Opinion ID: 1188829
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Upshaw's scrap reports

Text: At Ford, scrap consists of manufactured parts that cannot be used for their intended purpose. Ford requires an accurate accounting of the amount of scrap produced on each shift for cost, quality, and inventory control purposes. Although Upshaw submitted affidavits of other Ford employees noting that scrap counts were generally imprecise and that it was standard practice to estimate scrap numbers, (JA 335), she concedes that in 2005, her supervisor, Maria Bradfish, consistently noted that Upshaw needed to reduce her daily scrap count to receive a higher performance rating. Upshaw's team of hourly employees selected Gary Barrett and David Gibson as their shift coordinators. Coordinators are hourly employees responsible for collecting and counting scrap accumulated at the end of a shift and reporting the amount to the supervisor, who enters the number in Ford's internal reporting system. On January 10, 2005, Gibson informed his union representative that Upshaw was misreporting the amount of scrap produced on her shift. Gibson asserted that Upshaw had pressured him to under-report the scrap numbers, and that when he had refused, she had lowered the count in her reports. Gibson supported his allegations with documented discrepancies between Upshaw's reporting occurring from January 4, 2005 through January 7, 2005, and his handwritten scrap records and transcripts of electronic pages sent between him and Upshaw regarding shift scrap count during the same time period. Bradfish questioned Upshaw about Gibson's allegations on January 11, 2005, and Upshaw acknowledged that there were discrepancies between the numbers Gibson had reported to her and those she had recorded in the system. The Human Resources Department subsequently conducted an investigation and found merit to Gibson's claims. After reporting Upshaw to the union representative, Gibson also formally complained to Ford that Upshaw had harassed him and retaliated against him when he had refused to lower the scrap count. Gibson claimed that following his refusal to lower the scrap count, Upshaw removed him from his position as coordinator and assigned him to work on the line, where she birddoggedclosely monitoredhim and denied him breaks. Ford found Upshaw's actions inappropriate and concluded that she had violated the company's policy prohibiting retaliation against employees.