Opinion ID: 738229
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: McLee's Employment With Chrysler

Text: 3 In early 1992, McLee, a black male, applied to Chrysler for a position as a supervisor in the company's Tappan Parts Depot warehouse facility (Tappan Depot or Depot). Tappan Depot manager Robert S. Broderdorf, whose responsibilities included personnel decisions such as hiring and firing, interviewed McLee and hired him as night stock supervisor. In that capacity, McLee was to supervise a shift of machine operators whose primary function was to move parts from the Depot's reserve locations to pick-up stations from which other employees could collect them for shipment to Chrysler dealers. 4 McLee began work on February 3, 1992. His supervisors included warehouse manager Stephen Skip Dahlman, warehouse night manager James Garden, and head night supervisor Jeffrey Haas. On March 9, 1992, Garden gave McLee a written 30-day evaluation of his work and met with him to discuss it. Although Garden rated McLee's overall performance 3 on a scale of 1-5, meaning at requirements, Garden noted that in certain respects McLee's work was not satisfactory. 5 In early June 1992, after he had been on the job for four months, McLee was given a 120-day review. He received a preliminary written evaluation that was worse than his 30-day evaluation. Of the 22 categories in which his performance was evaluated, he was rated unsatisfactory in 13. On June 4, he met with Garden and Haas, who discussed unsatisfactory areas with him. At that meeting, after they had reviewed the criticisms, McLee stated that he believed Haas had a problem with minorities. McLee had never before communicated such a belief. 6 On June 5, 1992, McLee met with Garden, Haas, and Broderdorf. Broderdorf asked McLee whether he felt uncomfortable working for either Garden or Haas. McLee responded that he did not. He recanted his June 4 accusation of bias, stated that he did not believe Haas was a racist, and apologized to both Garden and Haas. Broderdorf then reviewed some of the areas in which McLee's performance had been found lacking and asked why McLee had not made any written comments regarding the 120-day evaluation. McLee was then given time to respond in writing to all of the comments in his review which he felt were inaccurate. Broderdorf informed McLee that he would receive a second formal review on June 9 and that thereafter his performance would be evaluated each week for the next month; at the end of the month, Broderdorf would determine McLee's status with Chrysler. 7 Given the opportunity to challenge the negative evaluations, McLee disputed only six of the 13 areas in which his performance had been rated unsatisfactory. Although in response to the motion for summary judgment McLee asserted that he did not necessarily dispute all that he in fact disagreed with (McLee Rule 3(g) Statement p 60), at his deposition, he testified that he had disputed only the criticisms he felt were not fair (McLee Dep. 316). On June 9, McLee met with Garden and promised to try to improve his performance. 8 On the evening of June 9, 1992, hours after that promise, McLee left work early, in pain due to a blister on his small toe. He went to Nyack Hospital, where he was treated by a Dr. Silverberg who issued him a note that stated: Please excuse [McLee] from work for 24 hours. Hospital personnel also provided McLee with a form entitled Aftercare Instructions to the Patient, instructing Keep off foot for 24 hours. McLee called Haas that night and said he was supposed to stay away from work for 48 hours. (McLee Dep. 250 (I told [Haas] that night that I went to Dr. Silverberg, that I will be supposed to be out forty-eight hours.); id. at 251 (I said twenty-four to forty-eight hours....).) McLee stayed away from work for two days. On the second day, he received a call from Garden. McLee told Garden that Dr. Silverberg had instructed McLee not to work for 48 hours. Garden told McLee to call Broderdorf the next day. 9 On the following day, June 12, McLee telephoned Broderdorf, who said he was in the process of doing all the paperwork to fire McLee. McLee then telephoned Chrysler's Human Relations office in Detroit, along with the NAACP and other civil rights or labor offices. McLee met with Broderdorf and Dahlman later that day. According to McLee, as described in Part I.B. below, Broderdorf and Dahlman began that meeting by asking McLee whether he had been in touch with those offices; when McLee responded that he had, the conversation assumed a hostile tone. As to McLee's excuse for missing the second day of work, McLee presented his written note from Dr. Silverberg. McLee contends that he attempted to explain that, notwithstanding the note's reference to 24 hours, Dr. Silverberg had instructed him orally to take up to 48 hours off if necessary to allow the infected blister to heal, but that Broderdorf and Dahlman gave him no chance to comment. Chrysler contends that when asked about the discrepancy, McLee refused to comment. On the next business day, June 15, McLee was fired.