Tidwell v. Meyer's Bakeries, Inc.

• Decision Date: 21 August 1996
• Docket Number: Nos. 95-3506,95-3507,s. 95-3506
• Citation: 93 F.3d 490
• Parties: 71 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1284, 69 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,302 Henry N. TIDWELL; Herman L. Muldrow, Appellees, v. MEYER'S BAKERIES, INC., Appellant. Henry N. TIDWELL, Appellant, Herman L. Muldrow, Plaintiff, v. MEYER'S BAKERIES, INC., Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 490

93 F.3d 490

71 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1284,

69 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,302

Henry N. TIDWELL; Herman L. Muldrow, Appellees, v. MEYER'S BAKERIES, INC., Appellant.

Henry N. TIDWELL, Appellant, Herman L. Muldrow, Plaintiff, v. MEYER'S BAKERIES, INC., Appellee.

Nos. 95-3506, 95-3507.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted April 10, 1996.

Decided Aug. 21, 1996.

Kathlyn G. Graves, Little Rock, Arkansas (argued), for appellant.

Ned A. Stewart, Jr., Texarkana, Arkansas (argued), for appellee.

Before MAGILL, Circuit Judge, HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge, and LOKEN, Circuit Judge.

MAGILL, Circuit Judge.

Henry N. Tidwell, an African-American, worked as a production supervisor at Meyer's Bakeries, Inc. Following a work schedule change that Tidwell perceived to be a demotion, he quit his job. Shortly thereafter, he brought suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2, and under the Civil Rights Act of 1991, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, against Meyer's, claiming that Meyer's' employment practices were racially discriminatory and resulted in his constructive discharge.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of Tidwell and awarded him $34,470 in back pay. The district court, through a subsequent order, awarded Tidwell front pay and attorney's fees. On appeal, Meyer's challenges the verdict, claiming that as a matter of law there was insufficient evidence upon which the jury could conclude that its working environment was so intolerable that it compelled Tidwell to quit. Tidwell cross-appeals, challenging the district court's calculation of front pay damages and attorney's fees. We agree with Meyer's and reverse.

I.

Meyer's Bakeries, Inc. is a family-owned business based in Little Rock, Arkansas. It produces bread products which are sold to customers throughout the United States. Meyer's' customers repackage the products and sell them under various private labels. Meyer's provides English muffins to McDonald's Restaurants and English muffins and bread sticks to Sam's Club. III Trial Tr. at 579.

Meyer's has a baking facility located in Hope, Arkansas, that produces English muffins, bread, and "brown and serve" rolls. The Hope bakery is divided into five departments, one of which is production. As the name suggests, the production department mixes the dough, operates the ovens, and oversees the packaging of the finished product. The production department at the Hope bakery is divided into three operations that correspond to the three products baked there: muffins, bread and "Lanham." The Lanham operation produces the "brown and serve" rolls.

Each production line has a shop division and a wrap division, each with a supervisor. The shop supervisor works at the beginning of the production line, overseeing the mixing of the dough and generally ensuring that the dough moves smoothly onto the baking line. The wrap supervisor works at the end of the production line where the finished product is packaged and boxed. Generally, shop and wrap supervisors on each line are paired together, sharing the same work schedule.

Operating at a normal production rate, Meyer's has one Lanham shift per day. During the "rush" periods in the months leading up to Christmas and Easter, Meyer's will run up to four Lanham shifts each day. The Christmas rush begins in August and lasts for approximately three months.

Because of the surge in personnel needs during rush periods, Meyer's typically rearranges employee schedules. Some supervisors are switched to different shifts and temporary supervisors are assigned to fill the empty slots. The assistant plant manager, Mike Nelson, made staffing decisions for production supervisors. IV Trial Tr. at 635.

From 1991 to 1993, over fifty percent of the production workers in Hope were African-American. Out of the twelve production supervisors in Hope in 1987, four were African-American. By 1993, the number of production supervisors had increased to eighteen of which eight were African-Americans. Few African-Americans occupied management positions above the level of production supervisor, however.

Tidwell was employed by Meyer's on a full-time basis in the production department of the Hope bakery from October 27, 1978 until September 25, 1993. For the first eight years of his employment, Tidwell worked as a production worker, spending time on all three production lines. In June 1986, Tidwell worked as a temporary wrap supervisor for first shift Lanham. After Christmas rush, Tidwell became a full-time production supervisor. As a production supervisor, Tidwell changed shift and line with some regularity.

