Opinion ID: 184247
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Other Employees’ Deposition Testimony

Text: Steward also offered the deposition testimony of three other African-American employees as to their own experience under McKerley.
Anthony Thomas stated in deposition that McKerley “took care of” his personal friends whom he “hung out with and went golfing with and ate with and whatnot”; these employees were white men. ROA at 259. McKerley “kept [his friends] at the front of the line with all the jobs with the less work on it, where they would be getting as much overtime as they could . . . .” ROA at 259. However, Thomas acknowledged that he shared a job on the assembly line at various times with white employees, and that some white employees not among “the guys that McKerley hung out with” received the same difficult work Thomas and other African-Americans did. ROA at 269, 270. Thomas claimed that McKerley “would harass [him] all of the time” by giving him “dirty jobs” and extra tasks, but stated that he did not know why McKerley did so. ROA at 261. Thomas complained -4- No. 08-1282 Steward v. New Chrysler to McKerley’s boss, an African-American female, that the distribution of work was uneven, but had never suggested to management that the disparity was related to race. ROA at 270. Thomas also claimed that McKerley would “harass” employees by forcing the assembly line to move forward before they were finished with their tasks, and that this affected “everybody, whites or blacks.” ROA at 265. It seemed to Thomas that “the blacks [were] the ones [McKerley] was fighting [i.e., arguing with] the most, but he fought with the whites too.” ROA at 267. Thomas claimed that McKerley subjected African-American employees to stricter disciplinary standards than white employees, but he could not give any examples when asked. ROA at 267-68. He recalled having overheard McKerley make a racial joke to another person sometime during or before 2001, but could not remember anything more specific about it. ROA at 268. In 2003 or 2004, Thomas transferred to a different area of the plant to get out from under McKerley’s supervision; all the incidents which he described took place before that transfer. ROA at 265, 270.
Another African-American employee, Eugene Glenn, testified that he had worked as a “team leader” under McKerley. ROA at 278. McKerley subjected him to discipline for infractions that other employees were allowed to get away with, but Glenn denied that this disparity “was totally racial,” since other African-American employees were among those who were not disciplined; rather, Glenn felt that he was “being singled out” and that “it was definitely about me.” ROA at 280. Glenn acknowledged that he had also heard white employees complain about being singled out for discipline by McKerley. ROA at 284. Glenn contradicted Steward’s allegation that the assembly line was segregated, testifying that McKerley “didn’t want . . . two or more black people together” -5- No. 08-1282 Steward v. New Chrysler and that he tried to keep them separated from one another; Glenn also stated that an effort was made “to put more black people” in areas of the assembly line where whites had traditionally predominated. ROA at 285. Glenn contradicted the allegation that whites were given easier tasks, stating, “I am not going to say [white employees] were given easier jobs,” although he maintained that whites “might have been given preference in other ways.” ROA at 279. He claimed that a few women (including some African-American women) had received easier, more desirable tasks than he had, and that this was “not . . . racially” motivated, but rather, was “because of the fact that they’re women.” ROA at 288. Glenn alluded vaguely to racial jokes made by McKerley, but the only specific examples he could recall were McKerley mentioning that “one of his cousin[s’] wife left him for a black guy” and telling Glenn and another employee that a “police officer was coming over to arrest [them].” ROA at 289, 294. Glenn was “never really offended” by anything McKerley said, acknowledged that any joking was friendly and “just normal . . . talk,” and thought that McKerley “was from Alabama, so, he probably [was] . . . a little prejudiced, but he could still hold a conversation with you.” ROA at 289, 294. Glenn last worked for McKerley between August 2005 and February 2006. ROA at 278.
A third employee, Alfred Dunlap, stated that he worked for McKerley for about a year beginning in 1997, and once again for about a year beginning in 2000 or 2001. ROA at 318, 319, 320. He claimed that under McKerley, a “group of white guys” that he and others used to call “the good old boys” worked “down [at one] end of the line,” ROA at 318; according to Dunlap, McKerley gave these employees more opportunities to earn overtime. ROA at 319. Dunlap did not know -6- No. 08-1282 Steward v. New Chrysler whether the “good old boys” had easier or more difficult jobs than the other employees, ROA at 327, and stated that “one of the toughest jobs in the line,” if not the most difficult, was performed by four white males. ROA at 339. Although Dunlap did feel that “the line was sort of separated” by race, he also explained that “[i]t wasn’t meant to be that way but I guess you feel comfortable with your own race,” and that it “[j]ust ended up that way.” ROA at 322, 330. Dunlap also stated that at least three white employees worked in the predominantly African-American part of the line. ROA at 327, 339. At one point, according to Dunlap, Steward worked on the opposite end of the line from the section that was primarily African-American, ROA at 339; Dunlap stated that Steward “would complain [to McKerley] and you know, she’d give [McKerley] an earful, but she would still do her job,” ROA at 341. Dunlap claimed that McKerley would come to him before other employees of similar seniority when there were extra tasks to be done, and that McKerley singled him out for extra work. ROA at 320. He also claimed that McKerley “would keep [a closer] eye on certain people” to “make sure [they were] working”; these people included Steward, Thomas, and two other African-American employees. ROA at 327. These same employees were also moved from position to position more often than white employees were. ROA at 329. However, McKerley did not discipline him more harshly than he did white employees. ROA at 333. Lastly, Dunlap claimed that in 1997, McKerley had said that he “d[idn’t] see why slavery [in the pre-Civil War South] was such a big deal” because “blacks had a place to sleep, a place to stay, [and] food to eat everyday”; Dunlap could not recall any other racial comments. ROA at 333, 339. -7- No. 08-1282 Steward v. New Chrysler