Trumbull v. Service Corporation International (SCI)

Filing 96

MOTION by Plaintiff Nancy Trumbull for judgment Motion for Relief from Judgment and in the Alternative Motion to Alter or Amend Judgment (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B, # 3 Exhibit C, # 4 Exhibit D, # 5 Exhibit E, # 6 Exhibit F, # 7 Exhibit G, # 8 Supplement 10, # 9 Supplement 19, # 10 Supplement 29)(Greene, Martin)

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OMPL]ANCE

COMMUNICATION WITH REPORT
ER
SCI-08-06-OO1 9

CONFIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM
Report Initiated

2008-06-20 15:09 ET

Scheduled Follow-up

Hotline

Awareness Resource

Co-worker

Language

English

Documented by

C

2008-09-29

Source

Primary Priority

GAMISR

Allegation

Class

Priority

Discrimination

Primary

Legal: EEC/Diversity Issues

C

Workplace Conduct

Yes

Workplace Conduct Issues

C

No

Location

Location Geography

0306 Rosehill Cemetery
5800 North Ravenswood Avenue
Chicago, IL 60660
United States

Location Function

Parties Involved

Party Type

Nancy Trumbull

Caller

family service counselor

David Klein

Subject

marketing manager

June (last name unknown)

Subject

family counselor

Pete (last name unknown)

Suoject

(exact title unknown)

Bob Lavoncher

Suoject

sales manager

Lenny Hayes

Subject

(name unknown)

Other Involved Party

family service counselor

Gary Ritter

Other Involved Party

human resources
representative

Other Involved Party

office manager

Other [phone]

Kathy Ubtitas (Phonetic
Spelling)

Job title

Description

general manager

EXFHBIT

SC 00159

SCI-08-06-0019 Page 2
(first name unknown) (last
name unknown)

Other Involved Party

client

Client who Nancy Trumbull has
worked with

(first name unknown) (last
name unknown)

Other Involved Party

client

A $6000 account

non-employee

client

(first name withheld) (last name Other
Involved Party
withheld)
Tom Bornstein

Other Involved Party

counselor

(name unknown)

Other Involved Party

delivery person

Male, Caucasian

Witness

community counselor

Caucasian

Witness

community counselor

Caucasian

Patricia Walsh
David Rasmussen
(name withheld)

Witness

representative

-

Taylor Funeral

Home
(name withheld)

Witness

client

Issue Summary
Nancy Trumbull said Bob Lavoncher
subjected her to harassment and discrim
ination and Lenny Hayes did not offer
resolution.
satisfactory

