Opinion ID: 769064
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Plaintiff's Role and Course of Employment at the University

Text: 9 In 1993, Dr. Steger recruited Plaintiff to serve as the VPHHR following a national search. Plaintiff signed a three-year contract and began his duties as VPHHR on August 1, 1993. Plaintiff was the second person to occupy this role; and there was a period of time before Plaintiff was appointed that the position was unoccupied and the AAO was without a permanent head. As a result, at the time Plaintiff was brought aboard, the AAO was in state of disorder and flux. There was a back log of A-900 forms that had accumulated during the time the AAO was without a head, as well as large number of A-900 waivers. For example, there were approximately 300 waivers of the A-900 process from 1992 to May of 1994. Plaintiff expanded the AAO, and hired George Wharton as its director in September of 1994. 10 Plaintiff was troubled by what he perceived to be the excessive number of waivers of the A-900 process, and in July of 1994, Plaintiff sent a memorandum to the Cabinet members entitled, Is there an Affirmative Action Commitment? In the memorandum, Plaintiff expressed his concern about the number of waivers in the A-900 process, questioned the University's commitment to equal employment opportunities, and warned that continued violations could cause the OFCCP to enforce a new conciliation agreement. 1 11 Throughout 1994 and 1995, Plaintiff became particularly concerned with the University's commitment to affirmative action regarding University Hospital's association in the Alliance, a private, non-profit health care management corporation with a single board of directors created to manage and control four of the major hospitals in the community. By joining the Alliance, the University surrendered daily operation of University Hospital to the health care management group, although those employed there remained employees of the University until January 1, 1997. Despite his requests, Plaintiff was not allowed to play any meaningful role with respect to Alliance, even though the human resource counterparts from the other hospitals involved regularly contributed. 12 Under the Alliance agreement, the University was required to hire a Senior Executive Officer (SEO) to run the University Hospital's daily operations. The SEO was to be an Alliance employee who reported directly to the President of the Alliance; however, the University participated in the hiring selection for this position. An outside search firm was hired to facilitate the search. The search firm identified approximately 200 resumes; out of these resumes, three candidates were selected for the final vote: a white male, an African-American male, and a white female. After interviewing all three candidates, Plaintiff cast his vote in favor of the African-American male based on the candidate's overall experience as well as the fact that Plaintiff found him to be the strongest of the three candidates. However, the white male was selected for the SEO position by receiving the majority of votes by the selection committee. At a July 25, 1994 meeting attended by Dr. Harrison and Plaintiff following the SEO selection, it was agreed that Plaintiff would direct the search for the next two executive level positions to become available at the University Hospital, and that efforts would be made to target minorities to fill these positions. Plaintiff sent a memorandum dated July 27, 1994, to Dr. Harrison detailing Plaintiff's understanding of the outcome of the meeting. 13 In August of 1995, Dr. Harrison sought a waiver of the A-900 process to fill the position of Vice Chairman of the Department of Surgery for the College of Medicine. Specifically, Dr. Harrison requested that he be able to hire Dr. James Hurst, a former member of the College of Medicine faculty, without going through the A-900 process because he knew and endorsed the former member's experience and abilities. Plaintiff sent a letter dated September 21, 1995, to Dr. Steger protesting Dr. Harrison's waiver of the A-900 process and questioning the University's commitment to providing equal opportunities in employment. Despite Plaintiff's protestations, Dr. Steger approved the A-900 waiver at Dr. Harrison's request. 14 A few months later, in November of 1995, the University was negotiating with District 925 of the Service Employees International Union (925) and, as VPHHR, Plaintiff participated in the negotiations. District 925 represents the secretarial and support staff of the University. The contract between the University and 925 employees was up for renewal, and the critical issue during the negotiations was tuition remission; that is, the amount of money 925 employees would have to reimburse the University for the cost of tuition waivers granted by the University in the event the employee failed to achieve a certain minimum grade. This issue was the final barrier to the University and 925 reaching an agreement, and the University was prepared to accept the cost of a strike if 925 did not agree to the University's terms. 15 Dr. Steger met with Plaintiff and Stephanie Echols, the University's representative at the negotiations, to discuss the status of the 925 matter. There is a dispute as to what transpired at the meeting inasmuch as Dr. Steger contends that the three discussed a proposal from 925, which Dr. Steger rejected; while Plaintiff contends that there was no proposal rejected at the meeting. However, that aside, the parties are in agreement that it was understood that the University would risk a strike rather than comply with the 925 remission demands. At the close of the meeting, Dr. Steger indicated that he had to leave to attend a dinner engagement, but that he could be reached at home later in the evening if developments were made in the 925 negotiations. 