Knight v. Avon Products, Inc.

• Decision Date: 10 January 2003
• Citation: 438 Mass. 413,780 NE 2d 1255
• Parties: MARY SHEA KNIGHT v. AVON PRODUCTS, INC.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

438 Mass. 413

780 NE 2d 1255

MARY SHEA KNIGHT¹ v. AVON PRODUCTS, INC.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Berkshire.

November 4, 2002.

January 10, 2003.

Present: MARSHALL, C.J., GREANEY, SPINA, COWIN, SOSMAN, & CORDY, JJ.

Cornelius J. Moriarty, II (Charles K. Stephenson with him) for the plaintiff. James F. Kavanaugh, Jr. (Stephen S. Churchill with him) for the defendant.

Christine Hughes, for New England Legal Foundation & another, amici curiae, submitted a brief.

Steven S. Locke, for Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, amicus curiae, submitted a brief.

GREANEY, J.

We granted an application for direct appellate review filed by the defendant, Avon Products, Inc. (Avon), to decide whether a plaintiff in an indirect evidence case of age discrimination may satisfy the elements of her prima facie case in the absence of a showing that she was replaced by a substantially younger person. A jury in the Superior Court determined that the plaintiff's termination from her position as a district sales manager for Avon violated G. L. c. 151B, § 4 (1B),² and awarded her a total of $795,000 in damages. The trial judge thereafter denied Avon's motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and for a new trial, but reduced various amounts of the damages award. The plaintiff accepted the order of remittitur, and an amended judgment ultimately was entered awarding damages in the amount of $633,000. The judge also denied the plaintiff's request for multiple damages pursuant to G. L. c. 151B, § 9. Both parties have appealed. We conclude that, for purposes of establishing a triable claim of age discrimination under G. L. c. 151B based on unlawful termination, a plaintiff must demonstrate that he or she was replaced by someone who is substantially younger or otherwise present some evidence that supports a reasonable inference that age was a determinative factor in the employer's decision. For reasons we shall describe, the plaintiff's evidence was insufficient for the issue of age discrimination to be decided by the jury, and Avon's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict should have been allowed. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment, set aside the jury verdict, and direct the entry of a judgment for Avon. The evidence most favorable to the plaintiff, see Fontaine v. Ebtec Corp., 415 Mass. 309, 312 (1993), warranted the jury in finding the following facts. The plaintiff is married with four children. At the time she applied for a position with Avon, the plaintiff's husband had been seriously injured in an accident; her eldest child, who lived at home, was losing her eyesight due to a degenerative eye condition; and her two youngest children, twins, were under six years of age. The plaintiff owned and operated two stores, one in Pittsfield and the other in Lenox, at which she sold cosmetics, skin care and bath products, fragrances, and fashion accessories and also provided customer services such as on-site fashion and cosmetic consultations.

In October, 1993, the plaintiff began working for Avon as a district sales manager in District 2267 (the Northampton district). Because the plaintiff lived in Pittsfield, her employment in the Northampton district required her to commute a great distance each day. The plaintiff was forty-four years of age when hired by Avon.

Before being hired, the plaintiff disclosed the existence of her two stores to her direct supervisor, Helen O'Connell, the division sales manager for Avon's Patriot division (encompassing all of Massachusetts except for Boston and Cape Cod), as well as to Barbara Foster, Avon's regional human services manager. It was agreed that, if hired by Avon, the plaintiff would close her Lenox store and turn the operation of her Pittsfield store over to her daughter. Neither O'Connell nor Foster expressed any objection to this plan. In December, 1993, O'Connell was replaced by Carole Valvo, who also was aware from the outset of the plaintiff's continued ownership of the Pittsfield store. On one occasion, the plaintiff gave Valvo a perfume atomizer, which she identified as an item sold in the store at retail. Valvo promised to visit the store sometime in the future and expressed no reservations about the plaintiff's continued ownership of the store.

Avon had twenty district sales managers, including the plaintiff, operating within the Patriot Division. As a district sales manager, the plaintiff was responsible for recruiting, training, and motivating independent Avon sales representatives throughout her district. The plaintiff's performance evaluations were all positive. In 1994, after only one year as a district sales manager, she was admitted to Avon's "Circle of Excellence" in recognition of her role in placing her district among the top ten per cent in the region for sales increases. Valvo told the plaintiff, "If you keep doing what you're doing ... you have a great future."

