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FLENTJE v. FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF WYNNE3/2/2000
Appellant Charlotte Flentje appeals a summary judgment in favor of Appellee First National Bank of Wynne ("FNB" or "the bank") in her suit alleging gender discrimination under the Arkansas Civil Rights Act. The Arkansas Court of Appeals certified the case to this court because it contains issues of first impression under the Arkansas Civil Rights Act. Hence, we have jurisdiction under Ark. R. Sup. Ct. Rule 1-2(b)(1). We affirm.
Facts
Flentje began working for FNB in August of 1976. During her eighteen years at the bank, Flentje served as a bookkeeper, a teller, a branch-office manager, and as the bank's ATM Representative/Administrator. In September 1993, Flentje underwent a job evaluation by her supervisor, Connie Watts. In this performance review, Watts scored Flentje on a scale of "one" to "five," with "one" being outstanding and "five" being unacceptable, in twenty-one different work categories. Out of the twenty-one factors, Flentje did not score a "one" in any area, and scored a "five" in the area of
"attitude" towards customers and employees. In the other twenty areas, Flentje scored five "fours" for poor work in the areas of quantity of work, speed of work, control over frustration and personal problems, employee relations, and customer relations. Flentje scored six "twos" and eight "threes" in the remaining fifteen areas. Based on this performance review, Flentje was placed on probation for forty-five days.
In January 1994, FNB's board of directors met and discussed the bank's low productivity and profits. According to the affidavits submitted by FNB in support of its motion for summary judgment, the bank had been experiencing a significant reduction in income in 1992 and 1993, and the projections for the 1994 fiscal year indicated another potentially low-profit year. The board directed the bank president, Tandy Menefee, to explore methods to reduce costs, including personnel costs, in order to increase profitability. Menefee, in turn, organized a committee of several of the bank's managers and vice presidents to evaluate options for expense reduction within the bank's departments. The committee ultimately recommended that four positions be eliminated. FNB terminated Flentje, along with three of her co-workers, on March 21, 1994. Flentje, a single woman, was eight months pregnant at the time. The other positions eliminated included an auditor, a correspondence secretary, and a vice president/business development officer. The bank considered the four to be at-will employees. The bank had no seniority system. Besides the eliminated positions, the bank also canceled creation of two additional new positions, and declined to refill one position when an existing employee quit. In all, seven positions were eliminated in the reduction-in-force decisions.
On April 13, 1995, after her termination, Flentje filed suit in federal court against FNB under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and under the Arkansas Civil Rights Act, Ark. Code Ann. §§ 16-123-101 (1993) et. seq. In September 1996, Flentje dismissed her federal lawsuit and filed the instant action in state court. Flentje alleged that FNB terminated her because of pregnancy which, if proven, would constitute gender discrimination expressly prohibited under Ark. Code Ann. § 16-123-107(a)(1). Specifically, Flentje alleged that Menefee and Watts began treating her differently after they learned that she was pregnant, and that Menefee told Watts that Flentje should not have the baby under the circumstances but instead should "get rid of it."
Additionally, Flentje alleged that the bank had discriminated against other employees, including Oscar Thomas, who FNB also discharged in the
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