Stratton v. Handy Button Machine Co.
| Decision Date | 20 June 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 84 C 7958.,84 C 7958. |
| Citation | 639 F. Supp. 425 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
| Parties | Clarence STRATTON, Plaintiff, v. HANDY BUTTON MACHINE COMPANY, Defendant. |
Rudy J. Huizenga, Beth M. Rivers, Donnelly, Huizenga, Wahl & Hagan, P.C., Detroit, Mich., Elizabeth Hubbard, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff.
Alan M. Levin, Fredric Bryan Lesser, Dorfman, Cohen, Laner & Muchin, Ltd., Chicago, Ill., for defendant.
Clarence Stratton ("Stratton") sues Handy Button Machine Company ("Handy Button"), alleging Handy Button demoted him and then terminated his employment in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-634.1 Handy Button has now moved for summary judgment under Fed.R.Civ.P. ("Rule") 56. For the reasons stated in this memorandum opinion and order, its motion is denied.
In 1963 Handy Button hired Stratton (then 45) as quality-control manager (Stratton Dep. 5, 33-34). His background included a 1950 B.S. degree in industrial engineering from the University of Illinois, two years as a quality-control supervisor at Buick Aircraft, Engine Division and ten years as a quality-control foreman at Automatic Electric Company (id. 8-12). Stratton had also developed a small side business in designing and selling gauges, precision measuring instruments and tools (id. 13-14, 16). Shortly after joining Handy Button, Stratton took "special courses" in statistical quality control and a Dale Carnegie course "in how to get along with people and so forth" (id. 8-9).
Handy Button manufactures a variety of small metal stampings. As quality-control manager Stratton supervised the quality-control inspectors (id. 35). In 1969 he was promoted to technical director, a job that required him to supervise the quality-control manager and to deal directly with customers about quality-control problems (id. 36-37). Among his customers was Seaquist Valve ("Seaquist"), a purchaser of stampings for use in aerosol spray cans (id. 39).
During 1979-80 Handy Button moved its plant from Chicago to Melrose Park. Stratton was put in charge of the Chicago end of the move, supervising the "tearing down" of machinery for shipment to Melrose Park (id. 45-47). Once the move was complete Stratton moved to Melrose Park.
According to Handy Button President Lenard Baritz ("Baritz"), business was "unsatisfactory" and there was no longer a need for a technical director (Baritz Dep. 32-33). At the same time, maintenance foreman Bill Norrie ("Norrie") was also in charge of the tool room, and the combined maintenance-tool room job was "really too big" for one person (id.). Norrie was put in charge of the tool room, while Stratton was made maintenance foreman in charge of maintenance. Stratton was not considered for the tool-room job because he had no tool-room experience (id. 37-38), while his immediate supervisor, plant manager Dave Little ("Little"), believed he was qualified to supervise maintenance (id. 33) despite his lack of direct experience there as well.
Baritz and Little did not consider moving Stratton back to quality control because they thought the then quality-control manager, Ed Dauskurdas ("Dauskurdas"), was better at that job than Stratton had been (id. 35). Maintenance worker Ron Buck ("Buck") was also considered for the newly-configured maintenance-foreman job, but Baritz and Little chose Stratton because he was already in management and Handy Button had a "long history" of not laying off managers (id. 34). In addition Buck was a "top notch" maintenance man and was needed in that capacity (id.). Baritz Dep. 101 says of course he knew Stratton had no maintenance background, but he "felt" Stratton would be able to do a good job.
Stratton's technical-director job ceased to exist. Most of his former duties reverted to Dauskurdas, though Stratton continued to deal directly with some customers (Stratton Dep. 57). As maintenance foreman Stratton was responsible for the condition of all equipment and the building itself (id. 78, 85). In his view the job was primarily administrative, not technical (id. 100). His hourly employees were "experts" in their fields (id. 88), and his main role was to assign work, order parts, keep records and obtain necessary literature about the machinery (id. 82, 106). According to Buck, neither Norrie nor Stratton was very knowledgeable about maintenance, but while Norrie's style was to insist on having his way in the face of Buck's better-informed recommendations Stratton would generally defer to Buck's expertise (Buck Dep. 42-44).
