Lemke v. International Total Services, Inc.
| Decision Date | 16 July 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. Civ.A. 97-5756(MTB).,Civ.A. 97-5756(MTB). |
| Citation | 56 F.Supp.2d 472 |
| Parties | Kristy LEMKE, Plaintiff, v. INTERNATIONAL TOTAL SERVICES, INC. and Dan Richards, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey |
Michael J. Reimer, Reimer & Niedweske, South Orange, NJ, for plaintiff.
Raymond A. Kresge, Diane N. Apa, Klett Lieber Rooney & Schorling, Cherry Hill, NJ, for defendants.
Defendants International Total Services, Inc. ("ITS") and Dan Richards ("Richards") (collectively as "defendants") move for summary judgment. Plaintiff Kristy Lemke ("Lemke" or "plaintiff") cross-moves for partial summary judgment as to her claims under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination ("NJLAD") and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. For the following reasons, this court will grant defendants' motion and deny plaintiff's motion.
ITS is a company which contracts with airlines to provide security and other services to airports nationwide. On November 18, 1992, plaintiff was hired by ITS as the General Manager at Washington National Airport. See Am.Compl. ¶¶ 1-2; Weitzel V.S. ¶ 2.1 In November 1994, she relocated to New Jersey and became a Continental Airlines Terminal Manager for ITS at Newark International Airport. See Pl.Dep. at 217, 402-403.
Plaintiff was a Terminal Manager until April 1996 when she became an acting District Manager. See id. at 219. In 1996, ITS was organized into three divisions — the Eastern, the Central, and the Western Divisions. See id. at 241. By May 1996, plaintiff was the District Manager of the New York Metro Area, a district within the Eastern Division of ITS. See id. at 219; Am.Compl. ¶ 3. In 1996, there were four districts in the Eastern Division: (1) Newark, which was managed by John Pudlak; (2) New York Metro, which included the airports in New York City, Long Island, Baltimore, Washington, Atlantic City, Allentown (Pa.), Boston, Cape seasonal airports and Burlington (Vt.) and was managed by plaintiff; (3) New York State, including Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, Albany, Elmira, Ithaca, Binghamton, and Erie (Pa.) managed by Jim Patric; and (4) Southeast, which included Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and other southeast states managed by Peter Collins. See Richards V.S. ¶ 2;2 Reimer Cert. dated Feb. 3, 1999, Exh. D. Thus, even though plaintiff remained in Newark after she was promoted to District Manager, Newark was not within her district and, instead, was managed by Pudlak. See Richards V.S. ¶ 5.
Toward the end of 1996, Richards became the Eastern Division President and plaintiff reported to him throughout the remainder of her employment with ITS. See Pl.Dep. at 200. In early 1997, Richards decided to realign the geographic districts in the Eastern Division for a number of reasons: one, districts with "purer, straight East-to-West lines would be more efficient;" two, a realignment of the district managers would "make a stronger business team with more potential for growth;" and, three, it lacked common sense for plaintiff to be a district manager based in Newark when Newark was not within her area of responsibility. See Richards V.S. ¶ 5.
In March 1997, Richards began talking to plaintiff about possible changes in the territory for which she was responsible. See Pl.Dep. at 369. For starters, Richards left plaintiff a voice mail message to the effect of: "I don't know what your personal situation is and would you be interested in possibly relocating." See id. at 370. Richards and plaintiff discussed plaintiff's possible relocation to more of a Mid-Atlantic/Mid-South district in a phone conversation and Richards ultimately provided plaintiff with a colorized map of the geographically reorganized Eastern Division. See id. at 381, 385, 388. The colorized map divided the Eastern Division into four geographic districts: the Northeastern states, including New York; New Jersey; the Mid-Atlantic states, including Pennsylvania; and the Southern states extending to Florida. See Richards Dep., Exh. 1.3
Richards met with plaintiff at the Boston airport on April 9, 1997 to discuss plaintiff's possible relocation to a site in the Mid-Atlantic region. See Pl.Dep. at 391. Plaintiff told Richards that she was not interested in relocating, see id., and memorialized the meeting in a memorandum to Richards dated April 10, 1997. See Reimer Cert. dated Feb. 3, 1999, Exh. B. In the memorandum, plaintiff expressed her concern that the reorganization would cause her to lose areas, including the New York Metro area, which she had worked hard to establish. See id. Plaintiff also stated that she felt that her territory was being taken away "because [Richards] want[s] to hire a friend and give him the largest area and revenue base to support a large salary." See id. Plaintiff mentioned gender in the memorandum only insofar as she asserted that she was "well aware of the number of female managers in the company that are at the same level that I am, not many." See id.
