Opinion ID: 2981236
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Ms. Collins’s Employment

Text: In 2004, Goodwill acquired the contract for janitorial services at the federal building in Jackson, Tennessee. Ms. Collins had been the previous contractor’s project supervisor, and Goodwill retained her as a project manager. This position required her to “manage the workforce, inspect the buildings, handle customer complaints, and also interact with the customers to make sure that their needs were met according to contract standards.”3 Her work was inspected by Layne King, 1 The district court’s jurisdiction was predicated on 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1367(a), as well as on 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(3). 2 Our jurisdiction is secure under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. 3 R.25-2 at 7 (Walker Dep. 19). -2- No. 11-5635 Collins v. Memphis Goodwill Industries, Inc. who was responsible for Goodwill’s quality control. King testified that “[t]he work that [Ms. Collins] supervised was well done.”4 It does not appear from the record that Ms. Collins supervised individuals with disabilities in this position. According to King, someone “complain[ed] about the way that [Ms. Collins] addressed the tenants” at the Jackson facility, which caused him to “talk[] to [Ms. Collins] about softening her approach a bit.”5 Thereafter, someone from the Jackson federal building requested that Ms. Collins “be removed from the facility due to the fact that she was intimidating the ones that were working within the federal building.”6 In an affidavit, however, Ms. Collins testified that she “worked without incident” during this period and that she “had no notice of any problems regarding how [she] spoke to employees” until several years later.7 Nevertheless, in August 2006, Ms. Collins was transferred by Goodwill to work at the IRS building in Memphis, Tennessee. Walker testified that this transfer came at the request of the federal building employee noted above. Walker had not 4 R.31-1 at 3 (King Dep. 17); see also R.31-2 at 2 (Walker Dep. 21); R.25-2 at 8 (Walker Dep. 22). 5 R.25-3 at 9 (King Dep. 18). 6 R.25-2 at 8 (Walker Dep. 22). 7 R.28-1 at 2. Although Ms. Collins’s affidavit does not indicate precisely when she was put on notice that Goodwill had problems with the manner in which she spoke to employees, the charge of discrimination she filed with the EEOC makes clear that she had such notice by February 2009. See R.1-1 (Charge of Discrimination). -3- No. 11-5635 Collins v. Memphis Goodwill Industries, Inc. terminated Ms. Collins at that time because the customer had not provided names, details or “anything documented as to what [Ms. Collins] had done.”8 Upon her transfer, Ms. Collins served as a trainer and was later named a quality control inspector. In her quality-control capacity, Ms. Collins “inspected the building to ensure that [Goodwill] w[as] meeting the contract requirements in [its] cleaning work.”9 Ms. Collins’s work in Memphis was “meticulous[,] . . . thorough and extremely well[-]documented.”10 At some point in mid- to late-January 2009, the chief of the Building Delegation Section at the IRS building called Walker and “complained that some [Goodwill] employees had come to him and complained about Ms. Collins and also that some of the Internal Revenue [Service] staff had reported to him that they had observed her speaking harshly to some of [the] Goodwill employees.”11 Walker told the IRS representative that he “would look into the matter and get back with him.”12 Within the next few days, Walker asked “Ms. Collins . . . if there were any issues or any problems that [they] needed to talk about, and she said no.”13 Walker did not bring up any of the complaints against her because he did not believe that he had enough details about what she was alleged to have 8 R.25-2 at 10 (Walker Dep. 26). 9 R.25-3 at 10-11 (King Dep. 19-20). 10 Id. at 13 (King Dep. 23). 11 R.25-2 at 16 (Walker Dep. 53). 12 Id. at 17 (Walker Dep. 54). 13 Id. -4- No. 11-5635 Collins v. Memphis Goodwill Industries, Inc. done. Walker then asked another supervisor whether there were any issues, and she also said that there were none. Walker informed the IRS representative that he “didn’t find anything that was out of the order [sic].”14 Thereafter, the IRS representative sent Walker an email that “made it clear [to Walker] that there were issues as far as [the IRS representative] was concerned.”15 The email provided, in pertinent part: I wanted to inform you that my manager was approached by some Goodwill employees who were upset about the harsh manner in which Ms. Collins has been speaking with them. Early this month a similar report was levied by an IRS employee, where that IRS employee overheard Ms. Collins speaking harshly to a Goodwill employee.[16] Walker later described his reaction to the email: “Now, I will take some action because he had actually put something in writing for me to refer back to.”17 Walker spoke with approximately eight to ten employees on February 13 and asked, without mentioning anyone by name or accusing any individual of misbehavior, whether anyone had said anything harsh or cruel to them. The employees said that they had not experienced such behavior. 