Truskoski v. ESPN, Inc., Civ. No. 2:90cv00059 (PCD).

• Decision Date: 26 April 1993
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 2:90cv00059 (PCD).
• Citation: 823 F. Supp. 1007
• Parties: Elaine TRUSKOSKI v. ESPN, INC.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut

823 F. Supp. 1007

Elaine TRUSKOSKI v. ESPN, INC.

Civ. No. 2:90cv00059 (PCD).

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

April 26, 1993.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Joseph D. Garrison, and Gary E. Phelan, Garrison & Arterton, New Haven, CT, for plaintiff.

Marcia K. Keegan, and William J. Doyle, Wiggin & Dana, Robert B. Hempstead, Donahue and Hempstead, Hartford, CT, Philip L. Steele, Hartford, CT, for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

DORSEY, District Judge.

Plaintiff was employed by defendant from 1982 to 1987, during which she advanced to Executive Secretary II, and worked for Mr. Connal. Connal was demoted and ultimately terminated. When he was demoted, her grade was reduced. She continued as his secretary until he was terminated. She was then required to find another position, failing which she was terminated. She claims that the failure and refusal to place her in available positions and her termination were retaliation for her complaint about the grade reduction policy. She seeks back pay, compensation for lost benefits, front pay, reinstatement, punitive damages and attorney fees.

I. Facts

1) Plaintiff was temporarily employed by defendant in 1981.

2) She was hired full time in 1982. Thereafter she was successively promoted and increased in salary reflective of her performance which was always graded highly. Exs. 8, 11, 38.

3) Job grades were correlated to permissible salary ranges.

4) In September 1984, she became Executive Secretary II to Connal, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Substantial qualification and responsibility were required. She was a grade 9 with a salary range of $15,484 to $26,000. With a merit raise, plaintiff was paid $17,365.

5) As of September 1986, plaintiff's salary was $20,412.

6) Connal was eased out and his job ended in early 1987.

7) Without notice, plaintiff was regraded an 8, the grade of all Vice-President's secretaries, without loss of salary.

8) Defendant pegged the grade of secretaries to the level in the company hierarchy of the person for whom they worked.

9) Plaintiff has, and does, contend that, by reducing her grade, she was demoted without regard to her performance. She was removed from the office where she had worked for Connal and enjoyed an executive level secretary's perks. Notwithstanding Connal's demotion, he and plaintiff continued to perform many of their prior duties until he was terminated and her position was eliminated. Connal's termination was regarded as confidential until it was announced in early 1987. Until then plaintiff was precluded from seeking other jobs.

10) Plaintiff filed a claim of discrimination with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), claiming that the lowering of a secretary's grade coincident to a demotion of her boss, without regard to her performance, applied only to jobs held by females and thereby discriminated against them. For doing so, she claims ESPN retaliated.

11) EEOC issued a right to sue letter. Plaintiff sued.

12) The parties later stipulated that such downgrading would be terminated and the complaint was withdrawn.

13) Mr. Farley, defendant's Director of Human Resources, advised plaintiff that unless, by April 24, 1987, she had found another company position, she would be terminated.

14) There was no articulated derogation of plaintiff for her criticism of defendant's policy of secretarial grading.

15) There was no evidence of any instruction or articulation by defendant that caused a failure to offer plaintiff a job.

16) Grading, with attendant salary ranges, standardizes salaries for employees in comparable jobs. Salaries occasionally exceeded the ranges. A downward grade change reduces potential salary increments, even when caused by a change in position. Ex. 39.

17) Plaintiff attached significance to her grade beyond the monetary considerations and was quoted as focusing in part on the prestige, the aura, the perks, the posture in the work place, and the intangibles of higher grades. She argues that the practice of grade reduction was discriminatory on the part of defendant.

18) Mr. Scanlon, on or before March 16, 1987, offered plaintiff either of two secretarial positions, one at grade 7, the other at grade 6. Less skill and responsibility were required in both jobs. Plaintiff did not accept the offer to be Scanlon's secretary because it was a grade 7. Though no loss of salary resulted, increases would have been restricted to the lower grade range. Her concern with status may have clouded the issue. No effort was made to clarify her concern over her grade or the practice which was noted by Kemmler as at least causing bad public relations. That view, voiced to Farley, clearly implicated an impact of a practice not just on plaintiff and with overtones of discrimination. Defendant's employment of male secretaries was suggested but none was identified. See Ex. 32.

