Smith v. City of Thomasville
| Decision Date | 30 September 2016 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 7:14-CV-112 (HL) |
| Citation | 214 F.Supp.3d 1320 |
| Parties | Ronnie SMITH, Elma J. Johnson, Derek Colson, Allen D. Powell, and Curtis Bradshaw, Plaintiffs, v. The CITY OF THOMASVILLE,GEORGIA, a governmental entity, the City of Thomasville Fire Department, a governmental entity, Bryan Croft, Individually, Tim Connell, Individually, and Does 1-10, Inclusive, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Georgia |
E. Duane Jones, Decatur, GA, James L. Brown, Los Angeles, CA, Victor G. Swift, Willie E. Gary, Stuart, FL, for Plaintiffs.
Jon Travis Hall, Thomas F. Richardson, Macon, GA, for Defendants.
Plaintiffs Ronnie Smith, Elma J. Johnson, Derek Colson, Allen D. Powell, and Curtis Bradshaw, African-American men who either previously or presently work for the City of Thomasville Fire Department, initiated this lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq. ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and O.C.G.A. § 45–19–29, alleging that the City of Thomasville ("the City"), the City of Thomasville Fire Department ("Fire Department" or "Department"), Bryan Croft, and Tim Connell (collectively "Defendants")1 subjected them to disparate treatment in the terms and conditions of their employment on the basis of their race by denying them training and promotion opportunities and by paying them less than other similarly situated White employees. Plaintiffs further contend that Defendants retaliated against them and perpetuated a hostile work environment. Presently before the Court is Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment. (Doc. 24). After reviewing the pleadings, briefs, depositions, and other evidentiary materials presented, and determining that there is no genuine dispute of the material facts, the Court finds that Defendants are entitled to judgment as a matter of law and grants Defendants' motion.
Plaintiffs filed a Request for Oral Argument in relation to the pending motion for summary judgment. (Doc. 32). The Court has thoroughly reviewed the briefs and the evidence of record and concludes that a hearing is not warranted. Plaintiffs' request for oral argument is therefore denied.
Plaintiffs filed their Complaint for Damages on July 16, 2014, asserting in three generalized counts that Defendants discriminated against them on the basis of their race by subjecting them to "harassment, intimidation and an offensive, hostile working environment." (Doc. 1, ¶¶ 66, 77, 86). While Plaintiffs presented their claims cumulatively, each individual Plaintiff has stated varying claims against Defendants, and each has filed his own charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"). The following is a recitation of the undisputed facts material to each individual's claims:
A. Derek Colson
The City of Thomasville Fire Department hired Plaintiff Derek Colson as a firefighter on November 27, 2000. (DSOMF ¶ 2; Colson Dep., p. 12-13).2 Colson, who remains employed by the Fire Department, has received several promotions during his tenure with the Department. (DSOMF ¶¶ 2, 4, 64). He received his first promotion in December of 2003 when he was named a Driver-Engineer. (DSOMF ¶ 2). Then, in July of 2005, Colson advanced to the position of Life Safety Educator and was named a Lieutenant. (DSOMF ¶ 4). Approximately one year later, Colson was promoted again to become a Fire Inspector. (Colson Dep., p. 35). Colson complains that while other White firefighters, such as Clay Phillips, who bridged from the position of Life Safety Educator to Fire Inspector also advanced in title from Lieutenant to Captain, Colson remained a Lieutenant. (Colson Dep., p. 34-35). However, Colson does not know how long Phillips held the position of Lieutenant before becoming a Captain. (Colson Dep., p. 36).
Throughout his employment with the Fire Department, Colson has received no less than sixteen pay increases between December 31, 2002 and July 6, 2015. (DSOMF ¶ 5). Colson contends that other White firefighters with similar lengths of service and experience were paid more than he was; however, he has presented no evidence to that effect. (DSOMF ¶ 3).
Colson, like the other Plaintiffs in this case, alleges that the Department in general is hostile toward the few African-American firefighters employed by the Fire Department. For example, Colson describes an e-mail he received from Chief Bryan Croft in 2008, which Colson found offensive. (DSOMF ¶¶ 6-7). The e-mail depicted how several past presidents aged while in office, including the recently elected Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, who the original author of the e-mail predicts will age to look like characters from the television series "Sanford & Son." (Colson Dep., p. 45). Colson did not tell Croft that he was offended by e-mail, nor did he report the e-mail to human resources, which he felt would be a waste of time. (DSOMF ¶ 8; Colson Dep., p. 45). Colson instead reported the e-mail to the local NAACP, which then notified the Mayor, the City Council, and the City Manager. (Colson Aff., ¶¶ 9-10). The City Manager met with the NAACP to discuss the contents of the e-mail. (Colson Aff., ¶ 11).
