Rhymes v. St. Joseph Regional ( 1996 )

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
Filed 6/25/96
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
PAT A. RHYMES,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v. No. 95-6230
(D.C. No. CIV-94-505-A)
ST. JOSEPH REGIONAL MEDICAL (W.D. Okla.)
CENTER OF NORTHERN
OKLAHOMA, INC.,
Defendant-Appellee.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT*
Before ANDERSON, LOGAN, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously to honor the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral argument.
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law
of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court generally disfavors the citation
of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order and judgment may be cited under the terms
and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
See Fed. R. App. P. 34 (f) and 10th Cir. R. 34.1.9. The case is therefore ordered submitted
without oral argument.
Plaintiff Pat A. Rhymes appeals from the district court’s order granting summary
judgment to defendant St. Joseph Regional Medical Center on her complaint for wrongful
termination of employment. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and affirm.
Plaintiff went to work for defendant in 1976, and over the next seventeen years she
worked in numerous positions throughout the hospital facility. In 1987, plaintiff filed a
worker’s compensation claim for a back injury; she was eventually awarded a 50% disability
rating.
Plaintiff was secretary of defendant’s Human Resources Department when, in early
1993, defendant discovered that it was headed for financial problems due to declining patient
census and restructuring in the hospital industry. Beginning in February 1993, defendant
instituted cost-cutting measures designed to reduce its operating losses but experienced
significant operating losses in May, June and July 1993. Defendant then stepped up its cost-
cutting measures, seeking to reduce staffing by the equivalent of approximately thirty to
thirty-five full time positions. Defendant asserts that it instituted a reduction in force (RIF)
to achieve these reductions.
Plaintiff’s supervisor informed her in April 1993 that her hours would be reduced by
half effective October 1, 1993. Plaintiff responded by filing a charge of discrimination with
the EEOC on April 26, 1993. Defendant terminated plaintiff’s employment on June 22,
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1993. Plaintiff brought this action, alleging that her termination violated the Age
Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-34 (ADEA), the Americans with
Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-12213 (ADA), and Oklahoma public policy, and that
she was terminated in retaliation for filing the charge of discrimination with the EEOC and
for filing a worker’s compensation claim.
“We review the grant or denial of summary judgment de novo, applying the same
legal standard used by the district court under Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c).” Ingels v. Thiokol
Corp., 42 F.3d 616, 620 (10th Cir. 1994). Summary judgment is appropriate if “there is no
genuine issue as to any material fact and . . . the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a
matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c).
We apply the analytical framework of McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S.
792, 802-03 (1973), to plaintiff’s ADEA, retaliation, and ADA claims. See Marx v. Schnuck
Markets, Inc., 76 F.3d 324, 327-328 (10th Cir. 1996) (plaintiff may assert multiple civil
rights claims and prove a prima facie case as to each), petition for cert. filed, 64 U.S.L.W.
3780, (U.S. May 7, 1996) (No. 95-1822). Under this analysis, plaintiff has the initial
responsibility of presenting a prima facie case of discrimination or retaliation. “Once the
plaintiff establishes a prima facie case, the burden shifts to the defendant to articulate a
facially nondiscriminatory reason for the adverse employment decision.” Id. at 327. To
survive summary judgment, plaintiff must then show that there is a genuine dispute of
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material fact concerning whether the employer’s asserted reason is pretextual; that is,
unworthy of belief. Id.The district court found that plaintiff failed to establish a prima facie case of age
discrimination. A prima facie case of age discrimination generally requires proof that
plaintiff was: (1) within the protected age group; (2) doing satisfactory work; (3) discharged
despite the adequacy of this work; and (4) replaced by a younger person. Id. An employee
who has lost her job due to a RIF need not show that she was replaced, however; instead, she
can “produc[e] evidence, circumstantial or direct, from which a factfinder might reasonably
conclude that the employer intended to discriminate in reaching the decision.” Ingels, 42
F.3d at 621 (further quotation omitted).
