Polstorff v. Fletcher

• Decision Date: 12 June 1978
• Docket Number: 76-G-1422-NE.,Civ. A. No. 76-G-0728-NE
• Citation: 452 F. Supp. 17
• Parties: Walter K. POLSTORFF, Plaintiff, v. James C. FLETCHER, in his representative capacity as Administrator for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, an agency of the United States Government, Defendant. Helmut G. KRAUSE, Plaintiff, v. James C. FLETCHER, in his representative capacity as Administrator for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, an agency of the United States Government, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Alabama

452 F. Supp. 17

Walter K. POLSTORFF, Plaintiff, v. James C. FLETCHER, in his representative capacity as Administrator for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, an agency of the United States Government, Defendant.

Helmut G. KRAUSE, Plaintiff, v. James C. FLETCHER, in his representative capacity as Administrator for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, an agency of the United States Government, Defendant.

Civ. A. Nos. 76-G-0728-NE, 76-G-1422-NE.

United States District Court, N. D. Alabama, Northeastern Division.

March 10, 1978.

As Amended June 12, 1978.

Dieter J. Schrader, Huntsville, Ala., for plaintiff.

J. R. Brooks, U. S. Atty., and Caryl P. Privett, Asst. U. S. Atty., Birmingham, Ala., for defendant.

AMENDED FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

GUIN, District Judge.

The Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law heretofore filed in the above-styled consolidated cases on March 10, 1978, are hereby amended by the following:

FINDINGS OF FACT

This action was brought pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (1972), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq., alleging discrimination on the basis of national origin, and pursuant to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, as amended (1974), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621 et seq. At the close of plaintiffs' case, all allegations and claims raised under Title VII were dismissed, with prejudice, upon plaintiffs' motion. Thus, the only issues before the court are whether plaintiffs were discriminated against on the basis of age in the reduction-in-force (RIF)/reorganization of 1974 at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Marshall Space Flight Center was required to reduce its manpower by approximately 350 by reason of budget cuts and personnel ceilings prescribed by Congress and the Office of Management and Budget. Dr. Roco Petrone, Director of MSFC (at that time) determined that in order to prepare for the future, a center-wide reorganization was necessary, and he decided to have the reorganization coincide with the reduction-in-force. Reduction-in-force procedures were applied in order to reduce manpower pursuant to Civil Service Commission regulations. These procedures include displacement ("bumping" and "retreat") rights. The reorganization of the center was carried out by abolishing all jobs and creating new ones.

POLSTORFF

Before the 1974 RIF/reorganization, plaintiff Polstorff held the position of Chief, Computer Systems and Simulation Division in MSFC's Science and Engineering Directorate (S&E) with a grade GS-15/8. The functions of this division were primarily transferred to the Simulation Division, a division of the newly created Systems Dynamics Laboratory. The RIF resulted in a change of positions for plaintiff Polstorff, then age 62. He was downgraded to the position of a mathematician in the newly created Simulation Division with a grade of GS-13/10.

The reorganization was carried out by proposing candidates to fill the top level slots, and they, in turn, proposed the organization of their proposed areas of authority.

The principal participants in planning the reorganization for the Systems Dynamics Laboratory and its subordinate divisions and branches as such planning affected Polstorff were Dr. Judson Lovingood, who was to become the laboratory's director, Mr. Jack Lucas, who was to become the Chief of the Simulation Division, and Mr. Ray Lawrence, who was to become the Assistant Chief of the Simulation Division and the "Acting" Chief of the Simulation Systems Branch.

Polstorff was the only principal of the old Computer Systems and Simulation Division, and he was not advised of the reorganization.

Lovingood stated that it was his opinion that Lawrence and Lucas would be better candidates for supervisory positions than Polstorff because of Polstorff's hearing problem, and that Polstorff "possibly as a result of this, has some difficulty with his speech." Polstorff was tested on his hearing in open court, and the court acknowledged then that he could hear well and now so finds. Moreover, Polstorff testified that he has never had a problem with his speech, and his manner of speaking during the several hours of testimony was entirely acceptable.

Polstorff's former deputy, Ray Lawrence, a younger man, remained a GS-14 after the 1974 RIF. He was Polstorff's deputy at the very time he was engaged in planning the reorganization, the planning of which was kept by all concerned secret from Polstorff.

