STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

SHIREVELL A. WILLIAMS,

Petitioner,

vs.

ALLEGIANCE SECURITY GROUP,

Respondent.

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) Case No. 10-9413

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RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice, a final hearing was held in this case on November 17, 2010, in Tallahassee, Florida, before Thomas P. Crapps, a designated Administrative Law Judge of the Division of Administrative Hearings.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Shirevell A. Williams, pro se

Post Office Box 2089

St. Petersburg, Florida 33731

For Respondent: Jeffrey Knebel, Qualified Representative Allegiance Security Group

4905 West Laurel Street, Suite 301

Tampa, Florida 33607 STATEMENT OF THE ISSUE

The issue in this case is whether Respondent committed an unlawful employment practice against Petitioner by terminating her employment based on Petitioner's gender and race in

violation of Chapter 760, Florida Statutes (2009),1 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

On August 17, 2010, the Florida Commission on Human Relations issued a Determination: No Cause to believe that Respondent, Allegiance Security Group (Allegiance), committed an unlawful employment practice in violation of Section 760.10,

Florida Statutes, against Petitioner, Shirevell A. Williams (Ms. Williams).

On September 17, 2010, Ms. Williams filed a Petition for Relief (Petition), alleging that Allegiance did not allow her to address the disciplinary investigation against her "because of my sex, color." Ms. Williams also alleged in her Petition disparate treatment as to her termination based on race and gender.

On September 29, 2010, the Florida Commission on Human Relations transmitted Ms. Williams' Petition to the Division of Administrative Hearings for assignment of an Administrative Law Judge to conduct the final hearing. Initially, the case was assigned to Administrative Law Judge William F. Quattlebaum. On November 12, 2010, the case was transferred to Administrative Law Judge Thomas P. Crapps to conduct the final hearing.

On November 17, 2010, the final hearing was conducted in Tallahassee, Florida. Ms. Williams testified in her own behalf

and introduced two exhibits. Allegiance called two witnesses, Jeffrey Knebel and Crystal Plummer, and introduced three exhibits into evidence. The Florida Commission on Human Relations failed to provide a court reporter to transcribe the proceedings. At the conclusion of the hearing, the parties were directed to file any proposed recommended orders by December 1,

2010.

On November 30, 2010, Allegiance filed a proposed

recommended order. On December 7, 2010, Ms. Williams filed a rebuttal to Allegiance's proposed recommended order. Although Ms. Williams' submission was untimely, the undersigned considered her rebuttal in preparing the Recommended Order.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Ms. Williams is an African-American female who worked for Allegiance from September 26, 2009, until November 25, 2009, as a security officer. She was a security officer in a residential community named Waterside North Community, working in the gate house for the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

2. Prior to working for Allegiance, Ms. Williams had been a security officer for Weiser Security Services at the same residential community. While working for Weiser Security Services, Ms. Williams had received recognition for her positive attitude at work. During the time of Ms. Williams' employment with Weiser Security Systems, she worked with a fellow security

   
   

   officer named Donald Zwert (Mr. Zwert). According to

   
   

   Ms. Williams, Mr. Zwert had a problem with female officers, and her in particular.

3. Sometime in September 2009, Allegiance replaced Weiser Security Systems for providing services to Waterside North Community. Ms. Williams and Mr. Zwert remained as security guards for Allegiance.

4. On October 16, 2009, an Allegiance field supervisor, Erjon Arapi (Mr. Arapi), provided Ms. Williams with a verbal warning for failing to acknowledge visitors and residents entering the Waterside North Community and for the security gate being "wide open."

5. Three days later, on October 19, 2009, Mr. Arapi conducted another field inspection and found the security gate still open and Ms. Williams inside the gate house. Further, he found Ms. Williams not acknowledging visitors and residents entering into the community. Based on his earlier verbal warning, Mr. Arapi wrote two Disciplinary Action Forms against Ms. Williams for the violations on October 16 and 19, 2009. Ms. Williams, on the bottom of each Disciplinary Action Form, stated that the gate was broken and that no resident had complained.

6. On November 25, 2009, Crystal Plummer (Ms. Plummer), formerly known as Crystal Hill, an employee of Allegiance, went

   
   

   to conduct an inspection. Ms. Plummer found that Ms. Williams had failed to follow Allegiance's instructions of keeping a Daily Activity Report with hourly updates as the security officer. Ms. Williams explained that she had failed to fill out the Daily Activity Report because she was busy.

7. Later that day on November 25, 2009, at 3:00 p.m. with the shift change, Mr. Zwert spoke to Ms. Williams about her failure to keep the Daily Activity Report. Mr. Zwert and

   Ms. Williams got into a verbal confrontation where Ms. Williams threatened to "kick [Mr. Zwert's] cracker ass." Ms. Williams testified that she reacted defensively because Mr. Zwert had touched her in the guardhouse.

8. Jeffrey Knebel (Mr. Knebel), the manager for Allegiance, learned about the verbal altercation and consequently temporarily suspended Ms. Williams pending an investigation. Mr. Knebel requested that Mr. Zwert; Casey Matthews (Mr. Matthews), a security officer who was present during the altercation; and Ms. Williams provide written statements describing the event. Mr. Zwert and Mr. Matthews provided statements, but Ms. Williams did not provide one to Allegiance. At hearing, Ms. Williams did not dispute the altercation, but rather disputed that she had been asked to give a statement.