Colson describes another incident when he and Plaintiff Curtis Bradshaw were denied use of the Department's credit card.3 The City of Thomasville maintains guidelines for reserving credit cards. (DSOMF ¶ 9). Prior to a scheduled training in Forsyth, Georgia, a White firefighter by the name of John Harper requested a city credit card from the finance department. (DSOMF ¶ 10). The finance department told Harper that no city credit cards were available. (DSOMF ¶ 10). Harper then asked Chief Croft for one of the Fire Department's credit cards. (DSOMF ¶ 11).4 Chief Croft permitted Harper use of the one remaining spare credit card. (DSOMF ¶¶ 11, 13).
Sometime thereafter Colson also inquired about use of a city credit card from the finance department. (DSOMF ¶ 13). Like Harper, Colson was told that the city had no cards available and that he would have to speak with Chief Croft. (DSOMF ¶ 14). Since Chief Croft lent the last of the spare credit cards to Harper, Croft was unable to provide a credit card to Colson. (DSOMF ¶ 15).5
Colson next expresses his concern that he and Bradshaw were singled out on the basis of their race when the Department placed monitors on the departmental vehicle they drove.6 At some point, the City of Thomasville began looking into investing in a tracking system for all City vehicles to monitor not only use of the vehicles but also oil life and other diagnostics to better maintain the City's property. (DSOMF ¶ 18). The monitoring devices were too expensive, so the City decided not to purchase the monitors. (DSOMF ¶ 19). Chief Croft then learned about another less expensive system that he decided to implement on two of the Fire Department's vehicles – the fire prevention vehicle and the battalion vehicle. (DSOMF ¶¶ 20-21). According to Colson, only African-American employees operated these two vehicles. (Colson Aff. ¶ 16). Monitors were not placed on the other two departmental vehicles, which Colson states were driven by White employees. (Colson Aff. ¶ 17). However, Chief Croft explained that the Department decided not to place monitors on those other vehicles because they were scheduled for replacement, and the Department opted to save the money. (DSOMF ¶ 22).7
In addition to his complaints about the often unfriendly environment, Colson alleges that he was denied the opportunity to train as an arson investigator. (DSOMF ¶ 46). Chief Croft admits that he did not grant Colson permission to take the second part of the arson investigation. (DSOMF ¶ 47). He justified the decision by explaining, first, that Colson needed to concentrate on his fire inspections, and, second, that Colson had not yet completed the required ten fire investigations under the supervision of a certified arson investigator. (DSOMF ¶ 47).
At some point in 2011, Chief Croft and Assistant Chief Tim Connell raised concerns with the City's Human Resources department regarding both Colson and Bradshaw's performance as Fire Inspectors and their failure to timely conduct commercial inspections of local businesses. (DSOMF ¶¶ 23-24). Colson and Bradshaw both admit that they were not inspecting all of the business in Thomasville within the calendar year. (DSOMF ¶ 26). However, according to Colson and Bradshaw, it is not possible to inspect all of the commercial buildings within that time frame. (DSOMF ¶ 27; Colson Dep., p. 69-70). Colson further complained to Chief Croft that he and Bradshaw lacked the proper equipment and software to efficiently perform the inspections. (Colson Dep., p. 69). Without the necessary equipment, record keeping became disorganized, and it was difficult to keep track of what inspections had and had not been completed. (DSOMF ¶ 28).
Chief Croft and Assistant Chief Connell met with Colson and Bradshaw to discuss the ongoing issue with conducting timely inspections. (DSOMF ¶ 56). Colson and Bradshaw were informed that while they would still receive their regular merit increase, the increase would only be 1.5% instead of the standard 3%. (DSOMF ¶ 25).8 As a part of the meeting, benchmarks were established for the completion of inspections. (DOSMF ¶ 29). Colson and Bradshaw were told that upon successful completion of the benchmarks, they would receive the remainder of their merit increase. (DSOMF ¶ 31). Following the meeting, Chief Croft again reviewed the inspection records and discovered discrepancies that Colson explained occurred because he was still keeping paper files of the inspections he completed rather than entering the information into the computer system. (DSOMF ¶¶ 41-43). Colson and Bradshaw further noted that the paper files would go missing on occasion, which presented further difficulty in verifying whether or not inspections had...
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