Blozis v. Mellon Trust of Delaware Nat. Ass'n

494 F.Supp.2d 258

Linda J. BLOZIS, Plaintiff, v. MELLON TRUST OF DELAWARE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, Mellon Bank National Association, and Mellon Financial Corporation, Defendants.

Civ. No. 05-891-SLR.

United States District Court, D. Delaware.

June 5, 2007.

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Thomas S. Neuberger, Stephen J. Neuberger, Neuberger Firm, P.A., Wilmington, DE, John M. LaRosa, Law Office of John M. LaRosa, Wilmington, DE, for Plaintiff.

Reed Smith LLP, Wilmington, DE (Thad J. Bracegirdle, of Counsel), John Unkovic, Reed Smith LLP, Pittsburgh, PA, Stephanie Wilson, Sherri A. Affrunti, Reed Smith LLP, Princeton, NJ, Counsel for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

SUE L. ROBINSON, Chief Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Linda J. Blozis ("plaintiff') filed this action against Mellon Trust of Delaware National Association, Mellon Bank National Association, and Mellon Financial Corporation (collectively, "defendants" or "Mellon") on December 27, 2005. (D.I.1) Plaintiff's complaint alleges sex discrimination, harassment, and retaliatory discharge actionable under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000 et seq., and the Delaware Discrimination in Employment Act ("DDEA"), 19 Del. C. §§ 710 et seq.,¹ She also alleges age discrimination, harassment, and retaliatory discharge in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621 et seq., and the DDEA.² Plaintiff requests compensatory damages, special damages, attorney fees, and costs. (Id. at 17-18) Plaintiff also requests that the court issue an injunction requiring defendants to reinstate plaintiff or place her in a comparable employment position. (Id. at 17) Discovery in the case has concluded. Presently before the court is defendants' motion for summary judgment. (D.I.42) The court has jurisdiction over the matter at bar pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331.

II. BACKGROUND

A. The Parties

Plaintiff was born on December 10, 1945; she is currently 61 years old and was 58 at the time her employment with defendants was terminated. Plaintiff began her employment with defendants as a secretary in February 1990, and became a portfolio administrator in defendants' Private Asset Management Department in October 1999. (D.I. 44 at A38) She remained in this position throughout the duration of her employment, and worked exclusively in defendants' Delaware office. Plaintiff was the only female portfolio administrator in the Delaware office during the relevant period.

Portfolio administrators support senior portfolio officers who are responsible for managing personal trusts, estates, pensions, institutional accounts, and other client accounts. (Id. at A39) Specifically, portfolio administrators help to ensure that the accounts are in compliance with governing instrument principles and fiduciary principles and are meeting investment objectives. (Id.) Plaintiff worked on a team commonly called the "Gilmore team" because its leader was Brendan Gilmore ("Gilmore"). The Gilmore team comprised both portfolio officers and portfolio administrators who worked in defendants' Delaware, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. offices. At some point during plaintiff s tenure, the portfolio administrator position evolved to require additional responsibilities, such as being in charge of client accounts and being knowledgeable about defendants' investment process.³ (Id.; D.I. 47 at 31)

B. Plaintiff's Evaluations

Prior to 1998, plaintiff received favorable reviews from her supervisors⁴ From 1998 through 2002, spanning the time when she became a portfolio administrator in 1999, plaintiff reported to portfolio manager Bill Becker ("Becker"). Becker executed a "Performance Management Form" in 2002 which reviewed plaintiff's 2001 performance (the "2001 performance review"). (D.I. 45 at A319-28) In this review, plaintiff received a rating of "outstanding," "exceptional," or "meets target" in each review category. With respect to her "[c]ompetencies," plaintiff was given a "meets target" rating in her "judgment" and "product knowledge/work quality," and an "outstanding" in personal accountability. (Id. at A324)

For 2002, plaintiff received less favorable ratings in several competency categories. Becker executed a "Performance Management Form" on January 21, 2003 which reviewed plaintiff's 2002 performance (the "2002 performance review"). (D.I. 45 at A342-48) In the 2002 performance review, plaintiff received favorable ratings in many categories, but a "N[eeds] i[mprovement]" rating in several competency areas, including the following: judgment ("determining the importance' of finishing a specific project on time"), personal accountability ("Making ownership of projects without constant monitoring"), initiative and organization ("[m]issing deadlines") and product knowledge and work quality ("little progress made in this area during 2002"). (Id. at A345) Plaintiff was given an overall year-end assessment of "Needs Improvement" in the competency category.⁵ (Id.) The assessment recommended that plaintiff "identify all outstanding projects by February 15th, and each should have a deadline assigned, with a zero tolerance policy for lack of timely completion." (Id. at A346) Plaintiff submitted a written response to this review on February 11, 2003, wherein she defended her performance. (Id. at A349-50) Plaintiff did not receive an incentive bonus for her job performance in 2002.

