucson W. Jones ("Plaintiff")¹ and Yvonne C. Jones' claims. Plaintiff Tucson Jones claims that Defendant discriminated against him on the basis of race in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e to 2000e-17, and in violation of the public policy of North Carolina as articulated in the North Carolina Equal Employment Practices Act (the "NCEEPA"), North Carolina General Statutes sections 143-422.1 to -422.3. Plaintiff Yvonne Jones claims that Defendant's unlawful actions deprived her of consortium with her husband, Tucson Jones. Also before the Court are two purported motions filed by Plaintiffs [Documents # 11, # 17], each entitled "Plaintiff's [sic] Motion to Dismiss Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment."

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs, as this Court must do when deciding a motion for summary judgment, the Court will state the relevant facts.² Plaintiff Tucson Jones, an African-American male, was employed with Southcorr from October 2, 1997, until August 31, 1998. (Pl.'s Dep. at 17, 156.) Southcorr is a manufacturer and supplier of corrugated paper board located in Asheboro, North Carolina. (Daniel Morris Beam Aff. [Doc. # 14] (hereinafter "Beam Aff.") ¶ 2.) Plaintiff Tucson Jones was employed with Southcorr as a "strapper," which means that he was responsible for, among other things, ensuring that the paper-board products manufactured by the corrugator machine were properly strapped together. (Pl.'s Dep. at 72; Ron Parks Aff. [Doc. # 15] (hereinafter "Parks Aff.") ¶ 5.) Some of Southcorr's products must be single strapped, which means that there are two straps in one direction over the load. (Parks Aff. ¶ 5.) Waxed or coated products, however, must be double strapped, which means that there are two straps in one direction and two straps in the other direction. (Id.) Before the load is strapped, the strapper must place cap sheets (or "caps") both above and below the load. (Id.; Pl.'s Dep. at 72.) The purpose of putting the cap sheets on the load is to prevent the straps from digging into the edges of the boards and damaging them. (Pl.'s Dep. at 74.) The strapper must also bend the top cap sheets to prevent a sloppy load or a load without sufficient tension on the straps. (Id. at 81; Parks Aff. ¶ 5.) It is the strapper's responsibility to ensure that loads are properly prepared before running the loads through the strapping machine. (Parks Aff. ¶ 5.)

During the course of Tucson Jones' employment with Southcorr, he was disciplined on multiple occasions. On November 4, 1997, Plaintiff received a "Verbal Warning" for being tardy to work. (Beam Aff. Ex. D; Pl.'s Dep. at 113-14.) On December 23, 1997, Plaintiff received a written warning³ for again being tardy to work. (Beam Aff. Ex. D; Pl.'s Dep. at 127-28.) Plaintiff signed both his Verbal Warning and the Employee Disciplinary Report documenting his written warning concerning his tardiness. (Beam Aff. Ex. D.) In his deposition, Plaintiff admitted that he was in fact tardy on both of these days. (Pl.'s Dep. at 113-14, 127-28.) Other than these tardies, however, during the first several months of his employment, Plaintiff had no discipline or performance problems. He and Ron Parks ("Parks"), his supervisor, initially got along. (See id. at 113-14, 122-23.) In addition, Parks authorized, and Daniel Beam ("Beam") (Defendant's Production Manager) approved, raises for Plaintiff in October, November, and December 1997 based upon Plaintiff's good performance. (Beam Aff. ¶ 4, Exs. B-C.) Beginning in late February 1998, however, Plaintiff alleges that Parks began to "harass"⁴ him by "telling him to perform other duties while his present duties were falling behind." (Pls.' Br. Opp. Def.'s Mot. Summ. J. [Doc. # 18] (hereinafter "Pls.' Br.") at 3.) But from March 5, 1998, through July 23, 1998, while Parks was not functioning as Plaintiff's supervisor due to an on-the-job injury, Plaintiff received no discipline and was not harassed in any way. (Id.) In addition, during this period Plaintiff knew which loads needed to be double strapped because these loads "were highlighted by defendant as coated (2x2) orders...." (Id.)

