Opinion ID: 71947
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Harrison's demotion

Text: 24 Under 42 U.S.C. § 5851(b)(3)(C), the burden of persuasion falls first upon Harrison to demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that retaliation for his protected activity was a contributing factor in the decision to demote him. Harrison cannot satisfy this requirement through direct evidence. S&W did and said nothing that would indicate it sought to retaliate against Harrison by demoting him on February 2. Drywell manager Ehele did say that Harrison was eating him alive on man-hours. But Ehele's remark does not suggest a desire to suppress Harrison or his complaint. S&W argues that Ehele was talking about over-exposure to radioactivity; and even if Ehele meant wage costs, S&W was not forbidden to consider expenses in weighing safety concerns. That said, the circumstances do seem suspicious. A man starts complaining about fire safety. The next day he is demoted. The Secretary of Labor found that by a preponderance of the evidence, Harrison had made his showing. Reviewing for substantial evidence to support this finding, we affirm. 25 After hearing his ironworkers' grousing about firewatch, Harrison spoke to the TVA fire marshal, the drywell manager (Ehele) and ultimately to the NRC field representative. If an employee talks about safety to a plant fire official, an employer and an industry regulator, he or she acts squarely within the zone of conduct that Congress marked out under 42 U.S.C. § 5851(a)(1). S&W also knew of Harrison's contact with the TVA fire official and with Ehele (though not of Harrison's complaint with the NRC). By February 2, Harrison had told Ehele (his supervisor) of his TVA contact and Ehele obviously knew first-hand of the approach to him. S&W would have us believe that S&W officials thought Harrison was carping about labor issues, but we find this unlikely. Harrison's visit to the TVA fire marshal should have put at least Ehele on notice of Harrison's § 5851-shielded conduct. 26 So far the ALJ and the Secretary were in agreement. When they considered whether demotion was an adverse action, however, they parted ways. The ALJ decided that the demotion was not an adverse action because the demotion, in the ALJ's eyes, was not discriminatory. But discriminatory and adverse have distinct meanings. An adverse action is simply something unpleasant, detrimental, even unfortunate, but not necessarily (and not usually) discriminatory. The Secretary corrected this error and concluded that Harrison's demotion was an adverse action. 27 In determining whether Harrison met his burden under § 5851(b)(3)(C), we ask whether the Secretary properly inferred that retaliation against Harrison was more likely than not a contributing factor to his demotion. The Secretary said yes, for only one day separated Harrison's protected conduct from his demotion. Given this proximity in time and the circumstances as laid out above, we see no grounds for gainsaying the Secretary's inference of causation. 28 The burden thus shifted to S&W to demonstrate, by clear and convincing evidence, that it would have taken the same unfavorable personnel action in the absence of such behavior. 42 U.S.C. § 5851(b)(3)(B). This is a high standard to begin with; and on review only for substantial evidence supporting the Secretary, S&W has a steep hill to climb. 29 S&W almost makes it. Its principal argument is to snap the temporal link that the Secretary infers. Five S&W managers offered unimpeached testimony that S&W decided to demote Harrison days before he raised any fire concerns. For in late January the field manager for all construction work at Browns Ferry, James Butts, had reviewed the roster of drywell employees. Butts surmised that the project was top-heavy: the ratio of foremen to ironworkers was 9:38, double the 1:8 ratio that S&W generally targets. On either January 27 or 29, Butts asked his subordinates, including Ehele, to review their rosters for top-heaviness. Ehele turned to his own subordinate managers (Tennyson, Sertway, and Fonte) for suggestions, but named no one himself. 30 Ehele's subordinates picked three foremen: Tommy Willis, Troy Faulks and Harrison (a lead foreman). The reasons for picking Harrison were manifold: Harrison supervised a lone foreman and crew; the work on his particular platform was drawing to its end; his seniority put him below the other lead foreman, Eugene Hannah. By Saturday, January 30, Ehele had informed field manager Butts of these three recommendations. 31 But it was not until Tuesday, February 2--after the questions of fire safety had arisen--that Harrison was actually informed of his demotion. This gap in time introduced the Secretary's critical doubt about S&W's motives. S&W responds reasonably enough that its managers had bigger matters on their minds than making sure Harrison's demotion was prompt. But another problem for S&W is that of the three recommendations for demotion, S&W acted only on Harrison. The other two, Willis and Faulks, had been slated for reduction to ironworker journeyman. Ehele's subordinates Tennyson and Sertway intervened on February 2, however, to persuade Ehele and Butts not to demote them, on the grounds that their work was too sophisticated for journeyman's pay. S&W points out that Harrison was only demoted to foreman at $2 less an hour and would oversee the same crew in the same location. Is it plausible that, if S&W wanted to squelch Harrison, it would have chosen such a mild and ineffective technique? S&W also says that it did not replace Harrison, which supports its contention that Harrison was demoted because of the roster review. 32 S&W's points are well-taken. We do not doubt that S&W had legitimate reasons for demoting Harrison. If the review were de novo, we might agree with S&W that it had met its burden of rebuttal. In our eyes, S&W might have demoted Harrison had he never uttered a word about fire safety to anyone. But it is not our task to make this judgment. Congress has charged us with a much more limited scope of review. Our task is to determine whether substantial evidence supports the Secretary's decision. We agree with the Secretary that such evidence exists. We cannot say that it was unreasonable for the Secretary to hold that S&W had failed to rebut under § 5851(b)(3)(D).