Parra v. Four Seasons Hotel

• Decision Date: 23 March 2009
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 05cv12354-NG.
• Citation: 605 F.Supp.2d 314
• Parties: Carlos PARRA, Plaintiff v. FOUR SEASONS HOTEL, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

605 F.Supp.2d 314

Carlos PARRA, Plaintiff v. FOUR SEASONS HOTEL, Defendant.

Civil Action No. 05cv12354-NG.

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts.

March 23, 2009.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

James P. Keane, Thomas W. Duffey, Keane, Klein & Duffey, Boston, MA, for Plaintiff.

Anthony M. Moccia, Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC, Boston, MA, John R. Hunt, Shea, Stokes & Carter ALC, College Park, GA, for Defendant.

JUDGMENT

GERTNER, District Judge.

For the reasons set forth in the accompanying Memorandum and Order, the defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (document # 41) is GRANTED in its entirety. Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment (document # 37) is DENIED. The Court determines that the defendant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The Four Seasons Hotel has provided a legitimate, nondiscriminatory basis for the plaintiffs termination, while the plaintiff has not offered sufficient evidence tending to show pretext. Accordingly, the defendant is entitled to judgment on plaintiffs discrimination and retaliation claims under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq., and Mass. Gen. L. ch. 151B. Finally, because the plaintiff has offered no evidence of a compensable economic loss related to work he performed prior to termination, his pendent state law claim for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing is also foreclosed.

Judgment for the defendant.

SO ORDERED.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER RE: MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

I. INTRODUCTION

This lawsuit is one for workplace discrimination based on age, race, and national origin, with pendent state law claims of bad faith termination, infliction of emotional distress, and violation of the implied covenant of good faith and fair-dealing. At the time of his termination in 2004, Carlos Parra, the plaintiff, was a roomservice waiter with nearly 20 years of experience working for The Four Seasons Hotel ("the Hotel"). He has alleged that he was fired because of his race, color, national origin, or age following a poor review of the Hotel by an American Automobile Association ("AAA") inspector in 2003. Second Am. Compl. at 5 (document # 18). The Hotel contends that it terminated Parra for disciplinary reasons related to his job performance, following a series of conflicts between the plaintiff and Hotel management. Both Parra and the Hotel have Motions for Summary Judgment presently pending before the Court.

As detailed below, the events culminating in Parra's dismissal do not permit an inference of discrimination; they suggest instead an escalating interpersonal conflict with Hotel management, quite possibly driven by mistrust and animosity between Parra and one or more of his supervisors. Reports of uncooperativeness, resistance, and rudeness in the face of criticism that immediately preceded Parra's termination—and resulted in his multiple suspensions—are consistent with personnel evaluations and job performance notices that long pre-date the AAA inspection. Together, they supply a clear, non-discriminatory basis for Parra's dismissal. While the AAA incident may have ballooned far beyond all reasonable proportion, fed by ill will and miscues on both sides, no evidence suggests that Parra's treatment was driven by animosity toward a protected class. However unfortunate or misguided, this series of events does not support a discrimination claim under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq., or Mass. Gen. L. ch. 151B. See Loeb v. Textron, Inc., 600 F.2d 1003, 1012 n. 6 (1st Cir.1979) ("While an employer's judgment or course of action may seem poor or erroneous to outsiders, the relevant question is simply whether the given reason was a pretext for illegal discrimination.... [The] focus is to be on the employer's motivation, ... not on its business judgment."). The Court does not express an opinion on the Hotel's personnel decisions in this case; it simply finds that there has been no plausible showing that the defendant's explanation is a pretext for discrimination based on Parra's race or age.

Because the Court finds that Parra has not presented sufficient facts to support an inference of pretext or discrimination, the defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (document # 41) is GRANTED. Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment (document # 37) is DENIED.

II. FACTS

Mr. Parra, age 61, first began working for the Four Seasons Hotels in Houston Texas in 1985, shortly after he moved to the United States from Mexico in 1982. Pl.'s Resp. to Def.'s Stat. of Material Facts ¶¶ 1-2 (document # 44-3); Def.'s Stat. of Material Facts ¶¶ 1-2 (document # 41-3). In 1987, Parra was transferred to the Boston Four Seasons Hotel, where he worked as a room-service waiter until his termination on April 28, 2004. Id. at ¶ 4; Def.'s Stat. of Material Facts ¶ 4 (document # 41-3).

