Prise v. Alderwoods Group, Inc.
| Decision Date | 21 September 2009 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 06-1470. |
| Citation | 657 F.Supp.2d 564 |
| Parties | Deborah PRISE and Heather Rady, Plaintiffs, v. ALDERWOODS GROUP, INC., Burton L. Hirsch Funeral Home, Inc., H.P. Brandt Funeral Home, Inc., and H. Samson, Inc., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Pennsylvania |
Charles H. Saul, Kyle T. McGee, Liberty J. Weyandt, Margolis Edelstein, Pittsburgh, PA, for Plaintiffs.
Amy E. Dias, Leon F. Dejulius, Michael H. Ginsberg, Jones Day, Pittsburgh, PA, for Defendants.
This case involves two former funeral home employees, plaintiffs Deborah Prise ("Prise") and Heather Rady ("Rady," and together with Prise "plaintiffs"), who allege that their employers, defendants Alderwoods Group, Inc. ("Alderwoods"), Burton L. Hirsch Funeral Home, Inc. ("Hirsch Funeral Home"), H.P. Brandt Funeral Home, Inc. ("Brandt Funeral Home") and H. Samson, Inc. ("Samson Funeral Home" and together with Alderwoods, Hirsch Funeral Home and Brandt Funeral Home, "defendants"), subjected them to various forms of illegal discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq. ("Title VII") and the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 206(d) ("Equal Pay Act"). Pending before the court are motions for summary judgment filed by defendants and a motion for partial summary judgment filed by Prise.
Approximately six decades ago, Burton L. Hirsch ("Mr. Hirsch") established Hirsch Funeral Home in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, community of Squirrel Hill, a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. (Doc. No. 157.) In 1996, Mr. Hirsch sold Hirsch Funeral Home to the entity that would later become Alderwoods. (Id. ¶ 3.) Between 2002 and 2006, Alderwoods was a corporation engaged in the business of providing mortuary services. (Id. ¶ 4.) Alderwoods operated funeral homes and cemeteries across North America, among which were Hirsch Funeral Home, Brandt Funeral Home and Samson Funeral Home. (Doc. No. 158.) These three funeral homes were all located in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. (Id.) Alderwoods maintained an antidiscrimination policy designed to ensure that its services were available to all deceased customers, without regard to gender, race or religion. (J.S.-Prise ¶ 5.)
In September 2002, Prise, who is Jewish, enrolled at the Pittsburgh Institute for Mortuary Science ("PIMS"). (Id. ¶ 8.) She applied for a student-level position at Alderwoods in October 2002. (Id.) Two months later, in December 2002, Alderwoods hired Prise for a part-time position at Hirsch Funeral Home. (Id. ¶ 9.) She earned $5.15 per hour. (Id.)
Prise received her funeral director's license from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on November 12, 2004. (Id. ¶ 10.) Nine days later, Alderwoods promoted her to the position of funeral director. (Id.) In that capacity, she earned $18.00 per hour. (Id.) She reported to Michael Hilgefort ("Hilgefort"), who was the location manager at Hirsch Funeral Home. (Id.)
Shortly thereafter, Hilgefort expressed his intention to resign as the location manager in order to become a full-time funeral director. (Id. ¶ 14.) Pat McDermott ("McDermott"), the general manager for Alderwoods' Pittsburgh market, suggested to recruiter Larry Newsom ("Newsom") that Prise be considered as a possible replacement for Hilgefort. (Id.) Prise applied to succeed Hilgefort as the location manager at Hirsch Funeral Home. (Id. ¶ 16.) Alderwoods typically required its location managers to have anywhere from three to five years of experience in the position of funeral director. (Id. ¶ 17.) Nevertheless, Prise was promoted to be Hirsch Funeral Home's location manager in May 2005, at which point she had only seven months of experience as a funeral director. (Id.) After her promotion, Prise's annual salary was $50,000.00. (Id. ¶ 18.) Hilgefort's starting salary had been $48,000.00 per year. (Id.) Hilgefort had roughly five years of experience as a funeral director when he became a location manager. (Id.) His salary was increased to $50,000.00 per year after the conclusion of a three-month probationary period. (Id.) Prise was apparently never subject to such a probationary period. (Id.) Because Hirsch Funeral Home was located in Squirrel Hill, Alderwoods attempted to make it attractive to Jewish families. (Id. ¶ 21.) Particular Jewish congregations were offered special pricing packages. (Id.)