After Parks returned as Plaintiff's supervisor on July 24, 1998, however, Plaintiff contends that Parks immediately refused to cooperate with Plaintiff regarding breaks and refused to assist Plaintiff with the malfunctioning strapping machine. (Id. at 4.) From July 28, 1998, through his termination on August 31, 1998, Plaintiff was written up and harassed numerous times by Parks. On July 28, 1998, Parks gave Plaintiff a verbal warning for failing to double strap a coated load on July 27, 1998. (Parks Aff. ¶¶ 8-9, Ex. B; Pl.'s Dep. at 129-35.) The Employee Disciplinary Report documenting the warning stated that Plaintiff was being disciplined for the following offenses: "[f]ailure to follow instructions" and "[s]ubstandard work." (Parks Aff. Ex. B.) On July 30, 1998, Parks gave Plaintiff a written warning for the same mistake, and the Employee Disciplinary Report documenting this warning also stated that Plaintiff was being disciplined for "[f]ailure to follow instructions" and "[s]ubstandard work." (Parks Aff. ¶¶ 8-9, Ex. B; Pl.'s Dep. at 135-37.) Plaintiff contends that these lapses occurred because the run sheets for these loads did not contain the "2x2" notation. As a result, Plaintiff did not realize that these loads were coated and therefore did not realize that these loads needed to be double strapped. (Pls.' Br. at 4-5; Pl.'s Dep. at 129-39.) Plaintiff therefore disputed (and continues to dispute) these disciplinary actions, and he therefore refused to sign these Employee Disciplinary Reports. (Parks Aff. ¶¶ 8-9, Ex. B; Pl.'s Dep. at 129-39.)

On July 31, 1998, Plaintiff met with Beam and Andre Savoy ("Savoy"), Southcorr's Logistics Coordinator. (Pl.'s Dep. at 138-39; Beam Aff. ¶ 4.) During this meeting, Beam and Savoy told Plaintiff that he had not been doing his job properly. (Pls.' Br. at 5; Pl.'s Dep. at 138-39.) Savoy agreed with Plaintiff, however, that "2x2" should be printed on the run sheets for coated loads. (Pls.' Br. at 5; Pl.'s Dep. at 139.) Beam nevertheless refused to allow "2x2" to be printed on the run sheets, stating that even if "2x2" were printed on the run sheets, Plaintiff would still not understand that he needed to double strap those loads. (Pls.' Br. at 5; Pl.'s Dep. at 139.) Beam instead asked Plaintiff whether he was having any problems at home. (Pls.' Br. at 5.)

On August 6, 1998, Plaintiff met with Diane Goins ("Goins"), Southcorr's Personnel Manager, and Bob Rogg ("Rogg"), Southcorr's General Manager, to discuss Plaintiff's concerns that he was being disciplined for no reason. (Pls.' Br. at 6-7.) Plaintiff explained to Goins and Rogg that Parks was not communicating to him which runs needed to be double strapped. (Id. at 6.) Both Goins and Rogg noticed that "2x2" was not being printed on the run sheets, and Rogg informed Plaintiff that he would ensure that "2x2" would be put back on the run sheets for coated loads. (Id.) However, Goins and Rogg apparently did not overturn the warnings that Parks had given Plaintiff on July 28 and July 30, because Plaintiff does not dispute that these warnings remained in Plaintiff's personnel record even after he met with Goins and Rogg. Goins and Rogg also told Plaintiff that their doors were always open and that Southcorr would not tolerate any harassment by Parks or any other employee. (Id. at 6-7.) Before the meeting was over, Goins gave Plaintiff a copy of Defendant's "Harassment and Open Door Policy." (Id. at 7.)

Even after these meetings, however, Plaintiff alleges that Parks continued to harass him. On August 13, 1998, Plaintiff claims that Parks cheated him out of 22.3 hours by crossing these hours off his time card. (Id. at 8.) On August 14, 1998, Parks blamed Plaintiff for the strapping machine malfunctioning. (Id.) Parks' continued harassment of Plaintiff caused Plaintiff to fall behind schedule. (Id.) Parks then told Plaintiff that he was not allowed to take breaks or lunch. (Id.) On August 19, 1998, Parks told the maintenance personnel to stay away from the strapping machine. (Id. at 9.) Because Parks stopped the maintenance personnel from working on the strapping machine, Plaintiff again fell behind in his work. (Id.) However, when Parks took off work on August 20 and 21, Plaintiff's substitute supervisor did not prevent the maintenance personnel from working on Plaintiff's machine, nor did he harass or discipline Plaintiff. (Id.) On August 24, 1998, Parks returned to work. (Id. at 10.) He resumed harassing Plaintiff, and he prevented maintenance personnel from working on the strapping machine, which again caused Plaintiff to fall behind. (Id.)

On August 25, 1998, "Parks was having problems with" Plaintiff because the strapping machine was malfunctioning. (Id.) After the maintenance man fixed the machine, Parks told Plaintiff that Plaintiff was not bending down the cap sheets correctly. (Id.) Although Plaintiff had always bent the caps in one manner, Parks required him to bend the cap sheets a different way. (Id.; Pl.'s Dep. at 146-47.) When Plaintiff did not bend the caps down the way Parks...