United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division
STEPHANIE DAWKINS DAVIS MAGISTRATE JUDGE
OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR
SUMMARY JUDGMENT [35]
LAURIE
J. MICHELSON UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Irma
Golden was earning more than $55, 000 when she left her job
at the UAW-Chrysler National Training Center
(“NTC”) on May 31, 2017. She had worked at the
organization for more than a quarter of a century in a
variety of support-staff positions.
Golden
did not leave on the best terms. During the preceding decade,
she had complained to superiors that she was underpaid. And
closer to her departure, she had lost some of her job
responsibilities and had been assigned tasks that she found
to be menial. These changes, according to Golden, amounted to
a constructive discharge, giving her no choice but to quit.
Golden
then sued the NTC. She alleges that the NTC discriminated
against her based on age and sex and retaliated against her
for engaging in protected activity. In particular, Golden
argues that the NTC unlawfully paid her less than two
similarly situated coworkers, Alfred Jones and Michelle
Adams. The NTC moved for summary judgment, arguing that
Golden cannot establish any of her claims.
For the
reasons described below, the Court will grant the NTC's
motion.
I.
The
NTC, an organization jointly operated by UAW and Fiat
Chrysler Automobiles, “provide[s] joint programs for
the benefit of UAW-represented workers at FCA and provides
extensive training to FCA employees represented by the
UAW.” (ECF No. 36-1, PageID.227- 228.)
The
specifics of Golden's role are central to this case, so
the Court will discuss them in some detail. Golden, who holds
a bachelor's degree, first joined the NTC as a security
guard in 1990. (ECF No. 36-1, PageID.239; ECF No. 36-6,
PageID.663.) Within several months, she moved to the
organization's professional support staff. (Id.)
Over the subsequent 26 years, in the roles of communication
specialist and then training specialist, Golden had many job
responsibilities. She worked on numerous conferences and
trainings, such as the women's committee program and the
employee assistance program, and coordinated a March of Dimes
event. (ECF No. 36-6, PageID.682-684.) According to Golden,
her functions included planning the agendas, arranging
audiovisual technology, and registering participants. (ECF
No. 36-6, PageID.686-687.) Eventually, she also became
responsible for entering information into a database to track
the list of training participants. (ECF No. 36-6,
PageID.691-694.) The number of trainings dwindled, though, in
the aftermath of Chrysler's 2009 bankruptcy and lack of
new hires. (ECF No. 36-4, PageID.489-490; ECF No. 36-9,
PageID.1062-1063.)
Position
data questionnaires from three separate points during
Golden's NTC career shed light on her job
responsibilities. Golden's 1997 and 2005 questionnaires
listed her title as “Training Specialist.” (ECF
No. 36-8, PageID.976; ECF No. 36-19, PageID.1198.) The 1997
report described her principal role as providing
“on-going technical expertise and assistance for the
development and implementation of NTC education and training
programs, ” which included “involvement with
conferences, in-service training, small group sessions, and
other activities.” (ECF No. 36-19, PageID.1198-1200.)
Golden's duties ranged from planning the agendas of the
trainings to taking group pictures. (Id.) Her 2005
questionnaire summarized her position in roughly the same
manner. (ECF No. 36-8, PageID.976-977.) One new addition was
that she had become the program support administrator of
TEDS, a “database designed to catalog and track NTC
sponsored training.” (Id.)
By 2015
Golden's title had changed slightly to “Training
Specialist/[Learning Management System] Administrator.”
(ECF No. 36-7, PageID.969-974.) Golden estimated that she
spent 60 percent of her time delivering trainings and
developing training materials for various programs.
(Id.) She worked the remainder of the time providing
“[a]dmin responsibilities” for the Learning
Management System (which tracked participant attendance),
entering the information of program attendees into the
ToolingU database, and assisting in research for other
trainings. (Id.) The questionnaire confirmed that
she had no budgetary duties or supervisory responsibilities.
(Id.)
At some
point in 2015, higher-ups at the NTC removed Golden from
trainings that included solely UAW workers. (ECF No. 36-5,
PageID.560-573.) For trainings such as UAW new-hire
orientations, the sessions became facilitated by so-called
Special Assigned and International Reps-FCA or UAW employees,
respectively, who had been assigned temporarily to the NTC.
