Reynolds v. Land O'Lakes, Inc.

• Decision Date: 25 April 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-1590,96-1590
• Citation: 112 F.3d 358
• Parties: 73 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1302, 70 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,656 Richard J. REYNOLDS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LAND O'LAKES, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 358

112 F.3d 358

73 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1302,

70 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,656

Richard J. REYNOLDS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LAND O'LAKES, INC., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 96-1590.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Oct. 22, 1996.

Decided April 25, 1997.

Stephanie E. Pochop, Gregord, SD, argued for Plaintiff-appellant.

Marie Elizabeth Hovland, Sioux Falls, SD, argued for defendant-appellee.

Before RICHARD S. ARNOLD, Chief Judge, FLOYD R. GIBSON and McMILLIAN, Circuit Judges.

FLOYD R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

Appellant Richard J. Reynolds sued his employer, Land O'Lakes, Inc. (LOL), for an alleged violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-634 (1994). Reynolds also brought a state law deceit claim against LOL. See S.D. Codified Laws § 20-10-1 (Michie 1995). On February 2, 1996, the district court ¹ granted LOL's motion for summary judgment adducing that Reynolds failed to present a prima facie case of either age discrimination or deceit. Reynolds appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment. Because we determine that Reynolds failed to establish a claim for either age discrimination or deceit, we affirm the district court's decision.

I. BACKGROUND

LOL is an agricultural supply and marketing cooperative incorporated in the state of Minnesota. As a farmer owned cooperative, LOL sells dairy goods produced from milk its farmer members supply. Within LOL's dairy foods business there are several divisions, one of which is the procurement division. Reynolds began working for LOL in 1983, and from October 1985 through January 1994, he worked as a milk production specialist (MPS) in the procurement division's Western region. An MPS serves as the primary direct contact between the dairy producer and LOL. MPS's procure milk for the cooperative and provide milk producers with a variety of services to enhance milk production and milk quality.

During the late 1980's and early 1990's, the procurement division experienced a continual decline in the number of milk producers in the Midwest, while the cost of doing business steadily increased. For example, when Reynolds began working as an MPS in 1985, he called on 185 to 200 milk producers, and eleven other MPS's worked in the Western region. By 1993, Reynolds served only 85 to 100 milk producers, and only eight additional MPS's remained in his region. In approximately 1990, the Roger Rudolph Marketing Firm conducted a survey of LOL's business practices and developed an "ideal producer target" which highlighted specific qualities MPS's should look for when attempting to obtain business from dairy farmers. By targeting the "ideal producer," LOL intended to attract producers who would remain in the dairy production business for a substantial period of time. The "ideal producer," according to the Rudolph survey, is forty-four years of age or younger, a production manager, has more than one hundred cows, and produces more than one million pounds of milk per year.

In 1993, LOL determined that the procurement division needed to reduce costs. The regional managers, including Jeff Johnson, Harlan Heidebrink, and Ray Cherry, together with Don Berg, the vice president of membership and procurement, decided that a reduction in force (RIF) would be the most effective method of reducing costs. The management group considered various criteria to apply in determining which MPS's to terminate, but concluded that eliminating the least senior MPS in each of the Western, Northwestern, and Dalbo regions, and the two least senior MPS's in the Southeastern region, would be the most equitable method of implementing the RIF. The number of positions to be eliminated was based on geography, milk volume, and producer numbers. LOL's legal and human resource departments approved the planned RIF.

On October 13, 1993, LOL announced the planned reduction to the MPS staff. LOL solicited volunteers, but because no one accepted the voluntary severance package, management carried through with the RIF as planned. Management notified the terminated employees on October 22, 1993 of the impending terminations and severance packages. ² Reynolds was the least senior MPS in the Western region and was therefore eliminated in the RIF. Three of the five MPS's eliminated were under forty years of age. At forty-five, Reynolds was the oldest MPS terminated in the RIF.

