Opinion ID: 1188829
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Ford's documentation of Upshaw's complaints

Text: After transferring to the Sharonville plant in 2001, Upshaw filed numerous complaints with the Department of Human Resources regarding various disputes she had with hourly employees, salaried employees, and the union. These complaints were handled by Human Resources employees Brandee Hughes-Sharp and Nikolas Johnson, and consumed a significant amount of their time. Despite her many interpersonal issues with other employees, including her supervisors, Upshaw's 2001 through 2005 annual performance reviews were generally positive. Five days after Upshaw filed her August 2003 EEOC charge, Gerald Taylor, the Human Resources personnel manager for four Ford plants, wrote the following note documenting a conversation he had with Robert Brooks and James L. Brooks, another Human Resources employee: Discussed with J[ames] Brooks and Robert Brooks the possibility of looking into the complaint activity of Carolyn Upshaw since it seems almost daily people are investigating her complaints. The # of complaints, time invested & outcome of these investigations. [sic] That if the data reveal excessive activity w/ little or no results, then write it up for termination and I will evaluate if it warrants said release. (Joint Appendix (JA) 779-80) (emphasis added). In his deposition, Taylor testified that the term complaint activity referred to Upshaw's internal complaintsthe daily traffic, the charges, the investigations, and the results of thosenot her recent EEOC charge. (JA 539-40.) In October 2003, James Brooks began working with Hughes-Sharp to compile a timeline of Upshaw's employment for Taylor's review.
On December 7, 2004, approximately one month after Upshaw filed her lawsuit, Hughes-Sharp emailed Taylor to arrange a conference call to discuss the timeline that James Brooks and Hughes-Sharp were preparing. On or about December 14, 2004, James Brooks emailed Taylor a draft request for disciplinary action against Upshaw. At deposition, Brooks explained that he sought Taylor's permission to terminate Upshaw on the basis that the numerous complaints and problems that she created for [Ford], the fact that her nitpicking was requiring almost full time of two, approximately two people in the [Human Resources] section[, specifically, Hughes-Sharp and Johnson,] to handle these complaints and issues and that at some point, we needed to stop this. (JA 445.) Taylor did not take immediate action on the request, and in the interim, the following events occurred.