Adusumilli v. City of Chicago

• Decision Date: 28 December 1998
• Docket Number: No. 98-1019,98-1019
• Citation: 164 F.3d 353,1998 WL 901533
• Parties: 78 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1669, 74 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,698 Indira ADUSUMILLI, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF CHICAGO, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 353

164 F.3d 353

78 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1669,

74 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,698

Indira ADUSUMILLI, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF CHICAGO, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 98-1019.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Sept. 11, 1998.

Decided Dec. 28, 1998.

Michael J. Merrick (argued), Witwer, Poltrock & Giampietro, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Ruth F. Masters (argued), Office of Corporation Counsel, Appeals Division, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before POSNER, Chief Judge, and BAUER and EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judges.

BAUER, Circuit Judge.

Indira Adusumilli ("Adusumilli") was fired from her position as an Administrative Assistant for the City of Chicago, Department of Police ("City"). She subsequently brought suit for discrimination, harassment, and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). After striking portions of Adusumilli's affidavit, the district court granted the City's motion for summary judgment on all claims. Adusumilli now appeals, arguing that several statements in her affidavit should not have been stricken, and that summary judgment was inappropriate with respect to her claims of sexual harassment and retaliation. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Because the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant, we take the facts alleged by the plaintiff to be true. See Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. 742, ----, 118 S.Ct. 2257, 2262, 141 L.Ed.2d 633 (1998).

The City hired Adusumilli as an Administrative Assistant for the Twenty-Fourth District on January 16, 1992. She was fired on September 6, 1994. Adusumilli claims that while she worked at the Twenty-Fourth District, she encountered many instances of sexual harassment. Of these, Adusumilli recalls several incidents that occurred between December 1993 and September 1994, for which period her filing with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was timely. ¹

Adusumilli objects to a number of comments that were made to her. Civilian District Manager Zenia Zeliasz ("Zeliasz"), Adusumilli's immediate supervisor, told Adusumilli that to avoid being laughed at, she should break her banana in the middle rather than eating it whole. Officer Phyllis Muzupappa ("Muzupappa") told Adusumilli to wash a banana before she ate it. On another day, Muzupappa asked Adusumilli what putting one rubber band on top and another on the bottom means. On another occasion, Officer Joe Cannon told Adusumilli that she should not wave at squad cars in front of the police station because people would think she was a prostitute.

Adusumilli also complains of several incidents involving staring and unwanted physical contact. One day, Officer Joseph O'Connor tried to make eye contact with Adusumilli and stared at her breasts. Another day, Officer James Lupi stared at Adusumilli's breasts and, during computer training, he touched her left arm between the elbow and shoulder.

Adusumilli was particularly disturbed by the conduct of Officer Paul Gray ("Gray"), a co-worker with whom she had minimal contact. One day, she overheard Gray ask Muzupappa if Muzupappa had worn a low-neck top the night before. Another day, Gray tried to make eye contact with Adusumilli and stared at her breasts. On two occasions, Gray poked at Adusumilli's fingers. Finally, Adusumilli believes that Gray poked her buttocks, though she admits that she was in a public area and failed to see him make physical contact.

In January of 1994, a few days after it happened, Adusumilli reported the buttocks-poking incident to Zeliasz. Zeliasz immediately reported Adusumilli's complaint to the watch lieutenant, who initiated an Internal Affairs Department ("IAD") investigation. Officer Putney, from the IAD, interviewed Adusumilli, Gray, Zeliasz, and Sergeant Bruce Rottner (Adusumilli's supervisor). Officer Putney concluded that Adusumilli's allegations of sexual harassment could not be sustained. After her complaint to the IAD, Adusumilli stopped reporting incidents to anyone in the police department.

In the spring of 1994, after the IAD investigation had concluded, the City assigned Gray to prepare arrest reports at a computer terminal five to ten feet away from Adusumilli's desk. Gray used the computer two or three days a week for a few hours at a time. The City explains that it made this assignment because Gray had computer knowledge and knew arrest procedures. The computer that Gray used was one of only a few at the Twenty-Fourth District, and was the only The City has its own complaints. It documented a number of mistakes made by Adusumilli during her tenure. For example, in 1992, Commander Kenneth Alexander ("Alexander") wrote a letter to the Deputy Chief, informing him that Adusumilli had processed some traffic reports incorrectly, that Adusumilli's learning process was slow, and that she required a lot of help.

computer with the database that both Adusumilli and Gray needed. Adusumilli complains that at one point after Gray began working on the computer, she observed him staring at her breasts, smiling, and trying to make eye contact with her.

