Blesedell v. Chillicothe Tel. Co.

Jason Blesedell, Plaintiff, v. Chillicothe Telephone Co., et al., Defendants.

Case No: 2:13-cv-451

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO EASTERN DIVISION

May 1, 2015

Judge Graham

Opinion and Order

This action is brought by plaintiff Jason Blesedell under Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185. Plaintiff alleges that his former employer, defendant Chillicothe Telephone Company ("CTC"), violated its collective bargaining agreement when it discharged him on December 17, 2012 without just cause. He further alleges that defendant International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union No. 578 breached its duty of fair representation in the course of the grievance process. Also named as a defendant is Eric Stevens, who is the Human Resources Manager at CTC. Stevens is alleged to have made defamatory statements about Blesedell to a local law enforcement officer and to Union officials.

This matter is before the court on defendants' motions for summary judgment. For the reasons stated below, the motions are granted in their entirety.

I. Summary of the Facts

A. General Background

Blesedell began his employment with CTC in 1996 and thereafter became a member of Local Union 578. (Blesedell Dep. at 17, 18, 21). He became a plant facilities technician in 2011, and in that position he performed installation and repair work on telephone cables and equipment. (Id. at 20-21). Blesedell worked primarily with copper lines, as opposed to fiber lines, and was considered a "copper technician". (Parker Dep. at 35-36). He also located and marked CTC lines, in connection with the Ohio Utilities Protection Service's "call before you dig" program. (Blesedell Dep. at 158); see also O.R.C. § 3781.28.

Blesedell reported to supervisor Gerald Parker, a field operations manager. (Parker Dep. at 18, 28). Parker supervised about 39 technicians, and he worked out of a physical office located on Orange Street in Chillicothe, Ohio. (Id. at 33-34).

Blesedell and other technicians generally reported to "the Exchange" in Massieville, Ohio at the start of the day. At the Exchange, he would connect to the internet and receive daily tasks in the form of "tickets" or "trouble tickets" that contained information regarding the repair and maintenance work he was being assigned to perform. (Blesedell Dep. at 65; Parker Dep. at 129). Technicians often returned to the Exchange during lunch, and they returned again at the end of the day to submit timecards. (Parker Dep. at 129). Technicians called into dispatchers at a service center to report when they had "cleared" a ticket. (Id. at 90; Blesedell Dep. at 80-81). When a matter arose that needed immediate attention, Parker would call a technician directly to assign him work. (Parker Dep. at 89).

B. Uncertainty over Blesedell's Schedule and the Work He Performed on December 4, 2012

Parker often would schedule copper technicians to receive on-the-job "fiber training" with a fiber technician. (Parker Dep. at 44-45, 49). Parker believed that he had scheduled Blesedell to do fiber training for the week of Monday, December 3, 2012.¹ (Parker Dep. at 51, 58).

Blesedell testified that he was unaware that he had been scheduled for fiber training until service center dispatcher Vicki Haney called him at 12:48 p.m. on December 3. (Blesedell Dep. at 64; Coe Dep. at 60²). During the call, Haney told Blesedell that another dispatcher, Kim Barnes, "thought you were in fiber training." (Coe Dep. at 60). Blesedell responded that he did not know about the fiber training and asked Haney to check the schedule because, as Blesedell put it, "It's veryimportant." (Id. at 60-61). Haney confirmed that Blesedell was on the schedule and commented, "You may want to call Gerald [Parker]." (Id. at 61).

At 1:10 p.m. on December 3, 2012, Blesedell called another dispatcher, Linda Mitchell, with whom he had been in contact earlier in the day regarding a trouble job he was performing. Blesedell told Mitchell that Haney had just informed him that he was supposed to be in fiber training, and he told Mitchell that he had no idea about being scheduled for training. (Coe Dep. at 68). Blesedell also told Mitchell, "If they ask, just let them know you put me on trouble." (Id. at 69).

At some point during the afternoon of December 3 or the morning of Tuesday, December 4, or perhaps on both days, Parker and Blesedell were in contact with each other. Parker instructed Blesedell to continue working on trouble tickets and told him that he would do fiber training "later on in the week." (Blesedell Dep. at 90; Parker Dep. at 72, 76; Coe Dep. at 78-80).

In the morning of December 4, Blesedell completed a trouble ticket with another technician, Mike Causey. (Blesedell Dep. at 77-78; Blesedell Dep., Ex. 10). Blesedell then called the service center and spoke with Mitchell at 11:39 a.m. and had the following conversation, in relevant part:

Blesedell: Did you have any locates [referring to a job locating wires] or anything down here that you need me to check up on? I got ahold of Gerald. He said he's going to get with — I'm in fiber training this week.