In October, 1994, while driving home from work, the plaintiff experienced a bout of acute chest pain. Later that evening, she sought medical treatment and was told that her pain was most likely due to muscle strain. A follow-up physical examination, however, revealed a previously undiagnosed thyroid condition. Although the plaintiff was placed on drug therapy, her condition improved only somewhat. On April 25, 1995, at a meeting for the purpose of evaluating the plaintiff's job performance, the plaintiff informed Valvo that her treating physician had arranged for a thyroid scan to rule out the possibility of thyroid cancer. The plaintiff later reported to Valvo that the scan indicated noncancerous nodes on her thyroid that would require monitoring, but that she intended to seek a second physician's opinion and a biopsy.

Shortly after the April meeting, Valvo informed the plaintiff that "there was going to be an opening" in the district sales manager position for District 2271 (the Pittsfield district). Valvo asked the plaintiff if she would be interested in the Pittsfield position. Valvo stated, however, that "she would like" the plaintiff to run the Pittsfield and the Northampton districts, temporarily, for extra pay. Valvo told the plaintiff that this situation was to remain "top secret" for a few weeks. In response to the plaintiff's questions, Valvo informed the plaintiff that the district sales manager currently running the Pittsfield district had not "been doing her job," and that one of the top sales representatives in the Pittsfield district, Sandra Houghtlin, "was not qualified and no one in that district was qualified to take over." The plaintiff specifically had asked Valvo about Houghtlin because the plaintiff felt that Houghtlin would be in line for the job. The plaintiff agreed to run both districts and, on May 10, 1995, the plaintiff was designated interim assisting district sales manager for the Pittsfield district.

On May 22, 1995, at a President's Club meeting and dinner held in honor of top Avon representatives, Valvo introduced the plaintiff to Mar-E Bean, a twenty-four year old recent college graduate. Valvo informed the plaintiff that Bean had been hired to be a district sales manager and, furthermore, that the plaintiff was to train her. When the plaintiff asked to which geographical district Bean was assigned, Valvo told the plaintiff that Bean was to be a "floater." The plaintiff had never heard of the term "floater" before. To the best of her knowledge, all Avon district sales managers were assigned to particular geographical districts. Thereafter, the plaintiff diligently trained Bean and simultaneously managed the Northampton and the Pittsfield districts. According to the plaintiff, "I ... met [Bean] on a daily basis and took [Bean] on rounds with me, showed [Bean] all the ropes, I taught [Bean] everything to do."

On June 16, 1995, Avon sent a letter notifying its sales representatives in the Northampton district that the plaintiff had been reassigned as sales manager of the Pittsfield district and that Bean was to be the new district sales manager in the Northampton district. The plaintiff testified that she did not recall a similar letter being sent to Avon sales representatives in the Pittsfield district, notifying them that she was taking over as the sales manager for that district. However, the evidence indicated that on the same date (June 16, 1995), representatives in the Pittsfield district were advised that the plaintiff was the new sales manager for the district. Further, the plaintiff admitted that she wanted to be the manager of the Pittsfield district (which was closer to her home than the Northampton district), that Valvo told her that Bean was "flexible to go either way, to Northampton or to Pittsfield," and that sometime prior to June, the plaintiff chose to accept the Pittsfield district.

On August 3, 1995, Valvo met the plaintiff in Pittsfield and informed her that she was terminated. Valvo explained that an unidentified person had written a letter to Avon's chief executive officer, complaining that the plaintiff "had a store and sold Mary Kay[³] cosmetics in it." The plaintiff expressed shock, stating to Valvo that "everyone in Avon knows that I have a store.... You know that and everyone at Avon has always known that." Valvo flatly denied to the plaintiff any prior knowledge on her part of the store's existence.

Over the next few days, the plaintiff, Valvo, and Foster participated in three-way telephone calls directed toward saving the plaintiff's job. During these conversations, a number of conditions were suggested, including that the plaintiff remove her name from the store's sign and business forms and terminate any connection, financial or advisory, with the store. The plaintiff left Foster a voice mail message in which she offered to use the store location as a training center for Avon and a meeting place for Avon sales representatives. Foster never responded to that offer. Finally, negotiations stalled....