Stroehmann Bakeries, Inc. v. Local 776, Intern. Broth. of Teamsters
| Decision Date | 29 June 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 91-5261,91-5261 |
| Citation | 969 F.2d 1436 |
| Parties | 140 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2625, 59 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 249, 59 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 41,620, 61 USLW 2040, 122 Lab.Cas. P 10,252 STROEHMANN BAKERIES, INC., Appellee, v. LOCAL 776, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD of TEAMSTERS, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Ira H. Weinstock (argued), Law Office of Ira H. Weinstock, Harrisburg, Pa., for appellant.
Steven R. Wall (argued), Timothy P. O'Reilly, Catherine Reid, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellee.
Robert E. Williams, Douglas S. McDowell, Ann Elizabeth Reesman, McGuiness & Williams, Washington, D.C., for amicus curiae Equal Employment Advisory Council.
Present: BECKER, HUTCHINSON and SCIRICA, Circuit Judges.
Local 776 International Brotherhood of Teamsters (the Union), appeals an order of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania granting Stroehmann Bakeries, Incorporated (Stroehmann's) motion for summary judgment, denying the Union's cross-motion for summary judgment, vacating labor arbitrator John Sands' (Arbitrator Sands) award reinstating Samuel Leonard (Leonard), a former Stroehmann employee, with full back pay, and remanding the matter for a de novo hearing before a different arbitrator. See Stroehmann Bakeries, Inc. v. Local 777 Int'l Brotherhood of Teamsters, 762 F.Supp. 1187, 1190 (M.D.Pa.1991). Pursuant to a work rule, Stroehmann discharged Leonard for "immoral conduct" after a customer reported him for sexual harassment. Arbitrator Sands concluded Stroehmann had not given Leonard a full opportunity to refute the charge or explain his conduct and so reinstated him without deciding whether the charge of sexual harassment was true. See id. at 1188-90. The issues on appeal are whether the district court properly concluded that the arbitrator's award violated public policy and, if so, whether it properly vacated the award and remanded the matter to a different arbitrator.
We will affirm. Under the circumstances present here, an arbitrator's award reinstating an employee accused of sexual harassment without a determination regarding the merits of the allegation violates well-established and dominant public policies concerning sexual harassment in the workplace. Moreover, because Arbitrator Sands demonstrated an unacceptable predisposition towards Leonard and against Stroehmann, the district court did not abuse its discretion in ordering that another arbitrator should be appointed to conduct a de novo hearing on the merits of the allegations against Leonard.
On July 18, 1990, Stroehmann filed a complaint against the Union in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Stroehmann sought to vacate an award issued by Arbitrator Sands reinstating Leonard, a former Stroehmann employee. Stroehmann discharged Leonard after investigating and determining that he had sexually harassed a customer's employee. This conduct violated a company rule that prohibited immoral conduct while on duty. Stroehmann's complaint asserted that the award should be vacated because it violated a well-defined public policy against sexual harassment in the workplace.
On August 17, 1990, the Union filed an answer and a counterclaim. The counterclaim sought enforcement of the arbitration award.
On December 20, 1990, Stroehmann moved for summary judgment on its complaint and on the Union's counterclaim. The Union filed a cross motion for summary judgment on January 7, 1991 on all claims raised by both parties.
By order entered March 18, 1991, the district court granted Stroehmann's motion for summary judgment, denied the Union's cross-motion, vacated the arbitration award and remanded the matter for a de novo hearing before a different arbitrator. Id. at 1190. On April 4, 1991, the Union filed a timely notice of appeal from that order.
Stroehmann employed Leonard as a "store door" driver for about seventeen years. As a "store door" driver, Leonard was to deliver bread products to Stroehmann's customers, usually between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. On November 20, 1989, Stroehmann discharged Leonard for violating a company rule prohibiting immoral conduct while on duty.