In 1993, District Officer Beth Atkins ("Atkins") wrote a memo to Alexander to inform him that Adusumilli had mistyped the address on a notification for a meeting between a police officer and the Corporation Counsel's office, causing the officer to miss the appointment. When Atkins confronted Adusumilli about the missing notification, Adusumilli complained that people were conspiring against her and that someone had taken the notification from the file. When Atkins asked her to look again, Adusumilli found the notification, which had been misfiled. Also in 1993, Atkins wrote a letter to Alexander, documenting the fact that Adusumilli had mishandled a Mayor's License Commission notification, despite detailed written instructions.

On January 9, 1994, Lieutenant Torres reported to Atkins that Adusumilli had made errors in the court notifications. When Atkins looked into the matter, she found that Adusumilli had used 1993 schedules instead of 1994 schedules to write up the notifications. On March 31, 1994, Atkins sent a memo to Commander Thomas Byrne ("Byrne") ² indicating errors made by Adusumilli in preparing requisitions. In April, May, and June 1994, Zeliasz documented Adusumilli's errors in several memos to Byrne. On May 12, and June 30, 1994, Byrne sent memos to Sergeant Brad Woods at the Police Personnel Department, listing examples of Adusumilli's performance errors. Byrne's comments were based, in part, on his own experience of having to do damage control when officers were reprimanded for not appearing in court due to Adusumilli's errors.

At first, Adusumilli's errors did not affect her performance evaluations. Between January 1992 and December 1993, Adusumilli received four performance evaluations. On all four evaluations, she was rated "good" on a scale of "unsatisfactory," "marginal," "good," and "excellent." However, Adusumilli was not satisfied. After she received her February 1993 evaluation, Adusumilli looked at the evaluations for all five hundred employees in the district. She then complained to Sergeant Rottner because she felt that, comparatively, she deserved a rating of excellent. Adusumilli was upset when Sergeant Rottner and Commander Alexander told her that they agreed with the original rating.

On her June 1994 evaluation, Adusumilli received an overall rating of "unsatisfactory." The evaluation stated that Adusumilli was "careless in her work, unable to engage in cooperative effort with coworkers, slow to learn, required repeated instructions, required follow-up even on routine duties, had difficulty maintaining supply orders, and had great difficulty adjusting to new work or changed conditions." (Defendant's Statement of Undisputed Facts p 161).

In March 1994, Byrne placed Adusumilli in the Behavior Alert program, a program for employees with performance problems. The program is meant to retrain the employee as well as to document performance problems. In May, Byrne recommended that Adusumilli be transferred to a position with less responsibility. Finally, on September 1, 1994, Adusumilli was notified that she was being terminated as of September 6, 1994.

Adusumilli admits to making some mistakes during her time at the Twenty-Fourth District. However, she believes that she "was performing up to the legitimate expectations of [her] employer," and that she "was performing just as well as [her] co-workers." (Adusumilli Aff. p 3). In addition, Adusumilli asserts that she "had no performance problems that would justify placing [her] into the On September 7, 1994, Adusumilli filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"). On September 29, 1995, the EEOC issued a right to sue letter. On December 28, 1995, Adusumilli filed a complaint against the City, alleging discrimination based on race, color, and national origin; harassment based on race, color, national origin, and gender; and retaliation based on race, color, national origin, and gender.

Behavioral Alert Program" and discharging her. (Adusumilli Aff. p 3). She believes that she "was placed in the Behavioral Alert Program, received a final performance evaluation rating of 'unsatisfactory,' and ultimately was discharged in retaliation ... for lodging ... complaints." (Adusumilli Aff. p 14).

In a Memorandum Order and Opinion dated December 5, 1997, the district court ordered several statements in Adusumilli's affidavit stricken. The court also granted the City's motion for summary judgment on all of Adusumilli's claims. On appeal, Adusumilli challenges the district court's decision to strike three statements from her affidavit, and argues that the court's grant of summary judgment was inappropriate with respect to her claims of sexual harassment and retaliation.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Adusumilli's Affidavit

As a preliminary matter, we must address...