16 Echols negotiated with 925 until late into the evening, repeatedly updating Plaintiff on her progress. According to Echols, each time that she updated Plaintiff, he repeated Dr. Steger's warning that the University would accept a strike rather than concede to tuition remission. Finally, at about 11:30 p.m., Echols tentatively agreed with 925 members on a proposal that she believed would satisfy the University and informed Plaintiff of the proposed settlement. However, according to Plaintiff, he informed Echols at that time that the tentative settlement to which she agreed was not in line with what the University was prepared to accept. Echols replied that the parties had departed, and if the tentative settlement was not acceptable, it could be addressed later. 17 Due to the late hour -- about midnight by this time -- Plaintiff decided to wait until the morning to telephone Dr. Steger and inform him of the proposed settlement. Plaintiff telephoned Dr. Steger at his office at approximately 7:00 a.m., the next day; however, Plaintiff did not speak with Dr. Steger because he had already left for a breakfast meeting with the deans of the University. News of the proposed settlement apparently did not escape the news media, because Dr. Steger was informed of the tentative settlement during his breakfast meeting with the deans. Dr. Steger was not pleased that Plaintiff had not reached him with the latest developments, and sent Plaintiff a letter dated November 15, 1995, admonishing Plaintiff while claiming that he was embarrassed this morning at a breakfast with the Deans when they asked me the terms of the 925 settlement. I had to say I did not know they settled -- let alone the terms. (J.A. at 298.)Because the Board of Trustees was the body to ultimately authorize the 925 settlement, Dr. Steger requested that Plaintiff draft a summary of the settlement for the Board to review at its next meeting on November 28, 1995. The Board reviewed the summary; however, it demanded to see the full text of the agreement before they would approve it, and planned to meet again on December 18, 1995. In the meantime, apparently at Plaintiff's directive, the payroll department began programming its computers to adjust for the pay increases and back pay adjustments that were reflected in the settlement. The payroll department subsequently informed Dr. Steger that the payroll adjustments would be reflected on the December 5, 1995, paychecks despite the Board's lack of final approval because it was not possible to reverse the computer adjustments at that time. Accordingly, Dr. Steger told the payroll department to issue the checks as adjusted. On December 18, 1995, the Board, unhappy with the terms of the settlement but constrained by the adjustments in the payroll system, accepted the 925 settlement. 18 Plaintiff filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on December 5, 1995, alleging race and retaliatory discrimination against the University. Plaintiff claimed that University officials, particularly Dr. Harrison, were discriminating against him because of his race as an African American, and not allowing him to fully participate in Human Resource matters in regard to University Hospital. Plaintiff also alleged that he was retaliated against for his protestations regarding the hiring of the SEO. On or around December 20, 1995, Dr. Steger informed his Cabinet that Plaintiff had filed a discrimination complaint with the EEOC. Plaintiff met with Dr. Steger on December 20, 1995, in the course of a regularly scheduled meeting, and requested that Dr. Steger provide him with information regarding what role the Human Resource department was to play in managing the personnel affiliated with the Alliance, as well as information regarding the Board's criticisms of Plaintiff's handling of the 925 negotiations. Dr. Steger agreed to provide Plaintiff with this information in writing within a few weeks. 19 On January 9, 1996, Dr. Steger sent Plaintiff a memorandum outlining what Dr. Stegar found to be deficiencies in Plaintiff's performance as VPHHR, including Plaintiff's handling of the 925 negotiations, as well as complaints that Dr. Steger had allegedly received from other departments regarding the length of time it took Plaintiff to process an A-900 form. Dr. Steger concluded the letter by indicating that he questioned [Plaintiff's] continued ability to occupy a leadership position in this University. In response, Plaintiff sent Dr. Steger a memorandum dated January 16, 1996, wherein Plaintiff disputed Dr. Steger's criticisms. Plaintiff also indicated that he was surprised by Dr. Steger's attack on his performance since he was hearing about Dr. Steger's dissatisfaction for the first time. In fact, the record indicates that Plaintiff received two written performance evaluations from Dr. Steger; one in July of 1994, and the other about a year later. Although the second evaluation was not as complimentary as the first, Dr. Steger gave Plaintiff high marks for his leadership and vision for the future in both evaluations. 20 The day after receiving Plaintiff's memorandum, January 17, 1996, Dr. Steger sent Plaintiff a termination notice and removed Plaintiff from his duties. Plaintiff filed the instant suit on July 25, 1996.