The following events led to the discharge. On November 14, 1989, Ken Zimmerman (Zimmerman), the manager of Stauffer's, a Stroehmann customer store in Lititz, Pennsylvania, telephoned Bill Burns, a Stroehmann Key Account Manager, and said that he needed to speak with Steve Garrett (Garrett), Stroehmann's Harrisport Sales Activator, immediately. Garrett and Joe Jacobs (Jacobs), Stroehmann's Harrisport Branch Manager, returned Zimmerman's call later that day. Over the phone, Zimmerman told Garrett and Jacobs that a Stauffer night clerk, Kimberly Wiegand (Wiegand), told her mother that Leonard had sexually harassed her by touching one of her breasts without her consent, pushing himself against her and making explicit sexually charged remarks that were offensive to her while delivering bread to the store on November 12, 1989. Zimmerman learned of the alleged incident through a phone call from Wiegand's mother. Zimmerman said that, as a result of the alleged incident, he no longer wanted Leonard to deliver bread to Stauffer's.
Garrett and Jacobs telephoned Wiegand the same day. The two discussed the alleged incident with Wiegand over a speaker phone. They prepared a report of this conversation, which Wiegand signed two months later. According to the report, after Wiegand let Leonard into the closed store to make a delivery, he told her that he had just had a conversation on his citizen's band radio with two girls about an orgy and that he was excited about the conversation. Wiegand then asked Leonard if he was married. He said that he was. Leonard then added that he had engaged in extramarital sexual intercourse in the past, but that presently he just wanted to feel other women because he was afraid of contracting AIDS. After unloading his delivery, Leonard picked up an orange and asked Wiegand if her breasts were hard like the orange. Leonard attempted to pull up Wiegand's shirt and she resisted. At that point, Wiegand walked to the front of the store to see if the other night employee had arrived and Leonard followed her. When she discovered that the other employee had not yet arrived, Wiegand began walking to the back of the store. Leonard was then in front of Wiegand and told her he knew she was following him so she could "look at [his] ass." Appendix (App.) at 124. Wiegand replied that she was following him in order to let him out of the store and make sure that the door was locked behind him. Then, Leonard moved behind Wiegand and reached around her and grabbed her breasts. She resisted and held the door open for Leonard to leave. Leonard asked if Wiegand was trying to get rid of him, and then told her not to tell her father about the incident because he did not want to jeopardize his friendship with her father. Leonard then left and Wiegand locked the door. Garrett and Jacobs observed that Wiegand was emotionally upset and sobbed during their conversation.
The following day, November 15, 1989, Jacobs telephoned Leonard and asked him to come in to discuss a problem. Leonard asked if he should bring a Union representative and Jacobs told him it was up to him. Leonard arrived at Jacob's office alone. Jacobs, Garrett and Paul Blair (Blair), Leonard's supervisor, presented Leonard with Zimmerman and Wiegand's comments. Jacobs said Leonard denied the allegations, stated that Wiegand was "wacko", and that he would not have done something to jeopardize his marriage. App. at 126. Leonard signed a written statement that Jacobs prepared documenting these responses. He also stated that the allegation concerning the citizen's band radio must have been a lie because his was broken. This comment was not included in the written statement. Although Leonard invited the men to come outside and observe the broken radio, they did not do so. On the written statement Jacobs wrote that Leonard was suspended pending further investigation of the alleged incident.
Jacobs discussed the matter with his superiors and Stroehmann's attorney over the next few days. He also met with Zimmerman on November 17, 1989 to again discuss the matter with him.
On November 20, 1989, Jacobs telephoned Leonard and informed him that he was discharged for violation of a company rule prohibiting immoral conduct while on duty. Immoral conduct is considered a "major offense" which subjects the offender to immediate discharge under longstanding written Stroehmann policy. At that time, Leonard told Jacobs that Wiegand had made unreciprocated sexual advances towards him and that he had rejected them.
Leonard filed a grievance over the discharge pursuant to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (Agreement) between Stroehmann and the Union. 1 In the Agreement, Stroehmann promised it would "exercise the power of discipline and discharge fairly and with regard for the reasonable rights of the employees." App. at 10. The Agreement went on to say "[a]ny employee who has been disciplined or discharged for any reason shall have the right to a hearing under the grievance and arbitration provisions" of the Agreement. Id.
Leonard's grievance went to arbitration and an arbitration hearing was held on March 29, 1990 on the question; Was there just cause for Leonard's discharge, and if not, what shall the remedy be? The arbitrator expressly refused to find whether the alleged sexual harassment occurred. Instead, he found that Stroehmann had insufficiently investigated the alleged incident before discharging Leonard. Based solely on this finding, he determined that Leonard was not discharged for just cause and ordered his reinstatement with full back pay less interim earnings.
The arbitrator did not reach a conclusion concerning...
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