19) Scanlon conceded that plaintiff's "rejection" of the job, initially, was followed by an acceptance which he rejected as lacking commitment and due to a purported sense that plaintiff was not reliable in keeping confidences. His claim that Connal's knowledge that plaintiff was being considered to be Scanlon's secretary reflected her leaking confidential information is absurd. Plaintiff functioned as Scanlon's secretary, in part until March 27, 1987. The suggestion that Scanlon needed authorization to offer plaintiff a position is not credited. An outside applicant was hired as Scanlon's secretary.

20) A position as Coordinator, International Sales was created. Plaintiff purportedly was considered. See defendant's TPO compliance, Part D, ? A-2, ?? 25-27, 93-96; see ? 97. Per Colleen Murphy, the job was committed to Ms. Deckert. Plaintiff was neither considered nor interviewed for qualification, contrary to Farley's contentions and ESPN policies to interview all qualified candidates, to hire based on qualification, to encourage career growth of employees by advancing to more skilled and rewarding jobs, and to hire from within where possible.

21) Plaintiff was offered a staff secretaryship in the legal department. She did not immediately accept it to explore other opportunities. On March 27, 1987, she announced a willingness to accept the job but it was then claimed to be no longer available, a dubious claim in view of contrary evidence from Farley. A Ms. Schumacher, who demanded, and received, more money than had been offered, was hired. Plaintiff was not assured that the job would be kept open. On March 31 a legal secretaryship was posted but was filled by an outside applicant with less, or certainly no better, qualification, contrary to ESPN policies. Another legal position came open while plaintiff was on vacation, but she was not informed, interviewed or considered though then on record as being interested. An outside applicant was hired.

22) The suggestion that plaintiff's trustworthiness was in doubt is not credited. No substantiation was offered and the testimony concerning same lacks merit. But one source for the doubt was cited without corroboration or confirmation. Kemmler had no legitimate basis to be so concerned. In none of plaintiff's work had this been questioned previously. She recorded the confidential negotiation of Connal's reassignment and termination without compromise. Kemmler's reliance on her preference for another department over legal pales against the different treatment of a Ms. Culos in comparable circumstances.

23) None of the asserted grounds for not placing plaintiff in open positions was articulated to Farley or to Conway who claims that all reasonable efforts to place plaintiff were made. The potential of other jobs, see memorandum of 4/7/87, Ex. B, and ? 119 of part D, TPO compliance, was unexplained. The intervention of Grimes, ? 7, memo of 3/27/87, Ex. B, was unexplained as was his direction "to move plaintiff out earlier."

24) A secretarial position in Remote Productions opened in April 1987. Plaintiff was interviewed but the job was given to an employee with less experience but purportedly more enthusiasm. It was suggested that plaintiff was overqualified. Actually Mr. Anderson had two job openings, replacement of his secretary and a staff secretary at grade 7. Though professing interest in plaintiff, the failure to appoint her was explained by the filling of the first job, with no apparent consideration of her while making available only an "entry-level" job. Once again she is claimed to have refused the job as beneath her, but when it was accepted, she was refused it for want of genuine interest. It was given to Ms. Lacombe who had less experience and skills. Exs. BB, QQQQ. The justification, that typing was less involved, is not credited in view of the job description, Ex. BBB, and Anderson's inconsistent testimony. Plaintiff's alleged want of enthusiasm is not credited as a reasonable basis for excluding her. Her job attitude was universally described as positive. The claim that her qualifications were compared to the hiree, Tr. 207-08, is not credited because the choice is illogical in that respect.

25) An executive secretary for Mr. Bornstein, involving some commuting to New York, opened in late March. It was posted but not discussed with plaintiff, who had traveled in prior jobs. Plaintiff did not apply, though the job was posted. She could not have refrained from applying because the appointee had been "pre-selected" since she did not learn of the "pre-selection" until later. Plaintiff's TPO compliance, Part D, answer to ? 139. Bornstein's disclaimer of plaintiff's availability for this job is not credited. Contrast Defendant's Part D, TPO compliance, ??s 136 and 141, along with his professed effort to encourage her placement. His favorable impression of her work, positively contrasted by Connal with the hiree, does not square with the failure to consider her for...