Plaintiff claims she was replaced by a younger employee. Defendant disputes this,
contending that it merely shifted plaintiff’s duties to an existing employee. See, e.g., Collier
v. Budd Co., 66 F.3d 886, 890 n.5 (7th Cir. 1995). We need not decide whether plaintiff was
replaced, because even if she was not, she presented evidence that she was treated “less
favorably than younger employees” during the RIF. See Ingels, 42 F.3d at 621. When
plaintiff was laid off, in addition to shifting her duties elsewhere, defendant retained a
younger employee in a similar, half-time secretarial position in plaintiff’s department. By
showing that a younger employee was kept on in a similar position, plaintiff made her prima
facie case. See Jones v. Unisys Corp., 54 F.3d 624, 630 & n.6 (10th Cir. 1995); see also
Branson v. Price River Coal Co., 853 F.2d 768, 771 & n.6 (10th Cir. 1988).
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We agree with the district court that plaintiff also established a prima facie case of
retaliation for filing her EEOC complaint. A prima facie case of retaliation requires a
showing that: (1) an employee engaged in a protected activity or participated in a Title VII
proceeding, (2) she was subsequently disadvantaged by her employer, and (3) there is a
causal nexus between the protected activity and the adverse employment action. See, Burrus
v. United Tel. Co., 683 F.2d 339, 343 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1071 (1982). Here,
defendant fired plaintiff two months after she filed an EEOC charge, even though her
supervisor previously had told her that she would only have her hours cut. Moreover,
defendant changed its RIF policy shortly before plaintiff was terminated to downgrade
seniority as a basis for making RIF decisions. This evidence was sufficient to establish
plaintiff’s prima facie case. See Marx, 76 F.3d at 329 (discussing close temporal proximity
test).
The district court correctly found that plaintiff failed to make a prima facie case on
her ADA claim, however. To make that showing she needed to establish that (1) she was
disabled within the meaning of the ADA; (2) she was qualified to perform the essential
functions of her job; and (3) defendant terminated her employment because of her disability.
White v. York Int’l Corp., 45 F.3d 357, 360-61 (10th Cir. 1995). Plaintiff failed to provide
any evidence that defendant terminated her employment because of her disability. Her
assertion that other employees made disparaging remarks about worker’s compensation
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claimants is simply too attenuated to carry even the relatively light burden associated with
a prima facie case.
We turn now to plaintiff’s pendent state claim that defendant terminated her
employment in retaliation for filing a worker’s compensation claim. To establish a prima
facie case, plaintiff was required to provide evidence that her institution of worker’s
compensation proceedings was a significant factor in defendant’s decision to terminate her
employment. Wilson v. Hess-Sweitzer & Brant, Inc., 864 P.2d 1279, 1284 (Okla. 1993).
Plaintiff filed her claim in 1987, but was not discharged until 1993.1 She alleges that
defendant’s employees made disparaging remarks about worker’s compensation claimants,
but she failed to show any pattern by defendant of threatening or firing such claimants, or any
threats or references to termination specifically directed at her. We agree with the district
court that under these circumstances, plaintiff failed to make a prima facie case of retaliation
under Oklahoma law. See Thompson v. Medley Material Handling, Inc., 732 P.2d 461, 464
(Okla. 1987) (holding that timing alone did not establish prima facie case of retaliatory
discharge).
1
Plaintiff received an additional twenty percent permanent partial disability award in
June 1992 and a four percent award in September 1993, shortly after she left defendant’s
employment. Appellant’s App. at 90-92. The “institution of proceedings” resulting in
retaliation is broader than the initial filing of a claim, see Buckner v. General Motors Corp.,
760 P.2d 803, 808 (Okla. 1988), so these additional, later awards do have some significance
to the retaliation analysis. However, even close temporal proximity, without more, does not
make a prima facie case of retaliation, see Thompson, 732 P.2d at 464.
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Only plaintiff’s age discrimination and ADEA retaliation claims thus survive to the
next stage of our analysis, at which the defendant must offer legitimate reasons for
terminating plaintiff’s employment. Defendant argues that its RIF was necessary, because
it suffered significant operating losses due to changes in the hospital industry. These losses,
defendant claims, required cost reductions, including employee layoffs, in order to keep the
hospital profitable. In its response to the EEOC’s request for information, defendant listed
twelve employees laid off as a result of the RIF.
Plaintiff claims there was no RIF, only an attempt to create the appearance of one.
Plaintiff asserts that defendant merely pulled together a list of the twelve employees who left
during the relevant time period, and called this a RIF. Defendant, however, produced
unrebutted evidence that the RIF was anticipated, discussed, and planned for because the
hospital perceived a need to cut staffing. Plaintiff also questions the inclusion of some of the
twelve employees on the EEOC report. She apparently contends that employees who were
terminated for cause or voluntarily resigned cannot be included in the RIF. The real
question, however, is whether these employees were replaced. Plaintiff presented no
evidence to contradict defendant’s assertion that they were not.