Issue Details

SC 00160

SC)-08-06-0019 Page 3
Nancy Trumbull said Bob Lavonche
r arrived in March 2008 (exact date
unknown) and began to subject her to hara
Nancy said Bob solely discrimin
ssment.
ated against her and another fema
le Peer (name unknown). Nancy said
greater degree of harassment beca
Bob subjected her to a
use she is African-American. On April
1 Bob and Nancy engaged in a conf
the work place in which he called
rontation inside
her a “liar. Nancy engaged Gary
Ritter’s assistance in having the situation
did not acknowledge he had enga
addressed. Bob
ged in any incorrect behavior, whic
h made resolution impossible. Nanc
began to deteriorate between her
y said the situation
and Bob, and the Peer’s departure
further accelerated the decline. Bob isola
acted in an aloof manner towards
ted Nancy and
her.
In late April (exact date unknown
), Nancy had provided both Lenn
y Hayes and Bob with notice in orde
Nancy said she had a personal frien
r to leave early on May 2.
d’s funeral to attend and a subseque
nt visit to clients. On May 2, a second
occurred, in which Bob accused
confrontation
Nancy of time abuse and unethical
behavior. Nancy said Bob instructed
Spelling) to monitor her departure
Kathy Ubtitas (Phonetic
s. Nancy had left for the prearrang
ed outings and had not clocked Out corre
return, there was a note from Kath
ctly. Upon Nancy’s
y about Nancy’s intention to com
mit time fraud. Nancy addressed Kath
her note, and Kathy referred Nanc
y about the meaning of
y to Bob for further elaboration.
Nancy contacted Bob, who told her, “You
what you want.” Nancy notified
have no right to do
Gary and Lenny about Bob’s beha
vior. Lenny addressed Kathy’s beha
subordinate and should have notif
vior, because she was his
ied him of Bob’s instructions to her.
Another meeting took place and Bob
Gary offered to meet with Bob and
did not cooperate.
address his behavior.
After the May 2 incident, the envi
ronment at the location began to
further deteriorate. Nancy said her
began to take her clients, and Bob
two other remaining peers
permitted the unfair distribution of
sales leads. Nancy began to work long
the location remained understaffed,
er hours because
despite Bob’s awareness of it. On
June 11, Nancy met with Lenny and
to the community service counselor
requested a transfer
position in order to place further dista
nce between herself and Bob, and mitig
possibility of the theft of her custo
ate the
mers. Nancy said Lenny has not
offered any response. Bob continue
belligerent manner and has not addr
s to behave in a
essed Nancy’s concerns about her
peer’s theft of potential clients.
Nancy said Bob engaged in unpr
ofessional conduct and permitted
unethical behavior to occur amongst
violation of the company’s standard,
the sales staff, in
as found on page 39 of the employe
e’s handbook.
Nancy said the company transferre
d Bob to the location against his
wishes and he made his displeasu
harbors a personal prejudice towa
re about it known. Bob
rds women, which contributed to
his behavior towards Nancy.
Nancy initiated a report in order to
escalate her grievances.
Nancy said Bob created a hostile and
disruptive work environment.
Nancy said both management and
human resources at the local level
are aware of her concerns and griev
actions towards her.
ances about Bob’s
Nancy has attempted to resolve this
issue through the company’s prob
lem solving process. Nancy was than
was issued a report identification num
ked for calling, and
ber.

Global Compliance Comments
The Caller spelled all proper names
in this report.

Additional Questions
No Ouestions and Answers found for
this call report.

Communication with Reporter
Type
Date Entered
Follow-up

2008-12-10 12:21 El

Answers

Entered By

Reply Given to
Reporter

Language

C{US1\hedstromj

No

English

Sd 00161

SCI-08-06-0019 Page 4
WPA Follow-Up
Nancy Trumbull completed a follow-up call to provid
e the following additional information:
Nancy said she continues to be harassed in the workp
lace. On November 3, 2008, a Client (name withhe
ld), called and asked
for Nancy. The Client was told Nancy does
not work at the facility, On December 9, a Representativ
e (name withheld), from
Taylor Funeral Home called and asked for Nancy
. Nancy said the Representative later told her that
Lenny Hayes acted as if he
did not know who Nancy was.
At approximately 10:30 am., on December 10,
2008, a Delivery Person (name unknown) unknown to
Nancy delivered an
envelope to Nancy’s home. Nancy asked the Delive
ry Person who he was, and he said, “I’m from SCI.’
Nancy said he delivered
a letter from David Klein, which implied Nancy was uncoop
erative regarding meetings, and indicated she could
be terminated if
she did not schedule a meeting with David within the
next 10
business days.
Nancy said the letter and the manner in which it was
given to her is a continuation of the harassment she experie
nces from
management. David is a marketing manager, not
a trained human resource professional, therefore Nancy
was unclear why he
was placed in charge of the investigation. Howev
er, Nancy said she attempted to cooperate with David’
s attempts. David and
other company management is aware Nancy works
at another job. On November 25, David sent Nancy
an email indicating he
wanted to meet at 10 am, on either December 1,2
or 3. Nancy said David knew she was unable to attend
a meeting at that time
due to her other employment obligations. The letter
David sent implied Nancy refused to meet with him
and said she cancelled
scheduled meetings. Nancy said this is untrue, becaus
e she and David never agreed on any one date. Nancy
said David was
assigned to investigate harassment against her,
but is now harassing and threatening her,
Nancy was thanked for completing the follow-up call.
Reply