   
   

9. On November 30, 2009, Mr. Knebel telephoned

   
   

   Ms. Williams and terminated her employment with Allegiance.

   
   

   Mr. Knebel credibly testified that Allegiance made the decision to terminate Ms. Williams' employment based on the November 25, 2009, altercation and her three prior disciplinary reports.

10. On December 17, 2009, Ms. Williams filed a Charge of Discrimination with the Florida Commission on Human Relations, alleging that "I was suspended and discharged because of my sex, female and my race, Black, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (Title VII)."

    CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

    
    

11. The Division of Administrative Hearings has jurisdiction over the parties to and the subject matter of this proceeding. §§ 120.569 and 120.57, Fla. Stat. (2010).

12. Ms. Williams alleged in her Charge of Discrimination filed with the Florida Commission of Human Relations that Allegiance violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by terminating her employment based on her gender and race.

13. Section 760.10, Florida Statutes, provides:

    
    

    1. It is an unlawful employment practice for an employer:

       
       

       1. To discharge or to fail or refuse to hire any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex,

          
          

          national origin, age, handicap, or marital status.

          
          

14. The Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992, Section 760.01, et seq., Florida Statutes, is modeled after Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. Section 2000, et seq.; therefore, case law interpreting Title VII is also relevant to cases brought under the Florida Civil Rights Act. Florida Department of Community Affairs v. Bryant, 586 So. 2d 1205, 1209 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991).

15. In a discrimination case, the petitioner has the initial burden of establishing a prima facie case of discrimination. McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792,

    93 S. Ct. 1817, 36 L. Ed. 2d 668 (1973). In order to establish a prima facie case of discrimination, Ms. Williams must establish the following: (1) she is a member of a protected class; (2) she suffered an adverse employment action; (3) she is qualified for the job at issue; and (4) similarly-situated employees outside the protected class were treated more favorably. Kelliher v. Veneman, 313 F.3d 1270, 1275 (11th Cir. 2002); Gossard v. JP Morgan Chase & Co., 612 F. Supp. 2d. 1242 (S.D. Fla. 2009). Failure to establish a prima facie case of discrimination ends the inquiry. See Ratliff v. State, 666 So. 2d 1008, 1012 n.6 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996).

    
    

16. Ms. Williams has failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination based on either gender or race. Although she established that she is in a protected class, African- American female; that she suffered an adverse employment action; and that she was qualified for the job as a security officer, she failed to bring forward any evidence showing that similarly- situated employees outside the protected class were treated more favorably than her.

17. Even if Ms. Williams had offered evidence of a prima

    
    

    facie case, the evidence at hearing showed that Allegiance provided a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for suspending and ultimately terminating Ms. Williams' employment. If the petitioner proves a prima facie case of discrimination, the burden shifts to the employer to proffer a legitimate, non- discriminatory reason for the action it took. Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 101 S. Ct. 1089,

    67 L. Ed. 2d 207 (1981). The employer’s burden is always one of production, not persuasion, as it always remains the petitioner’s burden to persuade the fact finder that the proffered reason is a pretext and that the employer intentionally discriminated against the petitioner. Id. at 252- 256.

18. Allegiance established that Ms. Williams had three disciplinary reports concerning the performance of her job in

    
    

    the immediate time period before her discharge and had physically threatened a co-worker. Further, Ms. Williams did not dispute the facts contained in the disciplinary reports or that she had threatened Mr. Zwert with physical violence on November 25, 2009. Ms. Williams only disputed that Allegiance had not taken her statement concerning the incident. Based on the evidence, it is clear that Allegiance provided a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for its employment action against

    Ms. Williams.

    
    

19. Finally, Ms. Williams did not produce any evidence showing that Allegiance's explanation for terminating her employment was pre-textual or that Allegiance intentionally discriminated against her based on either her gender or her

race.

RECOMMENDATION

Based on the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of

Law, it is RECOMMENDED that the Florida Commission on Human Relations enter a final order dismissing Ms. Williams' Petition for Relief.

DONE AND ENTERED this 15th day of December, 2010, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida.

S

THOMAS P. CRAPPS

Administrative Law Judge

Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building

1230 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3060

(850) 488-9675

Fax Filing (850) 921-6847 www.doah.state.fl.us

Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 15th day of December, 2010.

ENDNOTE

1/ All references to Florida Statutes are to Florida Statutes (2009), unless otherwise indicated.

COPIES FURNISHED:

Denise Crawford, Agency Clerk

Florida Commission on Human Relations 2009 Apalachee Parkway, Suite 100

Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Jeffrey Knebel Allegiance Security Group

4905 West Laurel Street, Suite 301

Tampa, Florida 33607

Shirevell A. Williams Post Office Box 2089

St. Petersburg, Florida 33731

Sergio R. Casiano, Esquire

Miller, Kagan, Rodriguez & Silver, PL

201 Alhambra Circle, Suite 802 Coral Gables, Florida 33134

Larry Kranert, General Counsel Florida Commission on Human Relations 2009 Apalachee Parkway, Suite 100

Tallahassee, Florida 32301

NOTICE OF RIGHT TO SUBMIT EXCEPTIONS

All parties have the right to submit written exceptions within

15 days from the date of this Recommended Order. Any exceptions to this Recommended Order should be filed with the agency that will issue the Final Order in this case.

Docket for Case No: 10-009413

Orders for Case No: 10-009413