Woodward v. United Parcel Service, Inc.
| Decision Date | 28 January 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV.A.3:01-4747-17.,CIV.A.3:01-4747-17. |
| Citation | 306 F.Supp.2d 567 |
| Parties | Donald WOODWARD, Plaintiff, v. UNITED PARCEL SERVICE, INC., Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of South Carolina |
Herbert W. Louthian, Jr., Deborah R.J. Shupe, Louthian and Louthian, Columbia, SC, Virginia M. O'Leary, O'Leary and Associates, Oakland City, IN, Darlene Robinson, Oakland City, IN, for Plaintiff.
Susan Pedrick McWilliams, Nexsen, Pruet, Jacobs and Pollard, Columbia, SC, Frederick Skip Sugarman, Brian D. Edwards, Alston and Bird, Atlanta, GA, for Defendant.
ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
The plaintiff, Donald Woodward ("Woodward"), filed this action on December 13, 2001, alleging that United Postal Service, Inc. ("UPS") discriminated against him based on his race in violation of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1988, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e. Specifically, Woodward claims UPS discriminated against him in terms of pay and by failing to promote him. Furthermore, Woodward claims that the discrimination created a hostile work environment, that he was constructively discharged, and that he was retaliated against. After filing, the case was referred to Magistrate Judge Bristow Marchant for pretrial proceedings.
UPS filed for summary judgment on February 26, 2003. Judge Marchant issued a Report and Recommendation ("the Report") on August 29, 2003, recommending that UPS's motion for summary judgment be granted as to all claims. On September 15, 2003, Woodward filed objections to the Report arguing that UPS's motion should be denied as to the causes of action alleging discrimination in pay and promotion.1 UPS replied to Woodward's objections on October 1, 2003. In addition, at this court's request, both parties filed supplemental briefs on the statute of limitations issue on October 7, 2003.
On December 15, 2003, this court heard oral argument on UPS's motion for summary judgment. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court took the motion under advisement and requested that both sides submit draft orders by January 9, 2004. After reviewing the original and supplemental memoranda, hearing oral argument, and receiving and reviewing the draft orders, the court grants UPS's motion for summary judgment as to all remaining claims.
UPS operates a package pick-up and delivery service throughout the United States and the world. Its package operations are organized into approximately 60 separate districts, each of which is managed by a District Manager. Each district primarily consists of business units called package centers and hubs. Package centers deliver and pick up packages to and from customers. Hubs receive and sort packages from package centers and other hubs and then distribute packages to the appropriate UPS delivery facilities. Each package center is staffed at the full-time management level by one to five supervisors and one Center Manager. Usually, four to six package centers are grouped into a division, which is managed by a division manager. Hubs are larger than centers and are managed by supervisors, hub managers, and one division manager.
Each district is further subdivided into a full complement of support functions, such as Industrial Engineering ("IE"), Accounting, Human Resources ("HR"), and Automotive. Each of these divisions is staffed at the full-time management level by supervisors, managers, and one department manager. Division managers and department managers in a district are collectively referred to as "the district staff" and all report directly to the District Manager.
UPS has a formal career development process whereby UPS managers are responsible for evaluating the employees under their supervision and identifying candidates for promotion. In making these decisions, the district staff utilizes a process known as a Career Development Meeting, which is led by the District Manager and District HR Manager and attended by the district staff. During these meetings, the performance, skills, work history, educational background, and other characteristics of each of the supervisors and managers in the district are discussed. From this discussion, a list is compiled of candidates for promotion. When promotional opportunities become available, the District Manager refers to the list and determines who will be promoted within the district. The list is used until the next meeting.
For purposes of compensation, UPS's non-union employees are grouped into salary grades. Salaries vary within each salary grade. Generally, supervisors are in Grade 14, center managers in Grade 16, and division or department managers in Grade 18. Division or department managers calculate salary increases for each manager and supervisor in their respective business unit based upon the unit's budget, the employee's position in the salary range, the employee's job performance the preceding year, and the employee's overall contribution to UPS. The proposed salary increases are reviewed with the District HR Manager and approved by the District Manager and District Controller. Salaries are influenced by a variety of factors, including an employee's previous experience with the company, the length of time in the pay grade, the employee's business unit, previous relocations, job performance, prior salary freezes as disciplinary action, and the employees's previous position in a higher salary grade.
Woodward began his employment with UPS as Package Car Driver in 1986. From 1986 through 1996, Woodward worked in several Grade 14 supervisory positions in the Accounting Department in the South Carolina District. On July 1, 1996, Woodward was selected for promotion to one of two Grade 16 Accounting Manager positions in the Columbia Billing Site for the Southeast Region Finance and Accounting Department, which was independent of the South Carolina District. Approximately one year later, Woodward's Grade 16 position in the Columbia Billing Site was eliminated. Plaintiff was then offered a special assignment in the Corporate Finance and Accounting Department in Atlanta, Georgia, which he performed for several months. When this special assignment ended as a result of the work stoppage in August 1997, Woodward returned to Columbia. In February 1998, Woodward was laterally transferred to the position of District Assessor for the South Carolina District, which was in the IE Department. In June of 1999, Woodward was laterally transferred to the position of Training and Development manager in the HR Department.
In October 2000, Woodward was laterally transferred to an Operations position as a Hub Manager to gain Operations experience deemed necessary by his superiors for his advancement within the District. Woodward's performance in this position was unsatisfactory, and he was laterally transferred back to the District Assessor position in January 2001. On January 15, 2001, Woodward resigned.
Summary judgment is appropriate "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). It is well established that summary judgment should be granted "only when it is clear that there is no dispute concerning either the facts of the controversy or the inferences to be drawn from those facts." Pulliam Inv. Co. v. Cameo Properties, 810 F.2d 1282, 1286 (4th Cir.1987).
The party moving for summary judgment has the burden of showing the absence of a genuine issue of material fact, and the court must view the evidence before it and the inferences to be drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. United States v. Diebold, Inc., 369 U.S. 654, 655, 82 S.Ct. 993, 8 L.Ed.2d 176 (1962). When the defendant is the moving party and the plaintiff has the ultimate burden of proof on an issue, the defendant must identify the parts of the record that demonstrate the plaintiff lacks sufficient evidence. The nonmoving party, here the plaintiff, must then go beyond the pleadings and designate "specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e); see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).
A party "cannot create a genuine issue of material fact through mere speculation or the building of one inference upon another." Beale v. Hardy, 769 F.2d 213, 214 (4th Cir.1985). Therefore, "[m]ere unsupported speculation ... is not enough to defeat a summary judgment motion." Ennis v. National Ass'n of Bus. & Educ. Radio, Inc., 53 F.3d 55, 62 (4th Cir.1995).
Woodward's § 1981 claims are governed by the three-year statute of limitations period set forth in South Carolina Code § 15-3-530. See Love v. Alamance County Bd. of Educ., 757 F.2d 1504, 1506 n. 2 (4th Cir.1985). Because Woodward filed this action on December 13, 2001, in the absence of tolling, the limitations period for Woodward's claims under § 1981 extends back to December 14, 1998.
Under Title VII, in a deferral state such as South Carolina, a charge of discrimination must be filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") within 300 days of the alleged discrimination. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e)(1); EEOC v. Techalloy Md., Inc., 894 F.2d 676 (4th Cir.1990); Waiters v. Robert Bosch Corp., 683 F.2d 89, 90-91 (4th Cir.1982). Woodward filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC on September 11, 2001. Thus, in the absence of tolling, the limitations period applicable to Woodward's claims under Title VII extends back to November 16, 2000.
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