Opinion ID: 3173980
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Deets’s Hiring and Layoff

Text: MTA hired Deets, a member of the Illinois operators’ union, on May 9, 2012, after the union had referred him as an oiler for a Manitowoc 2250 crane. As an oiler, Deets was responsible for fueling, oiling, and greasing the crane and ensuring that it operated safely. On May 17, Deets was laid off because of a lack of work. He was recalled on May 29 to work on the Manitowoc crane. On June 20, he was reas‐ signed to work on a Liebherr crane, but by early July it be‐ came apparent that the Liebherr crane was going to go out of 4 No. 15‐1411 service because of insufficient materials. In anticipation of the shutdown, Todt, the project superintendent, asked Deets if he was interested in filling in for the Tower crane oiler who would be going on vacation for two weeks. On July 5, Deets moved over to the Tower crane. The Liebherr crane continued to operate on July 5 and 6, and then went out of service. On July 17, the day before the Tower crane oiler was set to return, Deets said that he was approached by Todt, who told him that he was being laid off at the end of the day. When Deets asked for a reason, he said that Todt told him “[m]y minority numbers aren’t right. I’m supposed to have 13.9 percent minorities on this job and I’ve only got 8 per‐ cent.” Later that day, when he collected his last paycheck, Deets said that he was told by Jim Rogier, a pier superinten‐ dent, that he was “sorry to hear about this minority thing.” Also that same day, Brent McKinnon, a crane operator on the project, swore in an affidavit that Todt told him that he “would have to terminate Deets’s 40‐hour‐minimum work week because there was an insufficient number of non‐white workers at the Worksite.” Deets acknowledged not being guaranteed any position on the project but said upon mov‐ ing over to the Tower crane that Todt assured him that he could return to his position on the Liebherr crane as soon as materials for that crane became available—timing that would coincide with the return of the Tower crane oiler from vacation. On July 18, however, Todt filled the Liebherr crane oiler position by hiring Jesse Green, who is a racial minority. Todt refuted Deets’s recitation of events. Todt admitted that he and Helmig, the project manager, had decided earlier (on either July 14 or July 16) to request a minority union No. 15‐1411 5 member to fill the oiler position on the Liebherr crane when it came back into service. But Todt denied telling Deets that “minority numbers” were the reason for his layoff. Todt ex‐ plained that he laid off Deets because there was no work: on July 17 Todt was not sure when the Liebherr crane would go back into service (and even if he had known, he said, he al‐ ready had decided not to rehire Deets) and there was no other work available for Deets. According to Todt, Deets had no claim to work on the Liebherr crane because it was out of service for more than a week, so Deets was stripped of seniority. Todt decided to request a minority oiler to work on the Liebherr crane, because he had reviewed the labor re‐ ports for the project and discovered that, for the three weeks leading up to Deets’s layoff, MTA had been out of compliance with its minority participation goals for opera‐ tors. Todt admitted that replacing a white worker with a mi‐ nority worker so that MTA could meet its minority partici‐ pation goals would violate the affirmative‐action plan and equal‐employment opportunity policy. Todt called Deets later on the afternoon of July 17 and offered him the oppor‐ tunity to fill in for other oilers on July 20 and 21. After he was laid off on July 17, Deets continued to rotate through a series of short‐term assignments, being laid off and recalled, until he was terminated from the project in De‐ cember 2012. The result of his July 17 layoff, he says, was a drastic reduction in his work hours. Deets spent December, January, and part of February working towards certifica‐ tions, and in February 2013 he told the union that he was out of work and wanted to be considered for other projects. 6 No. 15‐1411