During this same period of time, Alderwoods merged its Pittsburgh and West Virginia markets. (Id. ¶ 17 n. 4.) Randy Amos ("Amos") became the general manager for the combined market. (Id.) Although McDermott remained the general manager for the Pittsburgh area, he was placed under Amos' authority. (Id.) In October 2005, McDermott's general manager position was eliminated. (Id.) He was demoted to the position of funeral director. (Id.)
On August 15, 2005, Miriam Maizlech ("Maizlech") arrived at Hirsch Funeral Home for her first day of work as a location assistant. (Id. ¶ 22.) Prise was in Chicago, Illinois, that day in order to attend a Jewish studies class. (Id.) Maizlech apparently sat alone throughout the day, with no one to train her. (Id.) Prise contended that it was not her responsibility to train new employees, and that she was not responsible for being at Hirsch Funeral Home on Maizlech's first day of work. (Id.) McDermott reprimanded Prise the next day for not being present to acquaint Maizlech with her duties. (Id.) McDermott suggested that Prise exhaust her vacation days in order to attend classes in Chicago, which was apparently in conflict with Prise's understanding of Alderwoods' policies. (Id.) Prise called Amos later that day to complain about McDermott's comments. (Id. ¶ 23.) During a conference call held on August 19, 2005, John Blute ("Blute"), Alderwoods' manager for the northeast region, informed Prise that she did not have to exhaust her vacation days in order to further her education. (Id. ¶ 25.)
Nancy Baum ("Baum"), a Christian, passed away in September 2005. On September 21, 2005, Baum's husband spoke with Hilgefort and requested that Hirsch Funeral Home schedule a visitation for the afternoon of Saturday, September 24, 2005. (Id. ¶ 27.) Hilgefort was reluctant to schedule the visitation for that day, because Hirsch Funeral Home had customarily refrained from having visitations on the Jewish Sabbath out of respect for the surrounding Jewish community. (Id.) Hilgefort discussed the matter with Amos, who subsequently conferred with Blute. (Id.) Katie Leahy ("Leahy"), Alderwoods' director of operations, was also consulted. (Id.) Blute ultimately instructed Amos and Hilgefort to honor Baum's husband's request for a Saturday visitation. (Id.)
When Prise learned that the visitation had been scheduled to take place on a Saturday, she instructed Hilgefort to reschedule it. (Id. ¶ 28.) Prise was apparently motivated by both a desire to avoid alienating the Squirrel Hill community and an intention to refrain from performing work on the Jewish Sabbath. (Id.) After learning about the situation, Amos again conferred with Blute and Leahy. (Id. ¶ 29.) Ron Collins ("Collins"), Alderwoods' vice president, was also consulted. (Id.) Amos was apparently instructed to follow the wishes of Baum's husband. (Id.)
During a conference call with Prise, Hilgefort and Maizlech, Amos stated that Alderwoods would honor the request which had been made by Baum's husband. (Id. ¶ 30.) Prise expressed her objection to the decision, claiming that it would cause Hirsch Funeral Home to lose credibility within Squirrel Hill's Jewish community. (Id.) Maizlech suggested that Baum's husband be asked to postpone the visitation to Saturday evening at sundown, at which point the Jewish Sabbath would be over. (Id. ¶ 31.) Amos was in favor of this idea. (Id.) After speaking with Hilgefort, Baum's husband agreed to this arrangement. (Id.)
Prise was still resistant to the idea of Hirsch Funeral Home conducting a visitation on a Saturday. In an email to Leahy sent at 7:07 p.m. on September 21, 2005, Blute stated as follows:
They decided to have the visitation (8:30-10:30) after the sabbath is over. Deborah had been unavailable to answer her phone at first, but now she found out and is livid. Randy is saying he can not control her at all. She says that randy [sic]has disgraced her.
(Docket No. 110). On the morning of September 22, 2005, Amos reiterated that Alderwoods would conduct the visitation pursuant to the understanding between Baum's husband and Hilgefort. (J.S.-Prise ¶ 32.) Amos told Prise that she would not have to worry about staffing concerns related to the visitation. (Id.) Prise apparently argued that it would constitute religion-based discrimination against her for Alderwoods to force her to perform work on the Jewish Sabbath.
Meanwhile, Alderwoods' executives began to discuss the possibility of terminating Prise. (Id.) In an email to Leahy and Blute sent at 4:20 a.m. on September 22, 2005, Collins made the following observations:
Deborah alleges discrimination against herself but doesn't care to understand the potential of discrimination against others. Be certain to document as we appear to be headed towards her departure.
(Def's App.-Prise at Tab 35.) The documentary evidence indicates that a tentative decision to terminate Prise was made as early as the morning of September 23, 2005. (Id. at Tab 40.) That same day, Prise...
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