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Autrey v. Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corp.1/28/2002
Justice O'Neill
Appellant Tamera L. Autrey appeals an order confirming an arbitration award in favor of Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corporation (Diamond Shamrock).
Autrey presents six issues in which she generally contends the trial court erred in confirming the award. For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court's judgment.
Diamond Shamrock hired Autry in early 1998 as a store clerk. By August 1998, Autrey had been promoted to store manager. The following summer, problems began to emerge between Autrey and Diamond Shamrock. On August 15, 1999, Autrey was suspended for five days and transferred to a less favorable store. Diamond Shamrock's stated reason for the suspension and transfer was poor job performance. Shortly following her suspension, on August 31, 1999, Autrey was terminated. Diamond Shamrock told Autrey she was being terminated for violating the company's three day "no call/no show" policy. Specifically, Diamond Shamrock claimed Autrey had failed to report to work for three consecutive days without notifying her immediate supervisor. Autrey, on the other hand, claimed she was suspended and then terminated for refusing her supervisor's sexual advances. Consequently, Autrey sued Diamond Shamrock for sexual harassment. On the parties' agreed motion, the trial court stayed proceedings pending arbitration before the American Arbitration Association as required by Autry's employment agreement.
At the arbitration hearing, Autrey testified her supervisor, Paul Cain, began making sexual advances toward her in June 1999. She claimed she was terminated because she refused those advances. As proof that she notified Cain that his advances were unwanted, Autrey introduced into evidence a photocopy of a letter, dated August 12, 1999, that she wrote to Cain. In the letter, Autrey notified Cain that his actions were not acceptable and that she would report him if he did not stop his behavior. Autrey was suspended shortly after she delivered this letter to Cain. Autrey testified she wrote the letter at home, sealed it immediately, and hand delivered it to Cain the following morning. Later in her testimony, Autrey testified she did not have a photocopier at home.
Autrey denied she violated Diamond Shamrock's three day no call/no show policy. Autrey had initially informed Cain that she was going to be out of the office on medical leave until Friday August 27, 1999. However, Autrey was unable to return to work as scheduled and she remained out of the office for three days following her scheduled return. She admitted she did not directly notify Cain of her delayed return. However, she claimed she told Sam Sonya, a store clerk, to let Cain know she was still on medical leave. According to Autrey, Cain told her she could notify Sonya if she was going to be out.
Sam Sonya testified that Autrey did call and tell him that she would not be back on Friday August 27th and that she was going to be out at least until her doctor's appointment the following Monday. Sonya further claimed he gave this message to Cain as Autrey requested.
Cain testified for Diamond Shamrock and denied sexually harassing Autrey. Cain also denied having received the August 12 letter. According to Cain, Autrey was initially suspended for poor job performance and then terminated because she violated Diamond Shamrock's three day no call/ no show policy.
Cain was unclear on whether Sonya had told him Autrey was going to be out following her scheduled August 27, 1999 return. In any event, the policy requires an employee to notify her supervisor and not to pass messages through other employees. Cain denied giving Autrey permission to notify Sony
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