2008-10-06 16:55 ET

faye.eckblad@scius. corn

No

English

Investigation Complete
The caller is thanked for coming forward with her concer
ns. The Company takes allegations such as the ones
Ms. Trumbull
made in her Careline complaint very seriously. We have
conducted a thorough investigation and have taken what
we believe to
be appropriate action. Ms. Trumbull is encouraged to
speak with a member of Human Resources with any
future concerns. [File
20081064]

Follow-up

2008-08-30 00:02 ET

CIUS1\hallk

No

English

WPA Follow-Up
Nancy Trumbull completed a follow-up call to provide
the following additional information:
At 3:00 p.m. on August 29, 2008, a Client (name withhe
ld) called for Nancy. Nancy was unavailable at
the time. Instead of taking
a message, Bob Lavoncher assisted the Client with the purcha
se of a stone marker for his/her loved one. Nancy said
Bob took
her sales lead. Nancy said Torn Bornstein asked Nancy
to handle this Client when he left work for a leave of
absence. Nancy
asked Bob why he assisted the Client instead of giving her
the message to contact the Client. Bob said Nancy
had no
authorization to exclusively handle the Client per
Lenny Hayes.
Nancy has not made another member of management
or human resources aware of her concern.
Nancy was thanked for completing the follow-up call, and
agreed to complete another follow-up call as initially schedu
led.
Follow-up

2008-08-25 10:02 ET

CIUS1\MacDonS

No

English

WPA Follow-Up

Sd 00162

SCI-08-06-0019 Page 5
Nancy Trumbull completed a follow-up call to inquire about the
status of her original report. Nancy was informed the details of
her report had been provided to the SCI Management Corpo
ration. Nancy provided the following additional information.
Nancy said that since submitting her initial report the compa
ny addressed her concerns to some extent. As a result of reporti
ng
her concerns, Nancy was transferred to a different department. Nancy
said other issues have developed since then.
Nancy had been talking to a potential Client (name withhe
ld) who had not had a contract with Rose Hill since approximately
April
2008 (exact month and day unknown). Beginning in approx
imately early July (exact day unknown), Lenny Hayes began
repeatedly requesting Nancy provide him with a list of her clients
, including the Client she had been talking to since
approximately April. Patricia Walsh and David Rasmussen inform
ed Nancy that Lenny did not ask them to provide information
regarding their clients. Nancy does not know why Lenny
would request she do so.
On August 19, while in front of Nancy, Lenny asked Nancy’s potent
ial Client for their phone number. Although the potential
Client provided their business number to Lenny, they told
him to contact them through Nancy.
Nancy and the other Community Counselors work on straigh
t commission. Nancy said that on one or more prior occasio
ns,
client information was unfairly provided to other employees.
Nancy said she is concerned she could lose clients she worked for.
Nancy said that because she has been working with that potent
ial client, she should be permitted to continue to do so.
Additionally, Nancy said that although she was on the proper
ty when another Client (name withheld) attempted to contact
her on
August 23, June (last name unknown) answered the call
and informed the Client she was unavailable. Nancy said the Client
was
angry and that June should have contacted her by phone
so she could talk to the Client. June’s message indicated the
Client
called at 1:17 p.m. Nancy said she is not getting her messag
es properly. Nancy also said the same Client informed her that
Pete
gave the impression Nancy no longer worked for the compa
ny, which Nancy said was derogatory.
Nancy said that because she is the only African-American woman
there, she wonders if she is being racially discriminated
against. Nancy said she did not have any other reason for suspec
ting she is being discriminated against because of her race.
Nancy was thanked for completing the follow-up call.

Client agrees and understands that Globat Compliance neither warran
ts, vouches for, nor authenticates the reliability of the allegations
provided
in this report. Client agrees that it shall have the sole responsibility
for investigating or otherwise evaluating these allegations and
other
information provided and to comply with eli local, state and federal
laws pertaining to the investigation and protection of such information,
as well
as the protection of all rights of any person or persons accuse
d of any wrongdoing.

Sd 00163