Plaintiff asserts that twelve employees out of 532 is too small to be a RIF. In
response, defendant asserts that it actually reduced its workforce by a total of thirty-three
full-time equivalents during the RIF. This figure is not exact, and contradicts other figures
contained in the depositions of defendant’s management and accountants. The only hard
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figure in this record concerning the extent of reduction in force is the figure of twelve
employees defendant supplied to the EEOC. This uncertainty does not create a genuine issue
of material fact on the issue of pretext, however. Even if we assume that the RIF involved
only twelve employees, this does not support plaintiff’s conclusion that there was no RIF.
“An employer need not dismiss any particular number of employees, or terminate a set
percentage of the work force, to institute a reduction in force.” LeBlanc v. Great Am. Ins.
Co., 6 F.3d 836, 845 (1st Cir. 1993)(three employees out of 212), cert. denied, 114 S. Ct.
1398 (1994); see also Roger v. Yellow Freight Sys., Inc., 21 F.3d 146, 151 (7th Cir.
1994)(rejecting claim that a reduction of 4.67% of the workforce is per se not a legitimate
RIF).
Plaintiff also points out that defendant hired new employees during the RIF, but
defendant explained that it had to continue hiring to fill essential positions. Plaintiff failed
to show that she could have filled any of these positions (with the possible exception of the
secretarial job in her former department, discussed below). Her complaint of continued
hiring therefore does not establish pretext. See Furr v. Seagate Technology, Inc., 82 F.3d
980, 986 (10th Cir. 1996).
Plaintiff next argues that the RIF was unnecessary. She contends that while laying her
off for an alleged lack of funds, defendant gave some of its employees a pay raise and
continued with its building program. Defendant explains that these employees had not yet
achieved their highest pay grade, that executive pay was slashed, and that the building
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program was funded as a capital expenditure. The economic wisdom of a RIF lies within the
realm of business decisions, and is not for a court and jury to decide. See id. Plaintiff’s
arguments about the wisdom of the RIF fail to demonstrate that it was pretextual.
Defendant justifies the specific application of the RIF to plaintiff on several grounds.
It contends that due to economic conditions, it needed to eliminate one full-time equivalent
position in plaintiff’s department; that it targeted the position, not the employee; that
plaintiff’s job functions were the most easily transferrable in the department; that plaintiff
could not do any other jobs within the department; and that its RIF rules did not allow it to
displace less senior employees outside the department to preserve plaintiff’s employment.
Plaintiff contends that she could have performed the other part-time secretarial job in
the department that was held by a younger and less senior employee. Shortly after plaintiff’s
employment was terminated, this employee took a promotion and the job once again became
open. Richard Amos, the Chief Human Resources Officer, explained that he did not offer
this job to plaintiff2 because he lacked confidence in her ability to consistently perform the
job’s payroll-related duties. He was concerned about her accuracy on the data key entry
duties, given her previous performance with tasks involving accuracy on her own job.
Plaintiff insists that she was capable of performing the functions of this job, but failed to
2
The evidence presented to the district court focused on defendant’s decision not to
offer the job to plaintiff after she was terminated, when the job came open again. The same
reasons justify defendant’s decision not to offer the position to plaintiff at the time her
position was eliminated. Plaintiff does not present her claim as a failure to hire, and so we
do not analyze it as such.
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provide specific evidence to rebut Mr. Amos’ assessment of her payroll-related abilities.
Absent such proof, we view the manager’s determinations, based on his perception of her
performance, as a nonpretextual business decision. See Furr, 82 F.3d at 987-88.
We conclude that defendant has asserted legitimate reasons for the RIF, and for its
decision to terminate plaintiff’s employment. Plaintiff has failed to show that these reasons
were pretextual. Therefore, the district court properly granted summary judgment against
her.
Finally, we turn to plaintiff’s claim that her termination based upon age violated
Oklahoma public policy. Oklahoma recently has decided that it will not extend its narrow
public policy exception to the at-will employment rule to age discrimination claims because
the ADEA provides an adequate and exclusive remedy. See List v. Anchor Paint Mfg. Co.,
910 P.2d 1011, 1014 (Okla. 1996).
AFFIRMED.
Entered for the Court
James K. Logan
Circuit Judge
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