Court Opinion

ID: 9486034
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 11:36:29.166172+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:30.071553
License: Public Domain

BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. In my view, it is clear from the plaintiffs own testimony that he could not present any evidence from which a reasonable jury could have found one of the essential elements of his ADEA claim: that he was constructively discharged from his employment at Ford. LaPointe alleged in his complaint, in his opposition to defendants’ motion for summary judgment, and in oral argument before this panel that the union forced him to retire from Ford. La-Pointe’s counsel agreed at oral argument that LaPointe in fact is claiming that he was constructively discharged by reason of his alleged forced retirement from Ford. La-Pointe does not claim in his complaint, in his opposition to the motion for summary judgment, or in his brief to this Court that he was discriminated against in the terms and conditions of his employment or subjected to a hostile work environment. He does not claim that because of his discriminatory treatment he was forced to resign his Union position and attempted unsuccessfully to return to his job with Ford in the Parts Depot. He claims only that in his full-time Union position as Health and Safety Representative he was treated so badly by the defendants on account of his age that he was forced to take early retirement from Ford, with the necessary result that he relinquished the Union position.
Whether a plaintiff presents a prima facie rebuttable presumption of age discrimination under a McDonnell Douglas approach or presents a prima facie case on the basis of direct evidence of age discrimination, he still must present evidence that because of the claimed discrimination he suffered an adverse employment decision. In order for LaPointe to stave off summary judgment under either theory, he had to present evidence to the district court that there remained a genuine issue of material fact as to whether he was constructively discharged from Ford. For the reasons outlined below, I would find that he failed to do this.
Although the district court did not address the issue of constructive discharge because it stopped its analysis after determining that LaPointe had not made out a prima facie case under the Gagne/McDonnell Douglas test, “this Court may examine the record and affirm the District Court on other grounds if we determine that there exists no material controversy regarding matters of fact or law.” Hooks v. Hooks, 771 F.2d 935, 945 (6th Cir.1985). The issue of constructive discharge was clearly raised by the parties in the district court. Plaintiff LaPointe’s ADEA claim alleges that he was harassed into retirement because defendants wanted “to get a younger person in as Health and Safety Representative.” Defendants moved for summary judgment, claiming that La-Pointe could not establish the elements of a prima facie case, one of which, defendants stated, was that plaintiff was forced to retire. Defendants specifically claimed that La-Pointe could not demonstrate that he was forced to retire because the evidence would show that he opted to take retirement. Responding to Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment, LaPointe claimed that:
In this particular case, a prima facie case would be showing that the Plaintiff is a member of a protected group; that he was forced to retire; that he was qualified for the position; and, that he was replaced by *382a person outside the protected group. The Defendant does not challenge three of the four alleged requirements. Plaintiff is a member of a protected group and the Defendant is not challenging Plaintiffs argument that he was forced to retire by Doug Thompson’s harassment....
(emphasis added)
But in their reply brief, defendants countered:
At the outset it should be noted that Defendants do not concede that Plaintiff was “forced to retire.” To the contrary, Defendants’ [sic] contend that LaPointe was not forced to retire. Neither was George Wheeler nor Donald Levine. In fact, Plaintiff admitted that he had the option of resigning his Union position and returning to his regular employment. A contrary “personal belief’ would be legally insufficient to support an inference of age discrimination.
Similarly, LaPointe’s acceptance of the early retirement offer did not constitute age discrimination because he has not shown that he would have been fired had he turned down the offer and thus he has failed to show that he was constructively discharged.
[citations to record omitted]
Regardless of whether LaPointe was seeking to make out a prima facie case under McDonnell Douglas, or was proceeding on the basis of direct evidence of age discrimination, he was required to show at least that there remains a genuine issue as to the adverse employment action which he claims as the injury in this suit. It was incumbent upon LaPointe to respond, or at least to attempt to respond, to the defendants’ claim on summary judgment that this essential element of a prima facie case was absent by pointing to evidence in the record that would raise a genuine issue of fact as to this element. Liberles v. County of Cook, 709 F.2d 1122, 1126 (7th Cir.1983) (party opposing summary judgment motion must inform trial judge why summary judgment should not be entered). While the defendants in their reply brief pointed to specific evidence in the record demonstrating that plaintiff was not forced to retire, (a burden which the law does not place on the moving party), plaintiff failed to respond with any specific evidence to support his claim.
In addition, although the plaintiff did not address the constructive discharge issue in his brief on appeal, the defendants clearly did address it in their appellate brief, and plaintiff made no effort to respond. And at oral argument this panel addressed the constructive discharge issue with the parties and plaintiff admitted that his claim is that he was forced to retire from Ford and was thus constructively discharged.
