Opinion ID: 167100
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Burlington's application of the RIF

Text: 14 In 1999, the lowest ranked engineer overall was Craig McCracken, Engineer Advisor, who received 50 percent of his eligible bonus. Five engineers received only 60 percent of their eligible bonuses and thus were tied for the second-to-last ranking among all engineers in 1999. These engineers were Pippin, Senior Engineer; Ralph Nelms, Senior Staff Engineer; Harry Benson, Engineer Advisor; J.A. Michetti, Engineer I; and K.M. Collins, Engineer II. 15 Of the nineteen employees terminated in the 2000 RIF, three were engineers. Burlington terminated Pippin, Nelms, and Benson; however, McCracken, Michetti, and Collins were retained. According to Burlington, McCracken was kept because he possessed unique critical skills. 3 Further, Burlington points out that Michetti was a new hire in June 1999; therefore, his eligible bonus was prorated, and based on his short evaluation period Burlington decided not to include him in the April 2000 RIF. Finally, Collins had a higher rating than either Pippin, Nelms, or Benson in 1998, receiving 90 percent of his eligible bonus while Pippin and Benson both received only 70 percent and Nelms received a prorated 60 percent bonus. 16 All three of the engineers terminated in the 2000 RIF were over forty. 4 McCracken, who was retained, was also over forty. However, both Michetti and Collins were under forty in 2000. Pippin also notes that the 2000 RIF affected three out of the fourteen over-forty engineers but none of the twenty-two under-forty engineers. 17 In the fall of 1999, prior to any discussion of the April 2000 RIF, Burlington extended four offers to new engineers coming straight out of college. After the RIF was announced, Burlington decided to honor those [offers] and hire those people, because we did not want our reputation as a company to be destroyed on those campuses of which those individuals went to school. Burlington also hired Michetti ten months prior to the April 2000 RIF, and eight months after the 2000 RIF, Burlington hired another under-forty engineer. 18 Finally, Pippin also points out that fourteen of the nineteen employees terminated in the 2000 RIF were over forty; however, Pippin has failed to give us any statistical information about how this compares to the ages of the entire universe of Burlington's San Juan workforce.