Over a series of meetings in spring 1982, Handy Button Vice President Mervyn Mendel ("Mendel") and Little decided to take Stratton out of maintenance (Mendel Dep. 43). They didn't think Stratton was a good personnel supervisor (id. 56). In particular Mendel felt Stratton was derelict in his duty to review and sign the maintenance workers' daily work tickets, showing the amount of time each person spent on a particular maintenance project (id. 47). Mendel, who supervised Handy Button's timekeeping department, says company procedure "absolutely" required Stratton to review and sign all work tickets before they were turned in to the timekeeping staff (id. 103). Both Stratton and Buck testified to the contrary:
No written personnel procedures for supervisors existed at that time (Mendel Dep. 20).
Baritz points to two particular maintenance problems Stratton never solved but Buck managed to: installation of a new plating line (Baritz Dep. 43) and repairing leaks in the roof (id. 46). Baritz Dep. 43 says Buck used "in-house expertise" to do the electrical work. But Buck Dep. 34-35 says he had to hire an outside contractor to do the primary power wiring, at a cost of some $20,000. As to the roof, Stratton Dep. 102 says he tried fixing the leaks with tar, asphalt, sand and pebbles but recommended a full resurfacing to solve the problem completely. Baritz recalls Buck fixed the roof "at nominal expense" (Dep. 47). But again Buck Dep. 32-33 says he hired an outside contractor to resurface the roof for "around $50,000."
Another of Baritz' concerns was the maintenance employees' pulling of too much overtime during a period of business decline (Baritz Dep. 41). In his words the maintenance department was "falling apart" under Stratton's management (id. 40). Little told him the maintenance employees were in "rebellion" (id. 47), having lost confidence in Stratton because he didn't know what he was doing (id. 48).
But a number of the management's messages transmitted directly to Stratton were scarcely negative in nature (really an understatement). At weekly staff meetings Little often complimented Stratton's performance (Farr Aff. ¶ 3;3 Stratton Aff. ¶ 8). He also received merit-based bonuses in 1980 (for 1979 work) and 1982 (for 1981).4 Handy Button's annual bonuses were based on Mendel's and Little's recommendations, with Baritz having final say (Baritz Dep. 27). Each eligible employee received a slice of a total pie allocated from the year's profits (id.). Though the dollar amount of Stratton's bonuses was relatively small in relation to his salary — $1,300 for 1979 and $850 for 1981 (Int. No. 2) — those figures tied for third-highest among 25 staff members for 1979 and placed fourth among 16 plant supervisors for 1981 (Mendel Dep. Ex. 8 at 5; Int. No. 2).5 Stratton also received annual raises (which Baritz Dep. 20 says were "always based on work performance") of 5% in August 1980 and 9% in August 1981 (See Mendel Dep. Exs. 3, 9).6
Mendel and Little spent several months in 1982 "miserablizing" over Stratton (Mendel Dep. 63). Stratton made more money than most other supervisors, and Mendel (id.) says it was difficult to figure out "where we could put him that would be productive at his salary." Eventually Baritz, Mendel and Little created a new position, "director of special projects" (id. 54). In August 1982 Stratton was moved to that job and Buck was made maintenance foreman (Baritz Dep. Ex. 4). Stratton got the news from Little (Stratton Dep. 128):
As director of special projects Stratton initially had several tasks:
He was given a desk "in the aisle of the Engineering Department without even a telephone" from which to operate (Stratton Aff. ¶ 11).
Handy Button had a bad year in 1982. There had been a seven-week strike and a wage freeze, and the company lost "substantial money" (Baritz Dep. 96). At weekly staff meetings Little often said those over 62 "should retire" (Stratton Aff. ¶ 9) or "should consider retirement" (Farr Aff. ¶ 7).8 Though Stratton contends he accomplished much of what he was asked to do (speeding up the presses, pricing the molding machines, coordinating...
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