Mitchell v. National R.R. Passenger Corp.

• Decision Date: 30 December 2005
• Docket Number: No. CIV.A. 01-1866(RWR).,CIV.A. 01-1866(RWR).
• Citation: 407 F.Supp.2d 213
• Parties: Elayne R. MITCHELL, Plaintiff, v. NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER CORPORATION, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

407 F.Supp.2d 213

Elayne R. MITCHELL, Plaintiff, v. NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER CORPORATION, et al., Defendants.

No. CIV.A. 01-1866(RWR).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

December 30, 2005.

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Martha Walfoort, James & Hoffman, P.C., Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

Gerald T. Ford, Joseph M. Tomaino, Landman Corsi Ballaine & Ford, P.C./NJ, Newark, NJ, Mark S. Landman, Landman Corsi Ballaine & Ford P.C., New York, NY, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ROBERTS, District Judge.

Plaintiff Elayne Mitchell, formerly employed by defendant National Railroad Passenger Corporation ("Amtrak") in its human resources department, filed an amended complaint against Amtrak for race discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e, et seq. (2000), and 42 U.S.C. § 1981 ("§ 1981")(Count I); age discrimination in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621, et seq. (Count II); gender discrimination in violation of Title VII (Count III); perceived disability discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101, et seq. (Count IV); and race, age, gender and perceived disability discrimination in violation of the D.C. Human Rights Act ("DCHRA"), D.C.Code Ann. §§ 2-1401.01, et seq. (2001)(Count V). Plaintiff also set forth claims against Amtrak management and supervisory employees Lorraine Green and Paula Porter for race discrimination under § 1981 (Count I) and for sex, race, age and perceived disability discrimination under the DCHRA (Count V).¹

Defendants moved for summary judgment on all claims against them. Because plaintiff raises a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether Amtrak's decision to terminate her and not to hire her for a northeast corridor manager position was motivated by her race or gender, Amtrak's motion will be denied as to Counts I and III. Accordingly, because defendants Green and Porter participated in Amtrak's decision to terminate her employment, their motion will be denied as to the termination claim under § 1981 in Count I. Because defendants Green and Porter played no role in Amtrak's decision not to hire her for the manager position, their motion will be granted as to the failure to hire claim under § 1981 in Count I. Because plaintiff has not demonstrated that age played any role in Amtrak's decision to terminate her employment and to not hire her for the manager position, or that Amtrak's proffered legitimate and nondiscriminatory basis for its actions was a pretext for age discrimination, Amtrak's motion will be granted as to Count II. Because there are no material facts in dispute with regard to certain elements of plaintiff's perceived disability claim, and Amtrak is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on that claim, Amtrak's motion will be granted as to Count IV.

Because plaintiff's race, age, gender and perceived disability claims under the DCHRA are subject to virtually the same legal analysis that governs Counts I through IV under federal law, judgment will be granted to defendants on Count V with respect to plaintiff's claims of age and perceived disability discrimination, but Amtrak's motion will be denied on plaintiff's race and gender discrimination claims in Count V. Green and Porter's motion regarding plaintiff's race and gender discrimination in termination claims in Count V will be denied as the DCHRA, unlike Title VII, does subject Green and Porter to individual liability. However, because Green and Porter did not participate in the hiring decision for the manager position, judgment will be granted to them as to the failure to hire claims in Count V.

BACKGROUND

I. PLAINTIFF'S EMPLOYMENT WITH AMTRAK

Plaintiff, an African-American female, worked in Amtrak's corporate Human Resources ("HR") Department in Washington, D.C. from January 1996 to January 2000. (See Defs.' Stmt. Fact ¶¶ 1, 2, 22; Pl.'s Stmt. Fact ¶ 100.) Amtrak hired plaintiff as a Human Resources Project Leader, and later changed her title to Human Resources Consultant. (See Pl.'s Am. Compl. ¶ 9; Defs.' Ans. ¶ 9.) Plaintiff worked in the HR Department's Workforce Development unit at the time Amtrak terminated her employment. (See Defs.' Stmt. Fact ¶¶ 12, 13.)

Defendant Paula Porter, an African-American female and the former Director of the Workforce Development unit in the HR Department,² interviewed plaintiff and recommended and sought approval for her hiring in 1996. (See Decl. of Gerald T. Ford ("Ford Decl."), Ex. 7 at 24-26.) Porter supervised plaintiff throughout her employment with Amtrak. (See id., Ex. 5 at 37.) Defendant Lorraine Green is an African-American female and Vice-President of Amtrak's HR Department. (See Defs.' Stmt. Fact ¶¶ 20-21.) Porter was 48 years old, and Green was 54 years old, at the time Amtrak terminated plaintiff's employment. (See Pl.'s Stmt. Fact ¶ 15; Defs.' Stmt. Fact ¶ 21.)

