Norrell v. Away Group, Inc.

246 F.Supp.2d 1213

Paula NORRELL, Plaintiff, v. WASTE AWAY GROUP, INC., Defendant.

No. CIV.A. 02-A-662-E.

United States District Court, M.D. Alabama, Eastern Division.

February 26, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

J. Bernard Brannan, Jr., Montgomery, AL, for Plaintiffs.

David M. Smith, Janell M. Ahnert, Birmingham, AL, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION and ORDER

ALBRITTON, Chief Judge.

Introduction

This cause is before the court on Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. # 10), filed on December 27, 2002. Plaintiff brought this action in federal court on June 6, 2002, and her Complaint (Doc. # 1) charges Defendant with unlawful gender discrimination. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant refused to promote her in violation of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a), and that Defendant maintained employment practices that had a disparate impact on Plaintiff because of her sex in violation of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(k)(1)(A). Plaintiff claims that she has suffered damages including loss of her occupational position and lost wages and benefits as a result of these alleged illegal acts. Plaintiff seeks compensatory and punitive damages and attorneys' fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1988 & 2000e-5(k).

After carefully and thoroughly reviewing the submissions of the parties, the court concludes that the Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment is due to be GRANTED.

Summary Judgment Standard

Under Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, summary judgment is proper "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the 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." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); see Lowe's Home Ctrs., Inc. v. Olin Corp., 313 F.3d 1307, 1310 (11th Cir.2002).

The party asking for summary judgment "always bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion, and identifying those portions of the `pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any,' which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact." Id. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548. The movant can meet this burden by presenting evidence showing there is no dispute of material fact, or by showing, or pointing out to, the district court that the nonmoving party has failed to present evidence in support of some element of its case on which it bears the ultimate burden of proof. Id. at 322-324, 106 S.Ct. 2548.

Once the moving party has met its burden, Rule 56(e) "requires the nonmoving party to go beyond the pleadings and by [its] own affidavits, or by the `depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file,' designate `specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.'" Id. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548. To avoid summary judgment, the nonmoving party "must do more than show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts." Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). On the other hand, the evidence of the nonmovant must be believed and all justifiable inferences must be drawn in its favor. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). After the nonmoving party has responded to the motion for summary judgment, the court must grant summary judgment if there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c).

Facts

The facts as presented in the submissions of the parties, viewed in a light most favorable to the nonmovant are as follows:

Defendant, Waste Away Group, Inc., ("Waste Away")¹ first hired Plaintiff, Paula K. Norrell ("Norrell") in March of 1996 for the position of inside sales representative. As an inside sales representative, Norrell's responsibilities included dealing with customer inquiries and customer service issues arising from existing accounts. At the time Norrell's employment began, she received a copy of Waste Away's employee handbook, which states that Waste Away is an equal opportunity employer that does not practice discrimination. Danny East ("East") and later Terry White ("White") served as Norrell's immediate supervisors. While in her position as inside sales representative, Norrell received performance bonuses for exceeding her sales revenue goals during each quarter of 1996 and 1997.

On her performance evaluation in August of 1996, Norrell received four "good" ratings and five "outstanding" ratings from East. East noted on the evaluation that Norrell needed to improve in the area of leadership and that she was "[b]etter at planning than organizing." Defendant's Exhibit # 7. In the additional comments section of the evaluation, East wrote "Great Job!"

Waste Away promoted Norrell to customer service manager for the Montgomery and Opelika districts on December 10, 1997. With this new position, Waste Away increased Norrell's annual salary from $26,000 to $35,000. As a customer service manager, Norrell supervised the customer service center that dealt with customer calls and complaints from both districts. In April of 1998, Norrell received another salary increase to $36,400 annually.

In September of 1998, Waste Away again promoted Norrell, this time to district sales manager for the Opelika district. In this position, Norrell had the responsibility for developing and implementing sales and marketing plans for the Opelika district. The Opelika district included Auburn, Alabama, and Columbus and LaGrange, Georgia.² While in this position, Norrell received evaluations in March 2000 from Dennis Hill ("Hill") and in March 2001 from Mike Malphrus ("Malphrus"). Hill was Norrell's supervisor when she began working as a district sales manager, but Malphrus later became Norrell's immediate supervisor. Hill gave Norrell an overall rating of "good", and, out of thirteen separate categories, Norrell received twelve ratings of "good" and one rating of "outstanding." ³ After her evaluation, Waste Away increased Norrell's annual salary to $45,000 in April of 2000. Norrell also began receiving $400 per month as a car allowance.

In Malphrus's March 22, 2001 evaluation, Norrell received an overall rating of between "good" and "average." In the thirteen separate categories, Malphrus gave Norrell an "outstanding" rating in dependability, six "good" ratings, four ratings between "good" and "average", and two "average" ratings. Malphrus increased her salary again in March of 2001 to $46,350 annually. At this time, Norrell was pregnant with her second child, due in August of 2001.

In July or August of 2001, Waste Away, through its North Alabama Division Manager Jeff Johnson ("Johnson") and its North Alabama Division Sales Manager Mike Mitchell ("Mitchell"), decided to combine the Montgomery and Opelika sales districts. Mitchell and Johnson gave notice of this change to both Greg Folmar ("Folmar"), Montgomery district sales manager, and Norrell and invited them to interview for the new combined district sales manager position. With the joining of the Montgomery and Opelika sales districts, Norrell's position and Folmar's position would be combined, leaving only one district sales manager over the combined district. Norrell contends that Johnson informed her that the decision on the promotion to district sales manager of the combined Montgomery and Opelika district would be made by Malphrus, Johnson, Mitchell, and John Carmichael ("Carmichael"), district manager for Montgomery.⁴ Johnson and Mitchell interviewed each of the three candidates— Norrell, Folmar, and White,⁵ Opelika district operations manager—for approximately forty-five minutes to an hour each.⁶ After completing the interviews, Johnson and Mitchell discussed the candidates and agreed to meet again to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate before making a final decision.

According to Norrell and based on her time working under White, White was, as both a supervisor and a sales manager, "[a]verage, I guess, or maybe a little bit below average ... I don't remember the numbers exactly, but I know that their sales force at that time [when White was her supervisor], they weren't making any money. They were losing money every month.... [A]s a sales manager ... I would have to say [his performance was] below average." Norrell Deposition, p. 103, lines 11-22. During his tenure as a sales manger, White failed to keep his sales representatives producing as expected, and his sales numbers were negative. Norrell Deposition, p. 116, lines 2-15. Norrell also asserts that when she took over from White as district sales manager for Opelika, the sales numbers for the district increased. Personally, Norrell had no problems with White, but she knew of instances where White allegedly injured Waste Away's reputation with several existing customers. Waste Away had employed White on three separate occasions, and he had left his employment with Waste Away twice.

At the time that Johnson and Mitchell conducted the interviews, White was employed with Waste Away as the Opelika district operations manager. During his previous employment with Waste Away, White had been employed as the district sales manager for the combined Opelika-Montgomery district. Waste Away had combined the districts during White's previous tenure with the company and later split the combined district into two districts which Norrell and Folmar oversaw. White had also served as a Lee County Commissioner.

Johnson and Mitchell reconvened to discuss each of the candidates they interviewed. According to Mitchell, Norrell was "very good at carrying out orders and accomplishing a list of tasks. However, she could not come up with the list of tasks that were needed...