A claim of constructive discharge must be decided on the facts of the particular case. Geisler v. Folsom, 735 F.2d 991, 996 (6th Cir.1984). Constructive discharge is at least partially a question of law, and therefore we must review it de novo. Wheeler v. Southland Corp., 875 F.2d 1246, 1249 (6th Cir.1989). A constructive discharge occurs when “ ‘working conditions would have been so difficult or unpleasant that a reasonable person in the employee’s shoes would have felt compelled to resign.’ ” Geisler, 735 F.2d at 996 (quoting Held v. Gulf Oil Co., 684 F.2d 427, 432 (6th Cir.1982)). Feelings of the employee alone cannot establish a constructive discharge; “ ‘the constructive discharge issue depends upon the facts of each case and requires an inquiry into the intent of the employer and the reasonably foreseeable impact of the employer’s conduct upon the employee.’ ” Wheeler, 875 F.2d at 1249 (quoting Held, 684 F.2d at 432). A constructive discharge claim exists if the plaintiff shows that “a reasonable employer would have foreseen that a reasonable employee ... would feel constructively discharged.” Wheeler, 875 F.2d at 1249.
LaPointe has failed to show that there is a genuine issue of material fact for trial as to his constructive discharge claim. It is undisputed that during the entire time that La-Pointe was employed in the Union Health and Safety Representative position he was also employed by Ford. While there is some evidence of age-based discrimination in the record, it is clear from the depositions that all of the alleged harassment and bullying was directed toward getting LaPointe and *383other older employees out of their Union positions. For example, LaPointe testified in his deposition that Thompson verbally harassed him in the course of LaPointe’s duties as Health and Safety Representative by stating that “old guys” needed to retire to make room for younger employees and calling him age-related names; cut his overtime and attempted to move him from the Health and Safety Representative position to special assignment; continually requested that he retire; told LaPointe that he wanted to see LaPointe’s name on a list of persons requesting early retirement information; told others, after LaPointe signed up on this list, that LaPointe was retiring; and told La-Pointe that if he left the Union position and went back to his Ford job, he would have him fired from that position, too. George Wheeler, the predecessor to LaPointe, also stated in his deposition that Thompson harassed him and made remarks that employees with thirty years of experience should retire.
Defendant Thompson, in his deposition, denied ever having made age-related remarks or telling LaPointe or Wheeler to retire, maintaining that any decisions he made in relation to the Health and Safety Representative were either on the merits or for purely political reasons. Thus it is clear that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether LaPointe was constructively discharged from the Union position. However, LaPointe wholly failed to show a genuine issue of fact as to whether Thompson or anyone else constructively discharged him from, his job at Ford in the Parts Depot. This court has held that a determination of constructive discharge requires “an inquiry into the intent of the employer and the reasonably foreseeable impact of the employer’s conduct on the employee,” to the end that “the feelings of the employee would not be enough to show discharge without at least some foreseeability on the part of the employer.” Wheeler, 875 F.2d at 1249 (quoting Yates v. Avco Corp, 819 F.2d 630, 636-37 (6th Cir.1987)). We have also held that the presentation to an employee of other legitimate options for continued employment with the company precludes a finding of constructive discharge, quoting the Eleventh Circuit’s language in Garner v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 807 F.2d 1536, 1539 (11th Cir.1987), that “the employee has ‘an obligation not to assume the worst, and not to jump to conclusions too fast.’ ” Wilson v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 932 F.2d 510, 515 (6th Cir.1991). Finally, in an unpublished opinion citing Wilson, Gamer and Wheeler, we held that “[wjhere, as here, an employee fails to even attempt a reassignment or new position offered to improve a troubling situation, a court may find against constructive discharge.” Cleverly v. Digital Equipment Corp., 978 F.2d 1258 (6th Cir.1992).
The majority makes no mention whatsoever of LaPointe’s burden of showing, as part of his direct evidence case, an adverse employment action, except (in a footnote) to “reject the notion that LaPointe was not constructively discharged from both Ford and Local 600,” because “we cannot say, as a matter of law at summary judgment that the district court’s assumption [that LaPointe could have returned to his job at Ford after resigning his Union position] is correct.” But LaPointe’s constructive discharge from Ford is an essential element of his ADEA claim; it was not the defendants’ burden to produce any evidence on this issue. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) (Where the plaintiff fails to put forth an essential element of his cause, the court must enter summary judgment as a matter of law). It is undisputed that at all times during his full-time employment as the bargaining unit’s Health and Safety Representative, LaPointe continued as an employee of Ford, as the majority opinion acknowledges. LaPointe claims that these defendants forced him to retire from employment with Ford. It was therefore LaPointe’s burden to produce some evidence in the record that he was forced to retire from Ford. If this court requires that a plaintiff who claims that his sole employer constructively discharged him must provide evidence from which a jury could find that the employer intended, or at least should have foreseen, that the employee would feel compelled to resign, and requires that the presence of other legitimate employment options with that employer will preclude a finding of constructive discharge, and requires *384that a reasonable employee has a duty not to assume the worst and jump to conclusions too fast, how much more should this court require those things where the plaintiff claims constructive discharge from employment with one employer by reason of actions of a different employer? At the very least, I would hold that LaPointe, in order to avoid summary judgment, was required to present some actual evidence from which a jury could have found that the defendants in this case in fact could have influenced his continued employment with Ford.