Initially, Tidwell was assigned as the wrap supervisor of second shift muffins. When the 1987 Christmas rush season began, Tidwell was sent to first shift Lanham, where he had been stationed the prior year. After the 1987 Christmas rush period was over, Tidwell went back to second shift muffins. He went back to first shift Lanham during the 1988 Christmas rush and remained there through the 1989 Christmas rush period. He then went back to second shift muffins and, in addition, he began filling in for other supervisors on vacation and wherever he was needed. David Overstreet, a white production worker who had been promoted to production supervisor earlier that year, replaced Tidwell as first shift Lanham wrap supervisor.

When the 1990 Christmas rush began, Tidwell was assigned to second shift Lanham and, after the rush, he went back to second shift muffins. Again in 1991 he worked second shift Lanham and returned to supervising the muffin line following Christmas rush. Prior to the start of the 1992 rush, Tidwell told the production manager that he preferred to remain with second shift muffins and wanted to avoid second shift Lanham during the Christmas rush period because he disliked supervising the untrained workers on second shift Lanham. II Trial Tr. at 134. After Overstreet left Meyer's, the production manager told Tidwell that he would be given his choice of shifts if he agreed to return to the Lanham line. Tidwell agreed and chose to serve as first shift Lanham wrap supervisor. After the 1992 Christmas rush, Tidwell remained on first shift Lanham as the wrap supervisor until August 22, 1993.

During this period, Mike Bishop, an African-American assistant production superintendent, told Tidwell that the bakery would be hiring a new assistant production superintendent and that he had recommended Tidwell and Mark Smithers, a white production supervisor, for the job. ¹ Bishop also allegedly told Tidwell that he thought that Tidwell would not be selected because Meyer's would not want two African-American assistant production superintendents at the Hope bakery. ²

At the time Meyer's was considering who to promote, Smithers was already serving as a temporary assistant production superintendent. IV Trial Tr. at 713. Still, Tidwell believed he and Smithers were equally qualified candidates. Meyer's offered Smithers the job. ³ When Tidwell congratulated Smithers on the promotion, Smithers told him that "Lanham is yours so long as you are with the company." II Trial Tr. at 150. Tidwell understood Smithers to mean that he would be the permanent, first shift Lanham wrap supervisor.

In August 1993, four supervisory positions were eliminated in a downsizing which resulted in a reassignment of supervisors. Under the new schedule, no wrap supervisor was assigned to any particular department. Tidwell was assigned to work "relief" along with three other wrap supervisors, filling various time slots and production lines as needed.

On September 25, 1993, Meyer's announced a new schedule to take effect the next day. Tidwell was removed from the all wrap supervisor schedule and assigned to serve as second shift Lanham wrap supervisor. According to the assistant plant manager, Tidwell was assigned to be one of the two second shift Lanham supervisors because Meyer's wanted to pair experienced wrap supervisors, in this case Tidwell, with inexperienced shop supervisors.

Tidwell was upset with the new schedule. Another supervisor, Charles Scisson, questioned the production superintendent, Red Rosenbaum, regarding whether the schedule was accurate. After Rosenbaum determined that the schedule was, in fact, accurate and was to be worked, Tidwell "got up and walked out." II Trial Tr. at 279.

Tidwell testified that he was upset with the newest schedule for several reasons. First, he felt that Smithers had broken a promise to allow Tidwell to stay with first shift Lanham. As Tidwell testified, "when Mr. Smithers got his promotion [he told me] that Lanham was mine as long as I was with the company." Second, Tidwell testified that he did not want to supervise second shift production workers, who tended to be less experienced or less motivated. Third, he believed that this "demotion" to the second shift represented another example of Meyer's' discriminatory employment practices. ⁴ On the September 26, 1993 schedule, Charlotte Bobo, a white supervisor, was assigned first shift Lanham wrap supervisor. Bobo had less experience than Tidwell and he viewed her assignment to first shift Lanham wrap supervisor as a promotion of a white employee over a more qualified African-American employee.

Tidwell never inquired as to the reasons for Bobo being placed on first shift Lanham nor did he inform anyone in management that he believed that he had been promised an assignment to that shift as long as he worked for the company or that he believed he had been denied the shift assignment because of his race.

After walking off the job on September 25, 1993, Tidwell had no further contact with Meyer's. On October 27, 1993, he filed a second charge of discrimination against Meyer's with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC refused to take action itself, but issued a right to sue letter. Tidwell filed suit in federal court on March 7, 1994, alleging unlawful race...