Oakstone v. Postmaster General

• Decision Date: 14 October 2005
• Docket Number: No. CV-03-164-B-W.,CV-03-164-B-W.
• Citation: 397 F.Supp.2d 48
• Parties: Randall S. OAKSTONE, Plaintiff, v. POSTMASTER GENERAL, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maine

397 F.Supp.2d 48

Randall S. OAKSTONE, Plaintiff, v. POSTMASTER GENERAL, Defendant.

No. CV-03-164-B-W.

United States District Court, D. Maine.

October 14, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Frank T. McGuire, Rudman & Winchell, Bangor, ME, for Plaintiff.

Evan J. Roth, Office of the U.S. Attorney, District of Maine, Portland, ME, for Defendant.

ORDER ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

WOODCOCK, District Judge.

Randall Oakstone brought suit against the Postmaster General under Title VII for sex discrimination, harassment and retaliation, claiming the Postal Service took adverse employment actions against him in response to a female co-employee's false complaint of physical abuse. On December 29, 2003, the Postal Service filed a motion to dismiss and in the alternative, a motion for summary judgment. The Court denied the motion on August 18, 2004. Hoping for better luck the second time around, the Postal Service filed a second motion for summary judgment. This motion, however, meets the same fate for largely the same reasons. This Court DENIES the motion as to all Title VII claims, but GRANTS the motion to dismiss the claim for punitive damages.

I. Statement of Facts

The tempestuous love affair of Ramona Philbrook and Randall Oakstone ended badly and eventually impacted the work environment at the Postal Service's Eastern Maine Processing and Distribution Facility (Hampden Facility), where they were employed.¹ Discovery has focused on the contact between Mr. Oakstone and Ms. Philbrook and the Postal Service's handling of Mr. Oakstone's requests for expediter work. It has revealed the following additional facts.²

Randall Oakstone terminated a serious romantic involvement with Ramona Philbrook in April of 1997. Def. Statement of Undisputed Mat. Facts at ¶ 54 (DSMF) (Docket # 42). From then on, there was little direct contact between Ms. Philbrook and Mr. Oakstone, and what little there was, was stormy. Postal Service employees and several managers were generally aware of the sour relationship between Mr. Oakstone and Ms. Philbrook. DSMF at ¶¶ 63-64, 93, 219; Pl. Opp. Statement of Mat. Facts (POSMF) at ¶ 210 (Docket # 55). On one occasion, Chris Parker, a supervisor at the Hampden Facility, told Mr. Oakstone to stay off a platform which was part of Ms. Philbrook's work area — despite Mr. Oakstone's protestations that he was searching for a form that was easiest to obtain in that area — telling Mr. Oakstone that the form could also be obtained elsewhere. POSMF at ¶¶ 70-74; Pl. Statement of Additional Mat. Facts (PSAMF) at ¶ 304 (Docket # 55); Def. Response to Pl. Statement of Additional Mat. Facts at (DRPSMF) ¶ 304 (Docket # 62). Chris Parker was aware of the troubled history between the two and was acting to prevent a conflict when he told Mr. Oakstone to leave the platform. DSMF at ¶¶ 79-82.

In early 1999, Mr. Oakstone requested work as an expediter and after learning of his request, Ms. Philbrook objected to the extent that he would be doing that work during her shifts. In her deposition, Philbrook testified that her EAP counselor had told her to stay away from him. DSMF at ¶¶ 56-57; POSMF at ¶¶ 56-57. In February of 1999, Ms. Philbrook vocalized her desire to avoid Mr. Oakstone to Carolyn Smith, the manager of distribution operations during 1998 and 1999, who had assigned him to train as a substitute expediter. Id. at ¶ ¶ 90, 93.³ Ms. Philbrook became visibly upset during this conversation, and told Ms. Smith that Mr. Oakstone had been abusive and that she was frightened of him. Id. at ¶¶ 93, 96-97. Ms. Smith investigated her claims, but determined they were untrue. See DSMF at ¶¶ 132-36; POSMF ¶ 136.

Ms. Smith had not previously been aware of the acrid relationship between Ms. Philbrook and Mr. Oakstone and she had planned on assigning Mr. Oakstone work as an "inside expediter" which would necessitate working with Ms. Philbrook as "outside expediter." PSOMF at ¶¶ 102, 118. Instead, in an effort to be fair to both of them, Ms. Smith decided to train Mr. Oakstone when Ms. Philbrook was not around, and as a compromise, offered to add "Sunday back-up platform expediter" to his job description. See DSMF at ¶¶ 155-56; PSAMF at ¶ ¶ 311, 350-51. Mr. Oakstone had no special entitlement to perform expediter duties any other day. DSMF at ¶ 162. It was, however, expected that he would be needed to fill in other times. PSAMF at ¶ 312.

