Opinion ID: 1454051
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Michael's 90-day performance plan and related monitoring

Text: Michael also argues that, following her return from administrative leave, Caterpillar's imposition of a 90-day performance plan and its monitoring of her pursuant to the plan amounted to retaliation. On January 26, 2004, Michael met with Rezaii and Sweeney to discuss Michael's disciplinary options. They informed Michael that she could either accept placement on a 90-day performance plan and continue in her current position or reject the plan and relinquish her managerial responsibilities. After electing to accept the performance plan, Michael met again with Rezaii and Sweeney to go over the performance plan on January 29. Michael asserts that the proffered grounds for imposing the performance plan were baseless and that the plan was instead imposed as a form of retaliation for the complaints that she had filed. She also alleges that Henry improperly monitored her work performance during the plan period. Because monitoring was part and parcel of the performance plan, however, this allegation does not constitute a separate disciplinary action. Caterpillar's proffered reason for imposing the performance plan was not simply the pending complaints against Michael, but was also based on what had been uncovered as a result of Sweeney's investigation. In other words, Caterpillar asserts that it investigated those complaints and took action consistent with its investigation. We initially note that Michael's principal objection to many of the investigative findings was that they were based on hearsay. As this court recently explained under similar circumstances, however, witness statements contained in an investigative report may be considered on summary judgment not to prove their truth, . . . but to demonstrate the state of mind and motive of Defendant's managers in discharging Plaintiff. Haughton, 206 Fed.Appx. at 532. Furthermore, Michael's disagreement with the facts uncovered in Caterpillar's investigation does not create a genuine issue of material fact that would defeat summary judgment as long as an employer has an honest belief in its proffered nondiscriminatory reason. Majewski v. Automatic Data Processing, Inc., 274 F.3d 1106, 1117 (6th Cir.2001). The key inquiry in assessing whether an employer holds such an honest belief is whether the employer made a reasonably informed and considered decision before taking the complained-of action. Smith v. Chrysler Corp., 155 F.3d 799, 807 (6th Cir.1998). An employer has an honest belief in its rationale when it reasonably relied on the particularized facts that were before it at the time the decision was made. Majewski, 274 F.3d at 1117 (citation and quotation marks omitted). [W]e do not require that the decisional process used by the employer be optimal or that it left no stone unturned. Smith, 155 F.3d at 807. As part of her investigation, Sweeney interviewed Michael's subordinates, other Caterpillar employees with whom Michael worked, and those employees who might have overheard Michael's January 20, 2004 confrontation with Henry. Sweeney's investigation revealed that many of Michael's coworkers, including Elsesser, Holland, McGhee, Moseley, and Rezaii, found Michael difficult to work with and often tardy. Although Michael points out that Gooden's specific accusations that she required her subordinates to perform personal tasks was never corroborated, the investigation nevertheless pointed to other serious issues with Michael's management style. Sweeney's investigation of the initial confrontation between Henry and Michael also revealed additional questions regarding Michael's professionalism. The only independent witness to the exchange reported that Michael was screaming at Henry, that she refused to leave Henry's office, and that her actions were so aggressive that the witness was concerned that Michael might physically assault Henry. On top of these reports, Michael concedes that she worked from home on January 16, 2004 without notifying any of her supervisors that she would not be in the office that day, and that she arrived late to her meeting with Henry on January 20, 2004. Because Caterpillar proffered these legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for imposing the performance plan, the burden shifted to Michael to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Caterpillar's reasons were actually a pretext designed to mask unlawful discrimination. See Carter, 349 F.3d at 273. Michael again points to her positive performance review just weeks before the January 20, 2004 incident and the fact that Caterpillar did not similarly discipline Henry as a result of Michael's accusations against her. For the same reasons outlined above, however, these arguments fail to establish pretext under the circumstances. Michael also raises factual objections to the job-performance concerns mentioned in Caterpillar's investigation, but she cannot defeat Caterpillar's honest belief in her performance deficiencies simply through her own contrary assertions. See Majewski, 274 F.3d at 1117. Michael's only contention that calls into question Caterpillar's honest belief in its proffered justification for her performance plan derives from Rezaii's deposition testimony. Rezaii initially stated that she could not recall the results of Sweeney's investigation, but then later said that she believed that the investigation had boiled down to he said/she said, with no real findings. The extensive documented results of Sweeney's investigation, however, refute this. Moreover, Sweeney herself attended the meetings at which Michael was disciplined, and the human resources departmentnot Rezaiiput together Michael's performance plan. Sweeney's supervisor, Human Resource Manager Gari Cowan, also stated in her deposition that Sweeney's investigation pointed to issues with Michael's management style and indicated that Michael's was the only voice raised during her January 20, 2004 confrontation with Henry. Even if Rezaii was unaware of these findings at the time Michael's performance plan was imposed, she was aware of Gooden's complaint because he had come directly to her, and she was also aware of Michael's January 16, 2004 absence from work. The above analysis demonstrates that Caterpillar presented sound, nondiscriminatory reasons for the action that it took based on a reasonable investigation of events that occurred after Michael's favorable performance review. We therefore find no error in the district court's grant of summary judgment regarding Michael's retaliation claim because she was unable to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Caterpillar's proffered legitimate explanation was pretextual.