Weiss v. Parker Hannifan Corp.

Decision Date26 September 1990
Docket NumberCiv. A. No. 85-5836(JFG).
Citation747 F. Supp. 1118
PartiesLeon WEISS and Timothy Engel, Plaintiffs, v. PARKER HANNIFAN CORPORATION, Defendant.
CourtU.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

Bruce G. Cassidy, Desaretz & Cassidy, Haddonfield, N.J., for plaintiff Leon Weiss.

Barry F. Penn, Cherry Hill, N.J., for plaintiff Timothy Engel.

Bruce G. Hearey, Nancy A. Shaw, Spieth, Bell, McCurdy & Newell, Cleveland, Ohio, Wendy L. Mager, Smith, Stratton, Wise, Heher & Brennan, Princeton, N.J., for defendant Parker Hannifan Corp.

OPINION

GERRY, Chief Judge.

The plaintiffs, Leon Weiss and Timothy Engel, brought this suit against the defendant, the Parker Hannifan Corporation, for claims of employment discrimination under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 et seq. Weiss has brought a claim involving his failure to receive a promotion allegedly due to his religion. Both plaintiffs allege that their employment was terminated by Parker Hannifan in retaliation for their complaints about or opposition to the prior alleged discrimination against Weiss. The plaintiffs seek damages for back pay and front pay, as well as punitive damages.

The case was tried before the court on May 14-17, 1990, and the court now issues its findings of fact and conclusions of law.

I. FINDINGS OF FACT

Weiss and Engel were employed as warehousemen by Parker Hannifan at the defendant's distribution service center in Trenton, New Jersey at all times relevant to this case. Weiss, who is Jewish, began working at the warehouse in March 1982 as a temporary employee, and he became a full time Parker Hannifan employee in September 1982. Engel began working at the warehouse in October 1983. From 1982 until the time of his termination in 1985, Weiss was the only Jewish warehouseman in the defendant's Trenton facility.

Parker Hannifan is an Ohio corporation that manufactures original components and replacement parts for hydraulic and pneumatic systems used in the industrial, automotive, aerospace, marine and medical fields. Parker Hannifan's Trenton facility is the largest of a network of distribution service centers which supply the defendant's products to distributors who in turn sell them to the ultimate users. The functions performed at the distribution service centers include warehousing, hose fabricating and shipping. A manager runs each distribution service center, and he is the highest level employee at each respective center. The manager reports directly to Parker Hannifan's manager of physical distribution in Cleveland, Ohio. During the relevant period, Thomas Dickerson was the manager of physical distribution.

A leadperson or group leader reports to the distribution center manager, and the leadperson is responsible for distributing orders, routing freight and assigning employees to the various tasks in the warehouse. He also arranges for temporary employees and schedules overtime, subject to the manager's approval. The leadperson is a warehouse employee, and he received a 25 cents per hour salary premium at the time relevant to this case. Although the leadperson has the authority to assign tasks and oversee work, he does not have the authority to hire, fire or otherwise discipline employees. While there is a designated person in charge of the hose fabrication shop in the warehouse, the leadperson still generally oversaw the hose fabrication work during the relevant period.

When Weiss began working at Parker Hannifan, Keith Fennell was the distribution service center manager. Sometime in early 1984, Fred Schmidt became the leadperson at the Trenton center. Schmidt was selected for the job over Weiss. Schmidt had been a full time Parker Hannifan employee longer than Weiss, although Weiss actually began working in the Trenton facility as a temporary employee before Schmidt was hired. With the exception of Schmidt, Weiss was the senior warehouseman in Trenton throughout the relevant period. During 1984 and early 1985, Weiss trained most or all of the new warehousemen, including Engel and Robin MacNeal. When Schmidt or the prior leadperson was away from the facility, Weiss was the acting leadperson, and he assumed all of the responsibilities of that position. Prior to February 1985, MacNeal never served as leadperson, even on a temporary basis.