On December 4, 2002, Becker sent an email to Thomas requesting information on severance packages. Becker stated:

The reason I'm asking is because I've unfortunately had to begin a file for Linda Blozis. She has consistently been missing deadlines on projects over the past year. In addition to that, the quality of her work has been poor, from accuracy of placing trades to incomplete reg[.] 9 reviews, and the list goes on. I personally believe that she simply can't keep up with what I need her to do, nor does she have the capacity to take on the new responsibilities that her job now needs to include, like taking on accounts of her own and learning of her investment processes, etc.

I like Linda personally. Her attitude has overall been OK, although recently she has exhibited some similarities we had to endure from a former employee in Delaware. I know I'm stressing her out with the workload, but I've been doing too much of her job over the past four years and I simply refuse to do it anymore.

(D.I. 44 at A146) In 2003, Becker left the Delaware office and Gilmore became more active in managing the Delaware office. (D.I. 48 at B465, B759) At that time, Gregg Landis ("Landis") was plaintiffs boss, although she reported directly to Gilmore. (Id. at B593-94)

Plaintiff asserts that Gilmore told the members of his team in the Delaware office that the team "was not going to be like it was under [trust administrating officer Robert] Bell ['Bell'], [Vice President and administrative officer Linda] Squier ['Squier'], or [Vice President Martha] Fetters [`Fetters']," who had previously left defendants' employment.⁶ (D.I. 47 at 27; D.I. 48 at B98) According to plaintiff, each of Bell, Squier, and Fetters were over forty years old when they left their positions with defendants. (D.I. 47 at 26)

Landis testified that, in addition to teamwork, "Mellon believes it is the duty of an individual to complete most of his or her tasks with little help so that each of us focuses on the job that's assigned to us." (D.I. 48 at B755) According to Landis, plaintiff was once criticized, after the fact, for asking another portfolio administrator, Maria Dunlop ("Dunlop"), to assist her in binding a booklet. (Id. at B757) In contrast, Dunlop "certainly was encouraged to come to [plaintiff] and other members of our team for help when necessary." (Id. at B757) Dunlop confirmed that plaintiff was allowed to assist her with assignments. (Id. at B529) Plaintiff told management that her workload exceeded the 37.5 hours for which she was paid each week, and that she was unwilling to work additional hours. (Id. at B725-27, B638)

C. Events Occurring During Gilmore's Management of the Delaware Office

On March 13, 2003, plaintiff requested permission from Landis to take two weeks of accrued vacation time between May 5 and 16,2003. (D.I. 45 at A449) Landis drafted a handwritten note advising plaintiff that, on March 18, 2003, Gilmore had "partially approved" her vacation request. (Id.) Due to short staffing resulting from Becker's promotion, and in view of plaintiffs two week vacation in December 2002, lilt was felt that she should take just [one] week at th[at] time to maintain office coverage." (Id.) Plaintiff agreed to take six vacation days between May 2 and 9, 2003. (Id.)

Prior to her vacation, on April 30, 2003, Gilmore met with plaintiff in his office for about fifteen to twenty minutes. (D.I. 48 at B150) Gilmore was upset because plaintiff had failed to complete certain client booklets. (D.I. 43 at 11) Plaintiff asserts that Gilmore used a very loud voice with her in a threatening and demeaning manner,⁷ and used profanity. (D.I. 48 at B137-39) Plaintiff claims that Gilmore also criticized her work, stating that other portfolio administrators in Philadelphia had more responsibilities and were "producing a lot more and a lot faster"; the Philadelphia employees purportedly referenced by Gilmore were younger than plaintiff. Plaintiff further alleges that Gilmore called plaintiff a "survivor." (Id. at B152, B162) At the time the incident occurred, plaintiff was the last remaining member of Gilmore's original team. (D.I. 43 at 12; D.I. 47 at 7)

On May 1, 2003, the day after her meeting with Gilmore, plaintiff availed herself of defendants' Equal Employment' Opportunity policy⁸ by complaining to Thomas about Gilmore. (D.I. 43 at 13) Plaintiff believed that Gilmore's words and conduct towards her were motivated by age. (D.I. 48 at B161) She "suspected [Gilmore] was...