Stanfield v. Answering Service, Inc.

• Citation: 867 F.2d 1290
• Decision Date: 15 March 1989
• Docket Number: No. 87-7559,87-7559
• Parties: 50 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1151, 49 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 38,855 Dorothy D. STANFIELD, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ANSWERING SERVICE, INC., Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1290

867 F.2d 1290

50 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1151,

49 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 38,855

Dorothy D. STANFIELD, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ANSWERING SERVICE, INC., Defendant-Appellant.

No. 87-7559.

United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit.

March 15, 1989.

James E. Simpson, Lange, Simpson, Robinson & Somerville, James N. Nolan, Birmingham, Ala., for defendant-appellant.

Joe R. Whatley, Jr., Falkenberry, Whatley & Heidt, Birmingham, Ala., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

Before RONEY, Chief Judge, JOHNSON, Circuit Judge, and TIDWELL ^*, District Judge.

RONEY, Chief Judge:

In this employment age discrimination case, the defendant employer appeals the denial of its motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and the district court's order granting plaintiff employee liquidated damages and reinstatement. We affirm the denial of employer's motion for judgment n.o.v. We reverse the judgment for reinstatement on the ground that the claim had been waived as a matter of law, and for liquidated damages on the ground that there was insufficient evidence to support a finding of willfulness.

Dorothy D. Stanfield contended that she was terminated from her job as a telephone operator by Answering Service, Inc. ("Answering Service," "the company," or "the employer") because of her age, in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C.A. Sec. 621 et seq. ¹ The jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff in the amount of $14,755.34. The district court granted Stanfield's post-trial motion for liquidated damages and reinstatement. The total judgment for back pay, liquidated damages and attorney's fees is $42,846.46.

I. Facts

Stanfield was hired as a telephone operator by Answering Service in 1969 when she was 41 years old. She was employed in the company's Birmingham office for approximately 16 1/2 years. The company provides a 24-hour telephone answering service for subscribers, primarily doctors. Stanfield and other telephone operators were stationed at telephone computer terminals, the successor to mechanical switchboards, where they received and made a written record of telephone messages from patients and customers. Periodically, the operators would deliver messages to subscribers by telephone.

In the last years Stanfield worked for the company, her health declined. In 1979, she was diagnosed as having Crohn's disease, an intestinal condition which forced her to make frequent trips to the bathroom. Stanfield took a medical leave of absence to undergo surgery in connection with her condition. Stanfield returned to work after the surgery, but her work was still interrupted by her need to go to the bathroom frequently.

In addition to her own health problems, Stanfield's husband was disabled and required her constant care. In July 1985, Stanfield's husband underwent cancer surgery. She requested and was granted a two-month leave of absence upon her husband's discharge from the hospital so she could care for him.

Toward the end of her leave of absence, on September 25, 1985, Stanfield telephoned the office manager, Ruth Jordan, to discuss Stanfield's return to her job. Jordan told plaintiff she was no longer needed and would not be allowed to return to work. Stanfield then telephoned the company's home office in Washington, D.C. and spoke with the owner of the company, who told her that she could not return to her job because she was unable to work. Stanfield protested, stating that her doctor had said she was able to work notwithstanding her medical problems. Nevertheless, her termination stood.

After bringing her complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in Birmingham, she filed this suit.

In this appeal, Answering Service challenges the district court's finding that (1) plaintiff stated a prima facie case of age discrimination and its denial of defendant's motion for directed verdict; (2) its finding that the jury verdict was supported by substantial evidence and the denial of its motion for judgment n.o.v.; and (3) the grant of Stanfield's motions for liquidated damages and reinstatement.

II. Discussion

A. Sufficiency of the Evidence

The standard for reviewing a directed verdict or judgment n.o.v. is the same as that used by the district court to determine whether to grant either motion. Answering Service must show that the evidence so clearly favored its side that reasonable persons could not arrive at a contrary verdict. Boeing Co. v. Shipman, 411 F.2d 365, 374 (5th Cir.1969) (en banc ). To determine whether Answering Service has met this standard, the court should consider all of the evidence--not just that evidence which supports the non-movant's case--but in the light most favorable to the party opposed to the motion. Id.

