Opinion ID: 2973408
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Plaintiff’s Tenure with Bank One.

Text: Plaintiff Gwendolyn O. Brown, an African-American female, began work for the Akron, Ohio, based Firestone Bank, defendant Bank One’s predecessor, in 1974. Following Bank One’s purchase of Firestone, Brown remained at Bank One working in various positions until April 1998 when she assumed the position of “Relationship Banker” (hereinafter “RB”) at the Montrose Bank One branch.2 As an RB, Brown was supervised by the Banking Center Manager and evaluated pursuant to various objective criteria, such as the number of calls placed to clients, the number of scheduled appointments, and the number of client opportunities acquired. Based on those criteria, Brown was rated as “meets expectations” in April 2000. In late 2000, after the Montrose branch closed where she served as one of three Relationship Bankers, Brown was reassigned to the Akron Square branch.3 In March of 2002, Bank One published the 2002 Banking Center Incentive Plan (“the 2002 Plan”), which announced new, uniform standards for Managers, Assistant Managers, Relationship Bankers, and Customer Service 2 A “Relationship Banker” works to address customers’ financial services needs, places business development calls, seeks out additional sales opportunities, and is responsible for customer retention by ensuring that existing customers are effectively managed. 3 Brown worked with Robin Allison- Knight, an African-American female hired in May 2001, and Kathy Markowski, a Caucasian female hired in September 2002. Given that Brown has relied heavily on the tenures of Allison-Knight and Markowski in an effort to show disparate racial treatment, their employment with Bank One is discussed below. Neither Allison-Knight nor Markowski are parties to this litigation. -2- No. 05-3247 Brown v. Bank One Assistants.4 The 2002 Plan established monthly sales goals for RBs in four separate financial service areas. The 2002 Plan also required RBs to earn a minimum of 400 “Product Value Credits” (“PVCs”) per month.5 An RB became entitled to an incentive bonus if the RB met 50% of his or her monthly sales targets and earned 400 PVC points.6 For the first six months of the 2002 Plan, an employee’s performance was tracked, but employees were not disciplined for failure to meet any Plan requirements. From March 2002 - September 2002, Brown accrued a total of 2,760 PVCs, or an average of 394 PVCs per month. During that period, Brown exceeded 400 PVCs on four occasions. On October 1, 2002, Branch Manager Kelly Chaney met with Brown to discuss her performance to date and the two reviewed a form entitled “Corrective Action Process.”7 On that form, contrary to Brown’s charted accomplishments and seemingly contrary to the Plan’s decree that employees were not to be disciplined within the first six months, Chaney handwrote that “Gwen has only met two 4 Kelly Chaney, Brown’s branch manager, concluded that Brown’s 2001 performance “met expectations,” though barely; on a scale of 1 to 2.75, where a score of 1.60 “meets expectations,” Brown received a 1.61. In Brown’s next evaluation, covering the first three months of 2002, she received a 1.62. 5 The RB could earn Product Value Credits by selling certain products, such as checking/savings accounts, CDs, investments, consumer or business loans, or credit cards. 6 A newly-hired RB was required to earn 300 PVCs per month for the first three months of their tenure. 7 The form is dated September 30, 2002. The form corresponds to the first stage of Bank One’s disciplinary process, entitled the “Documented Discussion” phase. As discussed below, an employee whose job performance remains substandard subsequently receives a “Written Counseling” session, during which another “Corrective Action Process” document is reviewed. Finally, an employee receives a “Final Written Warning.” -3- No. 05-3247 Brown v. Bank One months of her sales goals & PVC goals.”8 Also during their meeting, Chaney provided Brown with handwritten suggestions on how Brown might improve her performance, such as placing forty outbound calls per week, three business calls per week, consistently using a planner for follow-up, profiling every business opportunity, and scheduling weekly meetings with Chaney. The Corrective Action Process form cautioned that Brown’s “conduct will be monitored over the next 60 days. Failure to raise your work performance/conduct to an acceptable level within that time will result in further corrective action, up to and including termination of your employment.” On November 5, 2002, Chaney commenced another disciplinary action seeking to rectify Brown’s job performance, this time in the form of a “Written Counseling.” In conjunction with this action, Chaney drafted another “Corrective Action Process” form, which documented Brown’s failure to make sufficient daily business contacts, schedule the minimum monthly appointments, and adequately profile business opportunities. The form also outlined Chaney’s expectation that Brown would “earn a minimum of 500 PVCs in November and 600 in December 2002.”9 Similar to its predecessor, the November 5 Corrective Action Process form cautioned that Brown’s “conduct will 8 Bank One’s brief relies on the “Corrective Action Process” document for the proposition that Brown met her PVC monthly goal just twice during the six month trial period. The chart reflecting Brown’s performance for the Plan’s first six months, however, from March through August, reflects that Brown actually met her PVC target goal four out of a possible six times. Brown failed to meet her PVC goal in September, following which Chaney authored the “Corrective Action Process” document. 