Revell v. Maytag Corp., 4:04-cv-00666.
| Decision Date | 01 May 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 4:04-cv-00666.,No. 4:04-cv-00667.,4:04-cv-00666.,4:04-cv-00667. |
| Citation | 430 F.Supp.2d 873 |
| Parties | Joseph D. REVELL, Jr., Plaintiff, Larry Plumb, Plaintiff, v. MAYTAG CORPORATION and Int'l Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, and its Local Union 997, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Iowa |
Elizabeth G. Kennedy, Ahlers Cooney Dorweiler Haynie Smith & Allbee, Des Moines, IA, Nathan John Overberg, Ahlers & Cooney PC, Des Moines, IA, for Defendants.
Joan M. Fletcher, Jeffrey A. Krausman, Dickinson, Mackaman, Tyler & Hagen, PC, Des Moines, IA, for Plaintiffs.
ORDER ON MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
Before the Court are two cases, filed separately, but containing exceptionally similar issues. Defendant, Maytag Corporation ("Maytag") filed a Motion for Summary Judgment in each of the above captioned cases on December 16, 2005. See Clerk's No. 36 in Revell, Clerk's No. 29 in Plumb. Each Plaintiff filed a resistance to the Motion for Summary Judgment, Defendant Maytag replied, and each Plaintiff filed a sur-reply. A hearing was held on the matters on March 2, 2006. The matters are fully submitted.
On October 27, 2004, each Plaintiff filed a Petition against Defendants in the Iowa District Court in and for Jasper County, Iowa. Each Plaintiff raised three causes of action: Violation of a Collective Bargaining Agreement, pursuant to Section 301 of the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947 ("LMRA"); Breach of Employment Contract; and Promissory Estoppel. On November 30, 2004, Defendants removed each action to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1446(b). Removal of Plaintiffs' LMRA claims was proper because this Court has original jurisdiction over "all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States." 28 U.S.C. § 1331. Removal of the state claims was proper because the Court has supplemental jurisdiction "over all other claims that are so related to claims in the action" over which the Court has original jurisdiction. 28 U.S.C. § 1367. On August 17, 2005, Plaintiff Joseph Revell ("Revell") amended his complaint to assert additional state and federal causes of action for age discrimination.
On February 28, 2006, the parties in both actions filed stipulated notices of dismissal, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(ii), agreeing to dismiss Count I of the Complaint. The parties also agreed to dismiss the Union Defendants from the present action. While no order of the Court is necessary to approve a stipulated dismissal pursuant to Federal Rule of Procedure 41(a)(1)(ii), the dismissal nonetheless appears as a Motion requiring a ruling on the Court's docket. Accordingly, for purposes of docket maintenance, the parties' Motion to Dismiss (Clerk's No. 47) is GRANTED. The Union Defendants, as well as Count I of the Complaint, are hereby dismissed. Thus, the only remaining claims in the case are Larry Plumb's ("Plumb") and Revell's claims for Breach of Contract and Promissory Estoppel against Defendant Maytag, and Defendant Revell's claims of age discrimination against Maytag.
Revell first became an employee of Maytag in approximately 1973. He initially worked in a job covered by a Collective Bargaining Agreement ("CBA") between Maytag and the Union. In approximately late July, 1996, Revell had a conversation with Steven Matsen ("Matsen"), a quality control representative or technician with Maytag. During that conversation, Matsen told Revell that there was a job opening he wanted Revell to consider, and told Revell about the position and the benefits of taking it. While Revell recalls nothing further about his conversation with Matsen, he told Matsen he would consider the job. It was understood at the end of the conversation that if Revell decided he was interested, he should apply for the position.
Revell, did, in fact, apply for the position approximately one week after his initial conversation with Matsen. After applying, Revell was interviewed by Matsen, Dale Hargrave ("Hargrave"), the director of purchasing for Maytag, and Kevin Peska, a Buyer for Maytag. During the interview, Hargrave did most of the talking and told Revell what the job, a non-bargaining unit position, would entail and the work expectations associated with the position. During the interview, Revell expressed some questions and concerns about taking a non-bargaining unit position, as he had never held such a job before. Revell asked about his seniority rights as articulated in the CBA, and more specifically, whether he would have the ability to return to a bargaining unit position if the new, non-bargaining unit position did not work out. Revell claims Matsen told him that: "[A]ccording to the contract and—I don't know—I believe he said past practice, but according to the contract I had the right to return to the unit at any time at my request during the first year in this position and then after a year at the discretion of the company." Revell's App. at 13 (Revell Dep.). Several days after the interview, Revell received an offer to assume the non-unit position and was ultimately promoted to the position of metal specialist on August 12, 1996. Revell testified at deposition that, as a previous union officer, he Id. at 19.
After taking the metal specialist position, Revell moved to a data analyst position in the non-bargaining unit sometime in approximately 1997. He eventually switched to the position of scheduler, but on April 27, 2004, Revell's position as a non-bargaining unit scheduler was eliminated during a reduction in Maytag's workforce. Between one year after the commencement of his non-unit position and the time of his termination, Revell made several requests, some in writing, to return to a bargaining unit position, though he cannot recall the exact dates of his requests. Revell understood that, because the requests were made more than one year after assuming the non-bargaining unit position, the determination of whether he would return to the bargaining unit was within Maytag's discretion. Id. at 18. His requests were denied on the basis that there was no one to replace Revell in his non-bargaining unit position. After his termination, Revell again requested that he be allowed to return to a bargaining unit position, and his request again was denied.
While Revell admits that return to a bargaining unit position was subject to "management discretion," he asserts that past practices of Maytag led him to believe that he had a right to return to the bargaining unit. Revell testified: Id. at 26. Revell further stated that he understood that, in certain positions, past practice dictated that a precondition of returning employees to the bargaining unit was that management would have to find a replacement for their non-unit position. Id. at 31. Revell was not aware of any other persons who had asked to be returned to the bargaining unit after 2001 whose request was not honored. Id. at 35. In summarizing the information he received during the interview, Revell stated:
[T]he person doing the interviewing that I was going to work for had also come out of the unit and became a supervisor in quality control representative, so we both knew the same language. I believe he had been a union rep at one time also, so he—when I asked him the question and I made it clear I needed specific answers, he knew what I was asking and why I was asking it, so we discussed that.
As I understand, that was really—other than the job responsibilities, that was my main focus in the interview from my side of it was, am I guaranteed that I can go back to the unit if I'm not happy with my salaried position?
And there's three parts to that. You can go back in the first year. No harm, no foul is what we called it. The second part was you cannot go back into the unit to avoid disciplinary action as a salaried person. To paraphrase Steve [Matsen], you know, if you rape somebody or kill somebody, you're going to lose your job. And, thirdly, the discretionary part or at the discretion of the company was solely focused on sometimes you're in a job where you are needed and it's going to take us a while to get you out of that job and put you back in the unit.
And I had already worked there 18-some odd years and I had seen that happen before, so it was common knowledge and reiterated by the company representative that that was what that clause stood for or meant.
Plumb first became an employee of Maytag in approximately September, 1976. Like Revell, Plumb worked for many years in a job covered by the CBA between Maytag and the Union. At some point in 1988, Plumb applied for a skilled trades job. Def.'s App. at 7 (Plumb Dep.). He was then approached by Maytag management about moving to a supervisory job outside the bargaining unit. Plumb was excited about the opportunity and viewed it as a positive way to better himself. He applied for the...
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