Mitchell: Yep.

Blesedell: So they got some orders and stuff and I told him [Gerald Parker] we had, me and Mike Causey worked on this down here.

Mitchell: I think they sent Greg Bowdle down there to cover trouble. I don't see any locates.

Blesedell: Okay, I just wanted to check. I'm going to eat and I'm just kind of waiting on his call. I'll just deal with it as we go. If you need anything though, call me. If I'm around here local, I'll take care of it.

Mitchell: I will, okay.

(Blesedell Dep. at 43).

At 3:06 p.m. on December 4, dispatcher Barnes called Parker and asked if Blesedell was supposed to be in fiber training. (Coe Dep. at 30). Barnes stated that she had given Greg Bowdle all of Blesedell's trouble tickets, "[s]o I don't know what he [Blesedell] was doing." (Id. at 30-31). Parker responded that Blesedell had spent the morning helping Mike Causey and that the dispatchers should "keep him rolling" on trouble tickets. (Id. at 31-32). Parker stated that ifBlesedell was "not doing something, I need to know." (Id. at 32). Barnes responded, "I don't want to say for sure, but from what I can see, no." (Id.). Parker formed the impression from his conversation with Barnes that Blesedell was trying to avoid doing trouble tickets. (Parker Dep. at 79). Parker then called Blesedell to remind him that he should be working on trouble tickets. (Id. at 76, 80). Blesedell denied that he was refusing to do trouble tickets. (Id.).

After talking to Parker, Blesedell called dispatcher Mitchell at 3:37 p.m. on December 4. Blesedell said that he had just spoken with Parker and would not be doing fiber training until the end of the week. (Coe Dep. at 84). And he said that he would call in to the service center the next morning to get a trouble ticket. (Id.).

After talking to Blesedell, Parker met with CTC Human Resources Manager Eric Stevens later in the afternoon on December 4 concerning a different matter. (Parker Dep. at 108). Parker mentioned that he had received the phone call from Barnes and stated that Blesedell had denied refusing to do trouble. (Id. at 108-09). Parker informed Stevens that he had previously instructed Blesedell to work on trouble tickets until the end of the week, when he was to do fiber training. (Id. at 111).

This conversation with Parker caused Stevens to listen to the phone call between Blesedell and Mitchell. (Stevens Dep. at 127). From listening to the call, Stevens did not form the impression that Blesedell was refusing to do work, but he did become curious about what work, if any, Blesedell performed on the afternoon of December 4. (Id. at 127-28 ([I]f the perception [on the dispatcher's part] was not to send him any work, then what work did he do on the 4th[?]")). Stevens checked the timecard that Blesedell submitted at the end of the day. (Id. at 128). Blesedell put a code on the timecard indicating that he had done 4 hours of work in the afternoon on buried cable maintenance. (Id.; Blesedell Dep. at 44-45; Blesedell Dep., Ex. 6). Stevens, however, found no tickets to correspond with the work Blesedell reported having had performed on the afternoon of December 4. (Stevens Dep. at 128). Stevens became concerned that Blesedell "put down a [code] on his time card to say he did work that he did not do." (Id.).

Stevens next checked the records for the GPS unit on Blesedell's company truck. (Stevens Dep. at 130; Blesedell Dep., Ex. 11). The records showed that Blesedell's truck was parked at the Exchange for all but about 15 minutes during the afternoon of December 4. (Blesedell Dep., Ex. 11 at CTC00384). There was sometimes work to be performed at the Exchange, but it would have been reflected by a trouble ticket, and any buried cable work to be performed at the Exchange was outside of Blesedell's job classification. (Parker Dep. at 130-31).

C. The December 14, 2012 Fact-Finding Meeting

Blesedell continued to report to work as usual. CTC decided to conduct a fact-finding meeting on Friday, December 14, 2012 regarding a potentially falsified timecard. (Kendall Dep. at 81). Before the meeting, Stevens and Parker, along with CTC Talent Management Coordinator Debbie Coe and Executive General Manager of Operations Trevor Kendall met initially with Local Union 578 President Dave Morgan and Vice President Matt Ervin, outside of Blesedell's presence. (Stevens Dep. at 177; Kendall Dep. at 78; Morgan Dep. at 77-78). It is undisputed that during this initial meeting that CTC communicated its concern about Blesedell's work on December 4. There is a dispute on the record about whether CTC stated its desire or intention to terminate Blesedell's employment. (Morgan Dep. at 77-78 (testifying that CTC said that it wanted to terminate Blesedell); Ervin Dep. at 23 (testifying that CTC did not say that it wanted to terminate him)).

After the initial meeting with CTC,...