9 According to Brown, the PVC increase was an increase applicable to all RBs. As her deposition testimony reflects, “[t]he actual figure, 500 and 600, it was my understanding that [Chaney] didn’t put that in place, I believe that was what our PVCs were. I don’t think she could change that.” -4- No. 05-3247 Brown v. Bank One be monitored over the next 90 days. Failure to raise your work performance/conduct to an acceptable level within that time will result in further corrective action, up to and including termination of your employment.” Although Brown refused to sign the November 5 Corrective Action Process form,10 she agreed that she was not meeting all of the goals. On January 14, 2003, Chaney determined that Brown had not sufficiently improved her job performance and therefore issued her a Corrective Action process form, which included “Final Written Warnings.” The Warnings documented that Brown again failed to earn sufficient PVCs in November and December 2002, schedule appointments, and make new business contacts. In addition to outlining new sales goals for Brown, the Warnings stated that Chaney would cover for Brown for one hour on a daily basis to allow Brown to make outgoing business phone calls.11 Following the January 2003 Warnings, Brown earned 600 PVCs in January and 300 PVCs in February and, as a result, Chaney asked Brown whether she would accept a demotion. After Brown declined the demotion, Chaney and District Manager Christine Kelly met with Brown on March 13, 2003, and informed her that she had the option of being terminated or submitting her resignation. Brown elected to resign, and, accordingly, the Bank provided her with two weeks severance pay. The Bank replaced Brown with a white female. 10 Brown apparently refused to sign “[b]ecause of the time frame that I was supposedly allotted to get these actions into place, it was accelerated from what I was given and I wouldn’t sign, that was the reason.” 11 At the time of the Final Written Warnings, the Bank had recently implemented the 2003 Relationship Banker Sales Incentive Plan, which required RBs to immediately begin earning at least 750 PVCs per month. -5- No. 05-3247 Brown v. Bank One B. Robin Allison-Knight’s Employment with Bank One. Robin Allison-Knight is an African-American female who was hired to work as an RB for Bank One beginning in May 2001. See Note 3, supra. She, too, had difficulty adapting to the PVC incentive program and, on September 30, 2002, Chaney commenced a “Documented Discussion” with Allison-Knight. On a “Corrective Action Process” form, reflecting Allison-Knight’s performance during the 2002 Plan’s trial period, Chaney handwrote that “Robin has consistently failed to meet her required sales goals as well as her PVC goal.” Allison-Knight also received a copy of Chaney’s handwritten “Behaviors to be successful” and was cautioned that her performance would be monitored over the next sixty days. On November 5, 2002, Chaney commenced a “Written Counseling” disciplinary action seeking to rectify Allison-Knight’s job performance. On that form, Chaney wrote that AllisonKnight had failed to make ten business contacts per day, attain monthly minimum PVCs, schedule two appointments per day, and sufficiently profile business sales opportunities. Like Chaney’s expectations for Brown, Chaney wrote that “[i]t is expected that you earn a minimum of 500 PVCs in November and 600 in December 2002.” Allison-Knight signed the November 5 Corrective Action Process form. -6- No. 05-3247 Brown v. Bank One By March 2003, Allison-Knight had achieved her PVC goal only twice in eleven months.12 On May 1, 2003, Chaney provided her with the option of resigning or being terminated. AllisonKnight elected to resign that same day and was replaced by a white female. C. Kathy Markowski’s Employment with Bank One. Kathy Markowski is a Caucasian female who was hired to work as an RB for Bank One beginning in September 2002. Although she successfully exceeded the 300 PVC minimum during her three-month trial period, see note 6, supra, Markowski thereafter met her PVC goal only three times in six months. Consequently, Chaney spoke with Markowski on April 17, 2003, concerning Markowski’s job performance. Chaney warned Markowski that she was not fulfilling her daily minimum job requirements and her continued failure to do so may result in further corrective action. Chaney subsequently provided Markowski with a “Final Written Warning” on May 1, 2005. Markowski’s final warning observed that she failed to meet minimum PVC goals, document business contacts, place sufficient outgoing business calls, and schedule daily appointments. Then, before Markowski sought to begin maternity leave in May, Chaney asked whether Markowski would consider a demotion. Markowski accepted the demotion and was transferred to Summit Mall. She was replaced by an African-American female. D. Procedural History. 12 Significantly, Allison-Knight was on maternity leave from January 31, 2003, until March 17, 2003. -7- No. 05-3247 Brown v. Bank One As a result of the foregoing, Brown filed a complaint on December 22, 2003, with the Summit County Court of Common Pleas, alleging race discrimination in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e and Ohio Revised Code § 4112.02, and wrongful discharge in violation of Ohio public policy. The Bank thereafter removed the action to federal court on January 26, 2004, and filed for summary judgment on July 12, 2004. On January 19, 2005, the district court granted summary judgment in the Bank’s favor on all counts. In doing so, the court found that, although Brown successfully established a prima facie case of employment discrimination, the Bank had properly asserted a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for Brown’s termination. Specifically, the court observed that “[t]he criteria under [the PVC] program were objective, and based on measurable performance in relation to sales goals of bank products or services.” The court also highlighted that “[a]ll three [RBs] faltered in meeting the PVC monthly goals as they were progressively increased from 400 to 750 points, and all three were forced to leave their positions in relationship banking for under performance.” The court therefore held that the burden shifted to Brown to demonstrate that the Bank’s asserted reason was merely a pretext for discriminatory motives. The district court, after comparing Brown’s performance to Markowski’s, concluded that “[t]he timing of the adverse employment action was the same for both Brown and Markowski, and the time of adverse employment action is what is material.” Although Brown challenged the validity of the PVC program, the court observed that “whether the PVC goals were reasonably set and attainable is irrelevant, so long as Bank One -8- No. 05-3247 Brown v. Bank One applied them equally in this disparate treatment case.” Accordingly, the court concluded that awarding summary judgment in the Bank’s favor was appropriate. This timely appeal followed.