(Id.) But as long as the training included some
non-union employees, such as members of management, Golden
continued to conduct the trainings as usual. (Id.)
According to Delrico Loyd, who administered the training
programs on behalf of UAW, this change aligned with the UAW
philosophy that its members should be trained by
UAW-appointed trainers, a group that did not include Golden.
(ECF No. 36-5, PageID.535-536, 564-565.)
Golden
was displeased by this change. On July 23, 2015, she sent an
email to both Loyd and Helen Smith, Loyd's counterpart
from the FCA side. Golden was “seeking explanation,
” she wrote, after learning that her “assignment
to conduct the Diversity series training for New Hire
Orientation has been eliminated without notification.”
(ECF No. 38-8, PageID.1289-1290.) In response, Scott advised
Golden to discuss the matter with her direct supervisor,
Lamar Harris. (Id.) When Harris then met with
Golden, he assured her that he would “get to the bottom
of it.” (ECF No. 36-6, PageID.149.) When the two spoke
several months later and nothing had happened, Golden decided
to “just let it go.” (Id.)
Around
this time, Golden also was assigned to duties that she
describes as “menial.” (ECF No. 38, PageID.1240.)
When she worked at the all-UAW training sessions, she
provided support for the trainers rather than doing the
trainings herself. (ECF No. 36-6, PageID.810.) For instance,
Golden advanced the presenters' slides and checked
whether the microphones had batteries. (Id.) At one
weeklong conference, she sat in the back of the room and
occasionally made photocopies or poured coffee for people.
(ECF No. 36-6, PageID.812-813.) She also was invited to fewer
staff meetings. (ECF No. 36-6, PageID.792-794.) But she
continued to conduct various other trainings, including the
employee assistance program and workplace violence program,
as well as organizing the March of Dimes event. (ECF No.
36-6, PageID.802.)
In
addition to Golden's frustration with her role, there
also was the issue of her compensation. At several meetings
from 2007 until her departure, she expressed to managers that
she desired a larger paycheck. (ECF No. 36-2, PageID.266-269;
ECF No. 36-4, PageID.411-414; ECF No. 36-5, PageID.553-556;
ECF No. 36-6, PageID.735-736, 848-850.) As the record shows,
the NTC's system for establishing wages was not simple.
The board of the NTC, which controlled Golden's pay, had
a system involving a third-party evaluator to set
compensation ranges. (ECF No. 36-1, PageID.229; ECF No. 36-2,
PageID.264-265.) But the frequency of this process was
erratic. (Id.) When a third party eventually
presented a report in August 2015, the evaluator suggested
that employees in Golden's category (“Specialists,
Exec Asst”) earn between $46, 750 and $63, 250, with a
midpoint of $55, 000. (ECF No. 36-1, PageID.237-239.) At the
time, Golden made $26.54 per hour, which amounted to $55, 203
per year. (Id.; ECF No. 38-6, PageID.1283.)
Golden
also thought that the NTC had a bias against older employees
and would ignore their needs. (ECF No. 36-6, PageID.822-823.)
In a 2015 meeting with Loyd, she asked him to bring up the
issue of her pay with UAW Vice President Norwood Jewell. (ECF
No. 36-6, 820- 21.) A month or two later, Loyd and Golden
spoke again. (Id.) According to Golden, Loyd told
her that management “want[ed] people to retire”
and then asked her directly, “Have you ever thought
about retiring?” (Id.) (Loyd says he
“never” had any conversations about retirement
with Golden (ECF No. 36-5, PageID.613), but the Court
construes evidence in the light most favorable to Golden at
the summary-judgment stage.)
About
two years later, Golden indeed retired. Soon after, she filed
this lawsuit.
II.
Summary
judgment is appropriate only “if the movant shows that
there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the
movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”
Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). “An issue of fact is
‘genuine' if the evidence is such that a reasonable
jury could return a verdict for the non-moving party.”
Hedrick v. Western Reserve Care Sys., 355 F.3d 444,
451 (6th Cir. 2004) (citing Anderson v. Liberty Lobby,
Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986)). “A fact is
material only if its resolution will affect the outcome of
the lawsuit.” Id. at 451-52 (citing
Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248). In evaluating a motion
for summary judgment, this Court views the ...