Polstorff was proposed for a "new," GS-15 slot, which however, would take him out of management and place him in a staff (advisory) job which was already vulnerable to abolition because of a then current policy to eliminate these staff positions. Polstorff was bumped from this slot by a veteran and would have been separated were it not for the fact that due to attrition a new slot at the GS-13 level was available for Polstorff to retreat into. This GS-15 staff position which Lucas stated he wrote with Polstorff in mind was indeed abolished in February 1975, with minimum impact. The participants in planning this reorganization were fully aware that this position could not last and this was simply a means of firing plaintiff Polstorff on a delayed basis rather than immediately. This position, which Dr. James Morelock was able to bump Polstorff from, delineated and described duties and responsibilities necessitating a strong engineering background. Morelock had no engineering background and was strictly a mathematician. Since Morelock did not fit the job description, he should not have been allowed to bump Polstorff. When this position was eliminated Morelock then attempted to bump Dr. Robert Seitz, but Morelock was declared not eligible for Seitz's position despite the fact that Seitz was Polstorff's former subordinate.

Lawrence's position as Assistant Chief, Simulation Division, also required a broad engineering background; yet Lawrence's background, other than the experience he gained under Polstorff's supervision, was also in mathematics.

Polstorff is an expert in computer systems and MSFC's role in computer systems actually increased as a result of the reorganization, substantially enough to form the Data Systems Laboratory. Duties and responsibilities delineated in various job descriptions indicate that Polstorff was qualified for several positions created by the reorganization, such as the GS-15 position of Assistant Chief, Simulation Division (encumbered by Lawrence), the grade GS-15 position of Deputy Chief, Data Systems Laboratory, and the grade GS-15 position of Chief, Applications Systems Division; all of which positions are encumbered by younger men (ages 41 to 45). Subsequent to the reorganization in late 1974, Polstorff was rated among the "best" qualified for such positions, but was not accorded an interview and not selected, notwithstanding regulations which accord preference to eligibles for promotion.

As a result of Lawrence being assigned to Bremen, Germany, on July 27, 1977, the position of Assistant Chief, Simulation Division, became open but had not been announced by Lucas (Chief of the Simulation Division) as a vacancy as of the date of this trial. Polstorff made two attempts to encourage Lucas to allow him to encumber this position as well as to allow him to encumber another vacant position — grade GS-14 position of Chief, Simulation Systems Branch, which Lawrence also encumbered. No justification has been offered for this refusal to allow Polstorff to encumber either or both of these two positions. Lucas is presently assuming the duties and responsibilities of three supervisory positions, including the two mentioned immediately above.

Mr. John Lynn, a nonveteran who was 41 years of age during the reorganization, who initially encumbered the grade GS-15 position of Chief, Application Systems Division, and is presently the Director of the Computer Service Office, acknowledged that Polstorff was rated as one of the "best" qualified but was not selected because his supervisory experience was primarily in the analog/hybrid simulation area and he had no experience in administration/business type computation which constitutes a major part of the computer work load. In fact, Polstorff had supervised the Digital Simulation Section since 1965. This position — of Chief, Application Systems Division — was given to a former subordinate of Polstorff's, Mr. Bobby Hodges, who had no prior experience in administration/business type computation.

With respect to Lawrence's two former positions, which he vacated when assigned by MSFC to Bremen, Germany, in July 1977, Lucas stated that he was not familiar with Polstorff's supervisory qualities; yet he acknowledged that he recently (during 1977) rated Polstorff very highly on his supervisory potential.

Mr. Howell Riggs, Director of Manpower during the reorganization, stated only that Civil Service Commission regulations were applied during the RIF and that Mr. Frank Bynum supervised a team of several position classification specialists in order to evaluate qualifications. Bynum was unable to identify the principal reasons for the decisions to downgrade Polstorff and to separate Dr. Helmut G. Krause, and he was unable to rebut either Polstorff or Krause concerning their in-depth evaluations of their qualifications for the several positions for which they maintained they were qualified. While Bynum stated the only reason that Polstorff was downgraded was because of the application of the RIF procedures, Lovingood stated the reason to be his (Polstorff's) hearing problem, which the court finds does not exist. Neither of these attempted justifications satisfies the court that there was any reason other than age for Polstorff's downgrading.

KRAUSE

Dr. Helmut Krause, who was 62 years of age at the time of the reorganization, was separated from his grade GS-14 position as a member of the staff to the Director,...