LOL has a policy of awarding a hiring preference to employees who are terminated in a RIF. Terminated employees have access to a posting board which lists current available positions within the company. However, employees terminated in a RIF may not simply "transfer" to another position. They must go through the application process to be eligible for the rehire preference. Ray Cherry notified Reynolds of available temporary assignments in Poland and Cottonwood, Minnesota; Scott Gottschalk also informed Reynolds of the Cottonwood assignment. Reynolds did not apply for either position. Reynolds applied for one position with LOL after his termination, but that space was filled by a part-time LOL employee who was apparently more qualified for the position. Immediately following his termination, Reynolds began searching for positions within and outside of LOL.

Reynolds commenced a civil action against LOL on March 20, 1995, alleging age discrimination in violation of the ADEA, see 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-634, and deceit in violation of S.D. Codified Laws § 20-10-1. LOL filed a motion for summary judgment on December 18, 1995. On February 2, 1996, the district court granted LOL's motion for summary judgment, concluding that Reynolds failed to establish a prima facie case of either age discrimination or deceit.

II. DISCUSSION

We review a grant of summary judgement de novo. See Aucutt v. Six Flags Over Mid-America, Inc., 85 F.3d 1311, 1315 (8th Cir.1996). We must determine, after viewing the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, whether there is a genuine issue as to any material fact. See id. If there is not, "[t]he moving party is 'entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.' " Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c)); accord Aucutt, 85 F.3d at 1315.

A. ADEA claim

The Title VII burden-shifting analysis set forth in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802-04, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 1824-25, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), and refined in Texas Dep't. of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981), applies to discrimination cases brought under the ADEA. See Holley v. Sanyo Mfg., Inc., 771 F.2d 1161, 1164 (8th Cir.1985). Under the McDonnell Douglas analysis, the plaintiff must first establish a prima facie case. See McDonnell Douglas, 411 U.S. at 802, 93 S.Ct. at 1824; Hutson v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., 63 F.3d 771, 776 (8th Cir.1995). To establish a prima facie case, a plaintiff must show: (1) he is within the protected age group; (2) he met the applicable job qualifications; and (3) he was discharged. See Hutson, 63 F.3d at 776. A RIF plaintiff must also "provide some 'additional showing' that age was a factor in the termination." Id. (quoting Holley, 771 F.2d at 1165.). Once the plaintiff has established a prima facie case, the burden of production shifts to the defendant to show a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for terminating the plaintiff. Burdine, 450 U.S. at 255, 101 S.Ct. at 1094-95. The burden then shifts back to the plaintiff to establish that the employer's proffered reason is merely a pretext for discrimination. Hutson, 63 F.3d at 777. At all times, the plaintiff bears the burden of persuading the trier of fact that intentional discrimination occurred. Id.

The district court granted summary judgment in favor of LOL because it determined that Reynolds failed to provide "additional evidence" that age was a factor in his termination. For the purpose of this appeal, we will assume that Reynolds has made the required "additional showing" that age was a factor in his termination. However, we affirm the decision of the district court because even if Reynolds presented a prima facie case of age discrimination, he failed to establish that LOL's RIF was a mere pretext for discrimination.

Reynolds raises several factual issues which he claims sufficiently establish that the RIF was a pretext for age discrimination. First, Reynolds asserts that inconsistent explanations of the manner in which the RIF was to be implemented show a discriminatory animus toward Reynolds. Specifically, he asserts management decided to implement the RIF by geographic region at the last minute as a way to include Reynolds in the RIF. LOL eliminated five MPS positions: one in each of the Western, Northwestern, and Dalbo regions and two in the Southeastern region. Reynolds points out that Don Berg stated in his deposition that to orchestrate the RIF, management would "just go to the date of hire.... It's just looking up dates." Reynolds reasons that if the vice president of procurement was unaware that MPS's were to be eliminated by region, the locational consideration must have been added at the eleventh hour to include Reynolds in the group to be terminated. ³ However, Reynolds fails to acknowledge the portion of Berg's deposition where he specifically mentioned the necessity of considering regions in the RIF:

We were experiencing a continual decline in milk volume, a continual decline in producer numbers and the first realization was that the declines in our business [were] very different by geographical region.... [T]he position we took is that we needed to remove or have a work force reduction that was geographically sensitive that would have a positive impact of removing unnecessary costs from our system. So we embarked on a program in 1993 in which we identified how much resource needed to be deployed from each region and announced by letter that those who wished to...