Opinion ID: 526092
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Insufficient Factual Findings

Text: 9 The above summary of the parties' positions at trial generally identifies the major factual disputes. In addition, the parties' briefs in this court point out several specific issues on which findings would be appropriate: (1) whether Nealey and Oxford held a meeting and announced the new rules and whether plaintiff attended that meeting; (2) whether Nealey held a meeting with the supervisors to announce the new rules; (3) whether Oxford personally informed supervisor Rush of the new rules; (4) whether plaintiff failed to respond to radio calls; (5) credibility determinations as to conflicting testimony, concerning, among other things, plaintiff's tardiness and whether plaintiff was repeatedly reprimanded; and (6) whether similarly situated males were treated more favorably. This list is not intended to be exclusive, but rather points up the need for additional findings and is intended to assist the court on remand. 10 As to the last point--whether similarly situated males were treated more favorably-the district court stated, [h]ad four male laborer/escorts been working as escorts when Nealey decided to reduce the number from four to three, he would undoubtedly have merely returned one of them to laborer work. No evidence is cited to buttress this finding, and, as such, the statement is open to the charge of conjecture. On appeal, the parties respectively argue the existence and non-existence of evidentiary support. At this point, we express no opinion as to sufficiency of the evidence and direct the district court to address the issue. 11 A difficult point, and one on which neither the district court's opinion nor the parties' briefs on appeal are instructive, is whether there was a difference in the amount of laborer work plaintiff performed before and after Nealey's arrival and how that difference, if any, compared to the amount of laborer work the other three laborer-escorts performed before and after Nealey's arrival. In other words, prior to Nealey's arrival, were all four women performing laborer work? After Nealey's arrival, was plaintiff the only one of the four who continued to perform laborer work? Perhaps the evidence adduced at trial does not permit answers to these questions. However, if the evidence in the record supports findings on these issues, such findings should be made, for we believe the answers are highly relevant to the district court's ultimate conclusion that plaintiff was discharged for the discriminatory purpose of removing women from laborer positions. 12 As to defendant's efforts or lack thereof to hire women, the district court simply stated, it is not credible to suggest that no women in Chicago would take a job which, with overtime, could pay as much as $35,000 a year. This constitutes an inadequate finding, apparently grounded on a speculative personal viewpoint. On remand, such credibility determinations must be based solely on the demeanor of the witnesses and the consistencies or inconsistencies in the testimony.