A. The AAA Inspection

By all indications, the pivotal event in this lawsuit was a AAA inspection of The Four Seasons that took place on July 24, 2003, and resulted in a poor review for the Hotel. The AAA inspector rated the Hotel particularly poorly in the area of roomservice delivery, attributing her low rating to the room-service waiter's failure to address the inspector by name, his "mumbled greeting," his interest in watching what she had on television in her room rather than serving her, his failure to ask her where she wanted her table set up, his failure to offer to pour her beverage, and his failure to present her with the newspaper that was hanging in her room. AAA Lodging Evaluation Summary (document # 44-38). Although no documentary evidence appears in the record, according to the Hotel both then and now, the AAA inspector later identified Parra as the waiter who had served her. Def.'s Stat. of Material Facts ¶ 27 (document # 41-3); Kennel Dep. 12:1-14 (document # 44-6). As a result of the negative review, the Food and Beverage Director, Ranier Stampfer, as well as the Room Service Manager, John Gomes, called Parra into a meeting on August 1, 2003, to discuss the service he allegedly provided to the AAA inspector. Id.; Pl.'s Resp. to Def.'s Stat. of Material Facts ¶ 27 (document # 44-3). From this point, the parties' accounts of relevant events part company.

B. Disciplinary Actions

The Four Seasons states that Parra initially denied that he was the waiter who served the AAA inspector, but that later in the meeting he admitted he had served her. Def.'s Stat. of Material Facts ¶ 27; Decl. of Ranier Stampfer ¶ 7 (document # 42-9). Parra, however, claims that he denied being the server in question throughout the course of this meeting and consistently thereafter. Pl.'s Resp. to Def.'s Stat. of Material Facts ¶ 27. Parra further alleges that he asked to see the paperwork indicating that he was the server, but that this request was refused. Id. At the conclusion of this meeting, Parra was given a written warning for carelessness based on the AAA inspection. Def.'s Stat. of Material Facts ¶ 27. Parra claims that Mr. Stampfer further told him that this warning would effectively end the matter, which the Hotel denies. Pl.'s Resp. to Def.'s Stat. of Material Facts ¶ 27; Def.'s Stat. of Material Facts ¶ 27.

After the Hotel received the formal AAA report, another meeting was scheduled with Parra, the Hotel Manager, Thierry Kennel, Mr. Stampfer, and Mr. Gomes to review the report. Id. at ¶ 28; Pl.'s Resp. to Def.'s of Material Facts ¶ 28. At this meeting, Mr. Kennel contends that Parra behaved in a rude and insubordinate manner. Id. Mr. Kennel stated in his deposition that Parra was "very discourteous, very uncooperative . . . didn't care to look at me, gave some very rude sort of facial expression and hand movements . . . that I read almost as disgust." Kennel Dep. 12:19-23 (document # 44-6). Mr. Kennel further testified that Parra did not "form one sentence during that meeting" and mostly "wav[ed] his hand [during the meeting] . . . [to say] no, no, no. . . . I don't know, not me." Id. at 15:12-19. As a result, Mr. Kennel suspended Parra for five days and documented this suspension in a disciplinary action form. Def.'s Stat. of Material Facts ¶ 28.

Parra disputes this account and instead claims that he was issued a five-day suspension after he refused to admit that he was the waiter who served the AAA inspector. Pl.'s Resp. to Def.'s Stat. of Material Facts ¶ 28. Additionally, Parra alleges that he again requested to see the AAA report at this meeting, but that this request was denied by Mr. Kennel. Parra Dep. at 26 (document # 44-4); Pl.'s Resp. to Def.'s Stat. of Material Facts ¶ 28.

On August 22, 2008, during his five-day suspension, Parra submitted a letter to Ms. Eldemery, the Director of Human Resources, claiming discrimination based on the manner in which he was treated following the AAA inspection. Parra Letter 8/22/03 (document # 44-31). Notably, Parra did not deny in this roughly contemporaneous letter that he had been the room-service waiter who served the AAA inspector. Rather, the letter alleged that the Flotel discriminated against him when he was reprimanded for mumbling as a result of the AAA inspector's report, attributing this criticism to his "accent and national origin." Id. More generally, Parra insisted that the allegations were inconsistent with his superior service to the Hotel and its guests. He suggested, however, that the Hotel was retaliating against him for participating in a 2002 lawsuit brought by employees against the Hotel for charging guests an 18% gratuity for room-service orders while remitting only 15% to the waitstaff. See Fernandez v. Four Seasons Hotels, Ltd., Case No. 024689F, 2007 WL 2705723 (Mass.Super.2007). Parra was a class-member and received a settlement as a result of the suit, but did not otherwise take any significant part in the litigation....