At the Trenton distribution service center, the hose fabrication shop operated independently of the other warehouse functions. In the hose fabrication unit, components were put together into hose assemblies and shipped to customers. In contrast, the warehouse merely stored the components, and the parts were shipped to customers who would fabricate the hose assemblies themselves. While the workers in the hose fabrication shop were technically warehousemen, they worked separately from the employees doing the general warehousing functions of receiving, packaging and shipping orders. Throughout the relevant time, one employee was designated the coordinator of the hose fabrication unit, and he was under the general authority of the warehouse leadperson. The employees who were assigned to the general warehousing function often worked in the hose fabrication shop when there were many orders to fill or if there was a shortage of manpower for some reason.

While they were never full time hose fabrication employees, Weiss and Engel worked in the hose fabrication unit occasionally, and they both could do all of the tasks expected of a hose fabrication employee. Weiss even had experience in all of the responsibilities of the hose fabrication coordinator while he worked at Parker Hannifan. When the hose fabrication shop opened at the Trenton facility, Schmidt was the first hose fabrication coordinator. After Schmidt's promotion to leadperson in 1984, MacNeal became the hose fabrication coordinator. While MacNeal was in charge of the hose fabrication shop, various hose assemblies were returned to the defendant from unsatisfied customers. There was testimony that some orders would be returned to the shop and even the warehouse itself due to customer complaints no matter who was in charge at the time the orders were filled, although Schmidt testified that an unusually large number of orders were returned to the hose fabrication unit once MacNeal became the coordinator.

In September 1984, George Altmeyer replaced Fennell as manager of the distribution service center. Prior to his assignment in Trenton, Altmeyer had been the distribution service center manager at the defendant's facility in Atlanta, Georgia. Dickerson, the manager of physical distribution, moved Altmeyer from Atlanta to Trenton because Altmeyer was the defendant's "best" manager in Dickerson's estimation and because the Trenton facility had become Parker Hannifan's largest distribution service center. Until late November 1984, Altmeyer spent half of his time in the Trenton facility and the other half in Atlanta making preparations to move his family and himself to New Jersey. Altmeyer began working full time in the Trenton warehouse around the beginning of December 1984.

In January 1985, Schmidt accepted a sales position with Parker Hannifan, so he left his job as warehouse leadperson. Under an understanding he had with the defendant's regional sales manager, Schmidt did not tell any of his fellow employees that he would be leaving his position as leadperson until after an official announcement was made in late January 1985. In order to fill the leadperson vacancy, Altmeyer interviewed Weiss, Engel and MacNeal, as well as Jerry Lawton, another warehouseman. Altmeyer conducted the interviews after Schmidt had expressed concern to Altmeyer about rumors that MacNeal had already been selected as leadperson. In fact, MacNeal confirmed at trial that he had told Schmidt that Altmeyer had offered him the promotion prior to the interviews. Altmeyer testified that he did not discuss the promotion with any candidates before the interviews. Schmidt told Altmeyer that Weiss was the most qualified person for the job of leadperson in his opinion, but Altmeyer testified that he gave Schmidt's recommendation little weight.

During their interviews, each candidate expressed an interest in the position of leadperson, although MacNeal initially expressed some reluctance due to the added responsibility. Engel told Altmeyer that he wanted the promotion but that Weiss was better qualified to be leadperson. MacNeal testified that Weiss knew the warehousing function better than he did since MacNeal had worked mainly in the hose fabrication shop. In addition to the interviews, Altmeyer looked at Weiss's and MacNeal's personnel files. Following his review of the candidates' qualifications, Altmeyer chose MacNeal for the position of leadperson, and he announced his decision at a meeting of the distribution service center employees on Monday, February 4, 1985. MacNeal is not Jewish. Altmeyer told MacNeal that he had received the promotion on the prior Friday, February 1.

Altmeyer testified that he used three criteria to decide who would receive the position as leadperson. First, he testified that he considered the candidates' attendance records. During 1984 and January 1985, MacNeal missed less work than the other three candidates. In that time, MacNeal worked an average of 49.84 hours per week, while Weiss worked 48.71 hours per week. Altmeyer testified that the leadperson had to be present in the warehouse during normal business hours (i.e., not overtime) in order to be effective and that MacNeal had better attendance during those hours than Weiss. Presence during normal business hours is important because trucks arrive to deliver and to take away shipments and customers contact the warehouse only during those hours. Weiss had to leave work unexpectedly and urgently on a few occasions in order to take care of his daughter, Rachel, who suffers from an idiopathic seizure disorder. Rachel was three or...

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