Plaintiff and Richards met again in Newark on April 18, 1997. See Pl.Dep. at 419. The parties characterize the meeting somewhat differently, i.e. plaintiff asserts that she was fired and defendants assert that she quit, but both sides agree that during the meeting, Richards reiterated that plaintiff's district was being eliminated or "downsized." Richards V.S. ¶ 9; Lemke Aff. ¶ 9; Reimer Aff. dated Feb. 3, 1999, ¶ 14; Pl.Dep. at 426-27. Plaintiff responded by calling Richards "a piece of work." Lemke Aff. ¶ 9; Richards V.S. ¶ 9. Plaintiff left Richards' office but shortly thereafter returned and asked questions about severance pay and money for accrued vacation. See Lemke Aff. ¶ 9; Richards Aff. ¶ 9; Pl.Dep. at 422-24. After Richards stated that he would have to look into her questions, see Pl.Dep. at 429, plaintiff collected her personal belongings, wished the employees in the building well, and left the building, never to return. See id. at 430. The ITS Hourly Transaction Form, dated April 18, 1997 and signed by Richards, states that plaintiff's last day of employment was April 18, 1997 and the box labeled "Termination" sets forth "Organizational Downsizing" as the reason. Lemke Aff., Exh. E.
Because Richards needed to immediately submit a budget plan for the Eastern Division and because plaintiff had rejected the Mid-Atlantic region, Richards expanded Pudlak's New Jersey territory to include the Mid-Atlantic states. See Richards V.S. ¶ 11. Thus, when plaintiff left ITS, there were three district managers: Pudlak, covering New Jersey and the Mid-Atlantic region; Collins, covering the Southern region; and Brian Michel who was hired to cover the Northeastern region, including New York and Boston. See Pl.Dep., Exh. D-25. Not long afterwards, Michel resigned and Bruce Watson took over the Northeastern region. On October 2, 1997, plaintiff began working as a full-time second grade teacher at St. Francis School. See Pl.Dep. at 99-101.
On August 8, 1997, plaintiff filed a charge of gender discrimination against ITS with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"). See Pl.Dep. at 110-11. On August 22, 1997, plaintiff requested a notice of right to sue from the EEOC and it was issued on August 28, 1997. See id. at 118-20 and Exhs. D-11, D-12. Plaintiff simultaneously filed a charge of gender discrimination with the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights ("NJDCR"). See Pl.Dep. at 117. Plaintiff never withdrew the charge filed with the NJDCR and the NJDCR has yet to issue a determination on her charge of discrimination. See id. at 117-18.
On November 24, 1997, plaintiff filed with this court a four-count complaint against ITS and Richards alleging gender discrimination in violation of NJLAD (Count One), gender discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII") (Count Two), and intentional infliction of emotional distress (Counts Three and Four). On January 4, 1999, plaintiff amended her complaint and added Count Five, alleging that defendants violated the Federal Equal Pay Act ("EPA"). Cross-motions for summary judgment followed.4
Summary judgment may be granted if, after consideration of such items as depositions, affidavits or certifications, and after viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and [] the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Davis v. Portline Transportes Maritime Internacional, 16 F.3d 532, 536 n. 3 (3d Cir.1994). With this standard in mind, this court will evaluate each of plaintiff's claims.
In Counts One and Two of the complaint, plaintiff alleges that defendants violated Title VII and NJLAD, respectively, by discriminating against her on the basis of her gender. Defendants move for summary judgment because: (1) plaintiff has failed to exhaust the administrative remedies required to bring a Title VII claim; (2) plaintiff's NJLAD claim is barred because she has a charge pending with the NJDCR; (3) plaintiff has failed to set forth a prima facie case of gender discrimination under Title VII and NJLAD as she has not shown that she suffered an adverse employment action; and (4) even assuming a prima facie case under Title VII and NJLAD, plaintiff has not demonstrated that defendants' reasons for their actions were pretextual. Plaintiff not only opposes defendants' motion for summary judgment but asserts that this is the "very rare" case in which summary judgment should be granted to a plaintiff on her Title VII and NJLAD claims. See Pl.Br. at 11.
Although plaintiff offers no response to defendants' exhaustion argument, this court will first address whether plaintiff has sufficiently exhausted her administrative remedies such that...
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