Opinion ID: 4545148
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Operations Supervisors

Text: CP is a railway offering transportation services and supply chain expertise across North America. CP’s Operations Supervisors manage the safe, efficient, and timely movement of its trains within a designated territory. Their work includes ensuring that train operators have the information needed to safely navigate the territory. An Operations Supervisor’s failure to provide the necessary information to the trains may cause delays or potentially serious injuries. An Operations Supervisor must become qualified to dispatch, that is, control the movement of trains at a particular desk.2 Thus, he or she must be able to dispatch with little, if any, assistance. Before CP’s 2016 RIF, 16 Operations Supervisors3 handled 3 desks in CP’s Southern Region: the Missouri desk, the Iowa desk, and the Kansas City desk. In 2002, Button started working as an Operations Supervisor at the Kansas City desk when it was owned by another railroad company. After CP acquired that railroad in 2008, Button continued to work at the Kansas City desk at the Truman Bridge. Nicole Marthe, Manager of Train Dispatching, supervised Button from April 2011 until her termination. Button was the only female assigned to the Kansas City desk throughout her employment. In February 2016, Heidi Peterson, CP’s Director of Train 1 The Honorable Gary A. Fenner, United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri. 2 A desk is “an assignment that covers a specific territory or territories.” J.A. 481. Each desk controls its assigned territories and the trains passing through those territories. J.A. 450. 3 The Operations Supervisors included 14 males and 2 females. -2- Dispatching, made a two-week trip to fill in at the Kansas City desk. During Peterson’s presence, Button recalled Peterson remarking that the Kansas City desk “wasn’t a place for a woman.” J.A. 129. After Peterson returned home from Kansas City, she messaged Button that she would only move to the Kansas City desk “if they change[d] the bathroom. LOL!” J.A. 1020.