Stanfield had the initial burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence a prima facie case of discrimination. Texas Dept. of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981). Whether a prima facie case of discrimination has been established is essentially a factual question. Goldstein v. Manhattan Ind., Inc., 758 F.2d 1435, 1443 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1005, 106 S.Ct. 525, 88 L.Ed.2d 457 (1985). Of the three ways a plaintiff can establish a prima facie case in an age discrimination case, Stanfield pursued the

modified McDonnell Douglas test to prove that (1) plaintiff was a member of a protected group, (2) plaintiff was discharged, (3) plaintiff was replaced with a person outside the protected group, and (4) plaintiff was qualified to do the job. See McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 1824, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973); Price v. Maryland Casualty Co., 561 F.2d 609, 612 (5th Cir.1977).

Castle v. Sangamo Weston, Inc., 837 F.2d 1550, 1558 (11th Cir.1988). See, e.g., Stamey v. Southern Bell Tel. & Tel. Co., 859 F.2d 855, 859 (11th Cir.1988) (applying McDonnell Douglas test in ADEA case). (Stanfield also presented evidence of her supervisor's practice of hiring telephone operators who were less than 40 years-of-age as statistical proof of a pattern of discrimination. Castle v. Sangamo Weston, Inc., 837 F.2d at 1558. This statistic by itself is insufficient to give rise to the inference of discrimination. See Pace v. Southern Ry. Sys., 701 F.2d 1383 (11th Cir.) cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1018, 104 S.Ct. 549, 78 L.Ed.2d 724 (1983)).

Stanfield presented sufficient circumstantial evidence to permit a jury to decide that she had established a prima facie case. She was a member of the protected group. She was fired. The jury could infer from the fact that Stanfield was employed for more than 16 years with the company without any complaints in her personnel file that she was qualified for the job.

Stanfield asserted that she was replaced by two 16-year-old girls hired by the company during her leave of absence. The record, however, does not support this assertion. Two part-time telephone operators were hired, one in July 1985 and the other in September 1985, to work the evening shift (4 p.m. to 8 p.m. or 9 p.m.). Stanfield worked the day shift. The company presented evidence indicating that no one was hired to replace Stanfield, and Stanfield herself admitted during cross-examination that these part-time hires were not assigned to work the day shift she had worked. This element of proof is not essential to Stanfield's case, however. While the McDonnell Douglas test provides a standard for evaluating these claims, "the particularly amorphous nature of age discrimination counsels against rigid application of [the] test." Pace v. Southern Ry. Sys., 701 F.2d 1383, 1387 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1018, 104 S.Ct. 549, 78 L.Ed.2d 724 (1983). Stanfield's evidence was sufficient to establish a prima facie case regardless of whether she was replaced.

Once a prima facie case is established, the burden then shifts to the defendant to produce evidence that the plaintiff was "discharged for a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason." Archambault v. United Computing Sys., Inc., 786 F.2d 1507, 1512 (11th Cir.1986). See Goldstein, 758 F.2d at 1444. To rebut the plaintiff's evidence, the defendant must present evidence which "raises a genuine issue of fact as to whether it discriminated against the plaintiff." Archambault, 786 F.2d at 1512 (quoting Texas Dept. of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981)). If the defendant satisfies its burden, "the plaintiff then carries the burden of persuasion that the reasons offered for his discharge were merely a pretext for age discrimination." Archambault, 786 F.2d at 1512; see Reynolds v. CLP Corp., 812 F.2d 671 (11th Cir.1987).

The company presented evidence intended to prove that Stanfield was dismissed, not for discriminatory reasons, but because in the last several years that she worked for the company, her job performance declined as a result of her illness. Stanfield, on the other hand, testified that during the period she worked for the company, she never received any verbal complaints about her work habits, nor had she received any disciplinary reports in her file. She also testified that her doctor said she was able to work. Stanfield also introduced evidence of her immediate supervisor's pattern of hiring persons under the age of 40, including the two 16-year-olds Stanfield alleged were hired to replace her. It was within the jury's province to weigh the evidence and assess the credibility of witnesses. See Reynolds v. CLP Corp., 812 F.2d 671, 674-75 (11th Cir.1987).

Reviewed in the light most favorable to Stanfield, the thin factual record supports the district court's determination that there is substantial evidence upon which an impartial jury could reasonably have concluded that the company's articulated nondiscriminatory reason for discharging Stanfield was a pretext for age discrimination.

B. Reinstatemen...