LaPointe, however, not only failed to produce any evidence whatever in support of his claim that he was constructively discharged from Ford; in fact, his own testimony contradicts his claim. As the Union Health and Safety Representative, LaPointe continued to be paid by Ford and remained a Ford employee. LaPointe admitted in his deposition that he could have retired from the union position and gone back to his job at Ford. He did not show that a reasonable person would have felt compelled to resign from both the union position and from the Ford position. It is true that LaPointe stated several times throughout his deposition that Thompson told him that “one way or another” he would see that LaPointe was fired from Ford if he returned there. However, the following statements in LaPointe’s deposition indicate that LaPointe knew, and a reasonable person would have known, that in fact Thompson could not have had him fired from Ford:
LaPointe: ... I didn’t know what was happening or what was going to happen to me, because I had been threatened that if I went back out on the floor, I’d lose that job out there too, one way or another and I’d lose, I’d lose the Health and Safety job.
So I just, I thought I’d better get out of there to get some help otherwise. .
Question: Isn’t it true that you would have had more protection if you had gone back to your job on the floor?
LaPointe: I would have been under the same' — right back under the same President, Mr. Thompson or Dan Gillis.
Question: Isn’t it true that you would not have been working for either Doug
Thompson or Dan Gillis, you would have been working for a Ford foreman wouldn’t you?
LaPointe: No, but they would have been my union representatives.
Question: Wouldn’t you have been working for a Ford Motor Company foreman?
LaPointe: Yes.
Question: And foremen are not a member of the union, are they?
LaPointe: No.
Question: They’re not a part of Thompson’s Caucus, are they?
LaPointe: No.
Question: They don’t report to Thompson, do they?
LaPointe: Hmmph; not that I know of.
Obviously, LaPointe knew that if he returned to Ford he would be under the supervision of a Ford foreman, and not Thompson.
Although LaPointe contends that Thompson told him that he would have him fired if he returned to the Ford job, a reasonable person would not have believed that Thompson had any control over firings at Ford. In addition, although LaPointe stated that he was told by several union officials that Thompson “could do whatever he wanted to do,” LaPointe does not contend that these union officials were referring to Thompson’s ability to have LaPointe fired from Ford altogether; rather, they were referring to Thompson’s Union decisions. Neither did LaPointe present any evidence that he attempted to determine from anyone at Ford whether Thompson could make good on this threat. Thus, although LaPointe presented evidence from which a jury could have found that Thompson treated him in such a reprehensible fashion that a reasonable person would have been compelled to retire from the Union position, LaPointe presented no evidence that a reasonable person also would have felt compelled to retire from the Ford position. When LaPointe filled out the retirement forms in November of 1988 and retired from Ford effective January 1, 1989, he waived his opportunity to claim that he was constructively discharged from both positions. It was because LaPointe retired from Ford that he was required to retire *385from the Union position. Had LaPointe resigned his Union position but retained his position at Ford, he might have been able to prevail on a claim of age discrimination against Thompson and the Union for constructive discharge from the Union position. And if Thompson subsequently had forced him to retire from Ford, LaPointe might have been able to prevail on a similar claim of constructive discharge from Ford. But LaPointe never attempted to continue in his employment with Ford. He has presented no evidence whatever that Ford intended that he should, or even had any inkling that he might feel compelled to retire from his employment with Ford. The actions of the Union did not entitle LaPointe to “assume the worst” and jump to the conclusion that Ford would discharge him at the urging of Thompson or permit him to be hounded out of his employment with Ford by these defendants.
Accordingly, I would affirm summary judgment for defendants-appellees, although on grounds other than those stated by the district court. Under either a McDonnell Douglas inference of age discrimination or the direct evidence method of proving age discrimination, LaPointe failed to make out a prima facie ease because he failed to show he was subjected to an adverse employment decision. Therefore, I would hold that he cannot prevail on his challenge to the summary judgment.