Ms. Smith went on leave in March of 1999. Around the same time, an expediter went on extended leave and the temporary expediter assignment was awarded to Mike Allison, a senior employee. DSMF at ¶¶ 164-66. Ms. Smith was replaced by Jeff Clark. At some point during Mr. Clark's tenure, he learned about Ms. Philbrook and Mr. Oakstone's past, and made the decision that they would not be compatible working together. He decided he would not allow Mr. Oakstone to be the inside expediter when Ms. Philbrook was the outside expediter. DSMF at ¶¶ 183-84; PSAMF at ¶ 341. Mr. Clark told Chris Parker to deny expediter work and expediter training to Mr. Oakstone because of the "conflicts" with Ms. Philbrook, but withheld this decision from Mr. Oakstone. PSAMF at ¶¶ 342-43; DRPSMF at ¶¶ 342-43, 345. Mr. Oakstone repeatedly requested information about his lack of expediter work and filed a grievance in September, 1999. Id. at ¶¶ 340, 343, 356.

In November of 1999, Mr. Clark confirmed in writing that Mr. Oakstone would be given two days inside expediter training "at the first opportunity", which he estimated to be the end of the month. DSMF at ¶ 215; POSMF at ¶ 215. In December of 1999, Wallace Smyth, in management, received a complaint from Ms. Philbrook regarding plans to train Mr. Oakstone as an expediter. DSMF at ¶¶ 25, 218. Ms. Philbrook was very upset and told Mr. Smyth that if Mr. Oakstone expedited, she would punch out and leave. She threatened to go to EEO and to her lawyer. In response, Mr. Smyth gave her a "line in the sand" speech culled from his days as a Marine. In response, Ms. Philbrook told him what he could do with his speech. Id. at ¶¶ 225-227.

Shortly after, Mr. Smyth held a meeting with Mr. Oakstone and Ms. Philbrook and read them section 666.2 of the Employee Labor Manual, which provides that employees must work together in a professional manner. Mr. Oakstone was receptive, but Ms. Philbrook laughed it off, remarking "I know what it says". After that meeting, no member of management spoke to Ms. Philbrook about working opposite Mr. Oakstone as expediter. Id. at ¶¶ 232, 237-42. Subsequently, Mr. Smyth told Mr. Oakstone that Ms. Philbrook "had management over a barrel" because of the abuse allegations and that he could not work with her. Mr. Smyth also emailed Louis Zedlitz, Plant Manager, that he was "taken hostage" when Ms. Philbrook raised the issue. PSAMF at ¶ 368; DRPSMF at ¶ 368.

Contemporaneous with the Oakstone-Philbrook feud, the Postal Service introduced a Linear Integrated Package Sorter (LIPS) machine. In meetings with Mr. Oakstone's union, his job was identified as no longer needed because, in effect, it no longer existed. At least one other job was eliminated besides Oakstone's due to the LIPS and the impact of automation. Although it is not unusual for the Postal Service to abolish a position due to automation, the other eliminated job was not a manual rack job. See DSMF at ¶¶ 257-61, 270; POSMF at ¶¶ 257-61, 270. Adding Mr. Oakstone's second class mail work to LIPS required several people to perform his former work, because it was not feasible to do the work on the LIPS in an economically efficient manner. POSMF at ¶ 264; PSAMF at ¶ 375. Mr. Oakstone could have been reassigned at least temporarily, but was not. PSAMF at ¶¶ 372-74. After being informed in February of 2000 that his manual rack position was abolished, Mr. Oakstone was given insider expediter training in April of 2000. DSMF at ¶ 262; PSAMF at ¶¶ 359, 377; DRPSMF at ¶ 359.

During Mr. Oakstone's 1999 tenure at the Hampden Facility, two junior female employees were trained as expediters. Mary McBreairty was trained as a substitute expediter and May Brown was given expediter work as well. Ms. Brown was trained when Mr. Oakstone's requests for training were pending. POSMF at ¶ 6; PSAMF at ¶¶ 363-66; DRPSMF at ¶¶ 363-66. From February to September 1999, May Brown worked 68.75 hours, Mary McBreairty worked 8.17 hours, and Randall Oakstone worked 63.31 hours. From September 1999 through August 2000, May Brown worked 18.82 hours, Mary McBreairty worked 182.24 hours, and Randall Oakstone worked 243.85 hours. DSMF at ¶¶ 37-38. POSMF at ¶ 52. Though she did some expediter work while he was available, Ms. Brown worked a number of her expediter hours on Saturdays, Mr. Oakstone's regular day off. The Postal Service gives assignment priority to off duty individuals, not employees already at work on regular assignment, even though off duty employees would be entitled to overtime. POSMF at ¶¶ 49, 52.⁴

II. Discussion

A. Standard for Review

A moving party is entitled to a summary judgment if there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The First Circuit has defined "material" to mean "a contested fact has the potential to change the outcome of the suit under the governing law if the dispute over it is resolved favorably to the nonmovant." McCarthy v. Northwest Airlines, Inc. 56 F.3d 313, 315 (1st Cir.1995). It has defined "genuine" as "the evidence about the fact is such that a reasonable jury could resolve the point in favor of the nonmoving party." Id. The moving party must demonstrate an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party's case. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

The court is obligated to view the entire record "in the light most flattering to the nonmovant" and indulge "all reasonable inferences in that party's favor." Cadle Co. v. Hayes, 116...