When Amtrak hired plaintiff in 1996, she represented to Amtrak on her employee information form that her date of birth was November 27, 1940. (See Pl.'s Stmt. Fact ¶ 2; Ford Decl., Ex. 2 at A00118.) Plaintiff's actual date of birth was November 27, 1932. (See Pl.'s Stmt. Fact ¶ 2; Decl. of Martha Walfoort ("Walfoort Decl."), Ex. 1.)

During her employment, plaintiff "was responsible for analyzing the educational and training needs of Amtrak's employees, designing and implementing programs, and assessing training programs for Amtrak's employees." (Pl.'s Am. Compl. ¶ 9; see Defs.' Ans. ¶ 9.) Plaintiff provided these services to employees in Amtrak's three strategic business units ("SBUs") — Northeast Corridor ("NEC"), Inter-City and West — and "provided training services to all Amtrak management employees ..., which included employees in the [SBUs] as well as corporate headquarters." (Defs.' Stmt. Fact ¶ 25; Pl.'s Stmt. Fact ¶ 25.) When Amtrak management and supervisory employees required leadership and supervisory development training, plaintiff was responsible for delivering the training. (See Defs.' Stmt. Fact ¶ 26; Pl.'s Stmt. Fact ¶ 26; Ford Decl., Ex. 7 at 92-93, Ex. 5 at 36-37 (plaintiff's deposition testimony that "[she] provided the training throughout Amtrak for all of the training that fell under the title of leadership development," and that she had such a duty throughout her tenure), Ex. 23 at 405 (plaintiff's EEOC affidavit in which she states, "[i]n 1999, ... I led a company-wide assessment of the skills gaps among front-line supervisory personnel, and developed and managed the majority of the training courses the HR Department used that year, including ... all leadership/supervisory courses").)

II. PAUL BELLO'S HIRING

In June 1998, Amtrak posted a job opening for an HR Consultant (Management/Executive Education) position. (See Defs.' Reply at 11; Pl.'s Stmt. Fact ¶ 115; Ford Decl., Ex. 32.) Porter testified in her deposition that as Amtrak got closer to hiring someone for the position, Amtrak's "needs changed and parts of [the June 1998 job posting] were no longer applicable." (Walfoort Decl., Ex. 6 at 186.) Amtrak asserts that plaintiff never applied for the HR Consultant position posted in June 1998. (See Defs.' Reply at 12.)

In May 1999, Porter selected Paul Bello, a 49-year-old white male, to fill the vacant HR Consultant position and sought approval from Lorraine Green. (See Ford Decl., Ex. 33 and Ex. 35; Walfoort Decl., Ex. 4 at 5.) In seeking approval for Bello's hiring, Porter noted that "[t]he position for which [Bello] has been selected not only requires knowledge of training, but it is also critical that the successful candidate possess an understanding of explicit performance improvement systems." (Ford Decl., Ex. 33.) Among other skills, Porter specifically noted that Bello's hiring would bring to the Workforce Development unit "[e]xperience in the design and development of automated systems to measure and track key performance indicators" (id.), as well as "[i]ndepth knowledge of transactional delivery systems ...." (Id.) Amtrak hired Bello as an HR Consultant in the Workforce Development unit on May 31, 1999. (See id., Ex. 34.)

III. RESTRUCTURING THE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT UNIT

In 1998, Amtrak hired Pricewaterhouse-Coopers ("PWC") to assess its HR Department. (See Walfoort Decl., Ex. 26.) According to Amtrak, "[t]he objective of the assessment was to improve client services and establish a more efficient Human Resources Department." (Id., Ex. 25 at 4.)

In November 1999, Porter prepared a power point presentation entitled "Workforce Development: Framework for the Future State — Amtrak Human Resources — November, 1999." (Ford Decl., Ex. 7 at 115, Ex. 10.) In the power point presentation, Porter set forth multiple challenges facing the Workforce Development unit (see id., Ex. 10 at 1), as well as an analysis of the Workforce Development unit. (See id., Ex. 10 at 2.) Plaintiff testified during her April 2002 deposition that the challenges identified by Porter in November 1999 had "been around ... for a while" (Walfoort Decl., Ex. 7 at 74), and that Porter's analyses were accurate for both the Workforce Development unit and the HR Department as a whole. (See id. at 76-77.)

Porter indicated in her power point presentation that the Workforce Development unit in November 1999 was "segmented/disjointed, inefficient, costly" (Ford Decl., Ex. 10 at 2), and that "accountabilities [were] unclear leading to slow responsiveness, divergent priorities, and impeded service delivery[.]" (Id.) Porter's assessment was consistent with plaintiff's deposition testimony that the Workforce Development unit was "extremely competent in developing plans[,]" but was "not equally as competent in implementation of those plans, and subsequently the personnel in the [SBUs] were dissatisfied with our delivery."...