Opinion ID: 578618
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Keeney

Text: 90 The district court stated that it was undisputed that Keeney made out a prima facie case, but granted summary judgment in favor of York on the ground that she was unable to prove pretext. York disputes the district court finding that Keeney established a prima facie case, and argues that Keeney cannot establish that she was discharged in light of her election of early retirement. 91 As set forth above, Keeney made her decision to retire because she did not want to lose her health insurance benefits and, when faced with the choice of retirement or working part-time, she chose to retire after being told that she would continue to receive health insurance benefits upon retirement. Keeney assumed that Magee's failure to get back to her regarding the availability of health insurance meant that such insurance would not be provided with the part-time position. Keeney alleges that she would have accepted a part-time position if health insurance coverage were provided. York maintains that it could have provided Keeney with coverage in light of her years of service to the company (even though it did not provide such coverage to Keeney's part-time replacements) 9 and that a reasonable person under the circumstances would have made a follow-up inquiry before retiring if, as Keeney contends, health insurance was Keeney's single most important concern. York maintains that Keeney's assumption that health insurance coverage would not have been provided to her is insufficient to support a finding that her job conditions were so intolerable that she was forced to retire. 92 Keeney urges that her assumption was a reasonable one and that the Court should not overlook the special vulnerability of a 77-year old widow who had been a switchboard operator all of her working life at the time that she was faced with the prospect of losing health insurance benefits and was told that her job was being eliminated. Moreover, Keeney argues that, even if York did provide coverage and Keeney accepted the part-time position, she still would have an ADEA cause of action for the conversion of her job from full-time to part-time. 93 An employee given the choice between early retirement and a reduction in hours combined with a loss of health insurance benefits could conceivably raise a material issue of fact as to whether the employer has created working conditions so unpleasant or difficult that a reasonable person in the employee's shoes would resign. 10 Clearly, an employer might be able to exploit the particular sensitivities of a 77-year old widow such as Keeney. However, the law is clear that the test for constructive discharge is an objective one. 94 A reduction in an employee's work hours from 37 to 25 hours per week does not create conditions so intolerable that a reasonable person in the employee's position would resign where the employee herself has indicated that she would have continued working under these circumstances. 11 Keeney's assumption that health insurance would not be provided because of Magee's failure to respond to her initial inquiry may not have been unreasonable in the abstract. However, it cannot reasonably be argued that Keeney was involuntarily terminated where she acted on her assumption--after close to four decades of employment--without in any way verifying whether her assumption was correct. 12 Keeney argues that, as all subordinate working people know, commonly managers, rather than say 'no' outright to a benefit request from a worker, simply say they will get back to you, and never do. However, it is unrealistic to expect that, in these circumstances, an employee will make a decision of such magnitude as the decision to retire on the basis of such an assumption without undertaking any further inquiry into the matter. In any event, the employer cannot be said to have constructively discharged the employee on the ground that the employee assumed the worst where there is no evidence that the employee had reason to believe that the employer would have acted as the employee assumed. 95 Here, because Keeney could not have known whether York would have eliminated her insurance coverage and did not even seek clarification of the insurance issue, beyond her original inquiry, before retiring, even assuming that a reasonable person in Keeney's position would have determined that the termination of health insurance coverage would have been so intolerable that she would have been justified in resigning, no reasonable jury could conclude that Keeney's working conditions were intolerable at the time she retired. Rather, the fact that Keeney did not make any further inquiry, 13 in addition to the fact that she did not complain to anyone regarding her predicament, indicates that her decision to retire was voluntary. 96 We also point out that York made a managerial decision which should not be second-guessed under the cover of ADEA. By creating two part-time positions in place of a single full-time position York was able to extend the hours that the switchboard was in operation and was thus able to give better service to the public. Furthermore, by setting the hourly dividing point between the two employees at 1:00 p.m. the necessity for a lunch break was eliminated and so was the need to take other employees from their work to cover the switchboard during that period. In the absence of evidence indicating that York acted with discriminatory intent we cannot understand how this reasonable business judgment can give rise to liability under the ADEA. See Dale v. Chicago Tribune, Co., 797 F.2d 458, 464 (7th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1066, 107 S.Ct. 954, 93 L.Ed.2d 1002 (1987); Beard v. Annis, 730 F.2d 741, 743-44 (11th Cir.1984); Kephart v. Institute of Gas Technology, 630 F.2d 1217, 1223 (7th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 959, 101 S.Ct. 1418, 67 L.Ed.2d 383 (1981).