14 Id. at 19 (Walker Dep. 56). 15 Id. 16 R.25-5 at 2. 17 R.25-2 at 19 (Walker Dep. 56). -5- No. 11-5635 Collins v. Memphis Goodwill Industries, Inc. Walker then “talked with [Ms.] Collins about the accusation that she was talking to other employees harshly” and “inform[ed] her that this would not be tolerated by [anyone] working for Goodwill.”18 After this investigation, Walker sent the IRS representative an email explaining that he “did not find anything that verifies that [Ms.] Collins missed treated [sic] any of the employees.”19 Within two weeks of that email, the IRS representative informed Walker “that the problem still exists, and it has not been cared for.”20 Walker replied “that due to [his] investigation, once again, [he] found nothing improper about Ms. Collins as far as doing any wrongdoing, and [he could not] discipline her.”21 Thereafter, the IRS representative brought his complaints to Martini, who, as Goodwill’s CEO, was Walker’s supervisor. Various IRS officials then met with Martini and a representative from the National Institute for the Severely Handicapped. Walker was not at this meeting; he was told that the IRS no longer wanted him to investigate this matter “because they felt that the employees were afraid of [him].”22 When the meeting was over, Martini asked King to investigate the allegations. 18 R.25-5 at 1; accord R.1-1 (Charge of Discrimination) (indicating that “on February 13, 2009, Willie Walker, President (Male)[,] stated that he would not tolerate anyone being hostile toward employees”). 19 R.25-5 at 1. 20 R.25-2 at 24 (Walker Dep. 66). 21 Id. at 25-26 (Walker Dep. 71-72). 22 Id. at 29 (Walker Dep. 76). -6- No. 11-5635 Collins v. Memphis Goodwill Industries, Inc. King was aware that the IRS believed that Walker’s investigation had not “gotten to the truth,” which King suspected “may have been because of the way that the questions were asked and by whom they were asked, considering the population” at issue.23 He therefore was assisted by a case manager, whose job was to act as an advocate for Goodwill’s disabled employees. King believed that the case manager’s involvement would facilitate his investigation because the employees were very comfortable with her. As this investigation was getting underway, Ms. Collins sent the following email to King, with Walker and Martini copied thereon: I feel threaten [sic] when I go to work by Project Manager, Asst. Project Manager, Employees and Internal Revenue Management and Staff. I can not [sic] sleep at night, I can not [sic] do my work to the best of my ability because I have to watch my back at all time [sic] because of the lies that these people are telling I am very nervous when I come and leave from work.[24] With the case manager’s assistance, King interviewed approximately 29 employees during the course of his investigation. After doing so, he determined that “approximately 11 people . . . felt that [Ms. Collins] created a hostile work environment for them, and that is hard to fix, if not impossible.”25 These eleven employees “stated that Lucille Collins made them feel uncomfortable on the job due to her use of profanity, rude comments, and intimidation.”26 Several employees said that Ms. Collins had threatened their jobs, and one employee said that Ms. Collins had threatened 23 R.25-3 at 23 (King Dep. 41). 24 R.25-7. 25 R.25-3 at 28 (King Dep. 51). 26 R.25-6 at 10 (King Report). -7- No. 11-5635 Collins v. Memphis Goodwill Industries, Inc. to “have her husband . . . do something to [him],”27 a comment that was corroborated by another supervisor.28 Furthermore, many employees told King that Ms. Collins would curse in the workplace, and three said that Ms. Collins would say that the employees could tell their “mammies” or “mommas and daddies” for all she cared.29 Several employees also informed King that she would scream or holler at them. Ms. Collins attended an interview with King and the case manager during this investigation. Although she refused to answer any of King’s questions, she now emphasizes that King’s “investigation did not include a statement from [her] and several additional employees that [she] wanted to include.”30 However, she has put forward no evidence of what steps, if any, she took to provide King with her side of the story after she refused to speak with him. At some point, apparently during King’s investigation, Ms. Collins was suspended for three days. After Martini received King’s report, Martini decided that her employment with Goodwill should be terminated, which the report recommended. This decision was communicated to Ms. Collins on March 19 or 20, 2009. 27 Id. at 5. 28 Id. at 3; see also id. at 4 (describing statement of the corroborating supervisor who said that Ms. Collins “makes comments of physical threats and idle threats”). 29 Id. at 1-5. 30 R.28-1 at 2 (Collins Aff.) (emphasis in original). -8- No. 11-5635 Collins v. Memphis Goodwill Industries, Inc.