Wilson v. Chrysler Corp.

• Decision Date: 31 March 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-1833,98-1833
• Citation: 172 F.3d 500
• Parties: 79 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1086, 75 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,827 Donnie M. WILSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CHRYSLER CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 500

172 F.3d 500

79 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1086,

75 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,827

Donnie M. WILSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CHRYSLER CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 98-1833.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Oct. 15, 1998.

Decided March 31, 1999.

Amy L. Silvestri (argued), Granneman & Sylvestri, Rockford, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Stephen E. Balogh, III (argued), Williams & McCarthy, Rockford, IL, for Defendant-Appellant.

Dori K. Bernstein (argued), E.E.O.C. , Office of General Counsel, Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae.

Before HARLINGTON WOOD, JR., CUDAHY, and EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judges.

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge.

Donnie Wilson worked on the assembly line at Chrysler's Belvidere plant from 1970 until 1992 when Chrysler refused to reinstate her after a medical leave of absence. The proffered reason for the refusal was that Wilson suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and was therefore totally and permanently disabled. Wilson sued under Title VII alleging that she had been sexually harassed during the course of her employment and that Chrysler had discharged her in retaliation for complaining about the harassment. Chrysler successfully moved for partial summary judgment on the retaliation claim invoking the doctrine of judicial estoppel. The district court held that since Wilson had applied for and was receiving social security disability benefits as well as a Chrysler disability retirement pension, she was estopped from arguing for Title VII purposes that she had been medically fit to resume her job at Chrysler. Subsequently, the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment on the remaining claim of sexual harassment. Finding that Wilson had failed to come forward with evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that Chrysler was liable for any alleged harassment, the district court entered judgment in favor of Chrysler. We agree with the district court that Wilson's position before the Social Security Administration was inconsistent with her subsequent allegations of constructive discharge and that she is therefore estopped from claiming retaliation. But because we find that Wilson has raised a genuine issue as to whether Chrysler subjected her to a hostile work environment, we reverse the district court's dismissal of her sexual harassment claim.

I. Standard of Review

We review the district court's decision to grant summary judgment de novo, see Nowak v. St. Rita High School, 142 F.3d 999, 1002 (7th Cir.1998), applying the same criteria as the district court. See Rodriguez v. City of Chicago, 156 F.3d 771, 775 (7th Cir.1998). We view the record and all reasonable inferences from it in the light most favorable to Wilson, the non-movant. See Senner v. Northcentral Technical College, 113 F.3d 750, 754 (7th Cir.1997). To defeat summary judgment, she must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Larimer v. Dayton Hudson Corp., 137 F.3d 497, 500 (7th Cir.1998).

II. Retaliation

In June 1991, Wilson took a medical leave of absence from Chrysler. Her physician, Dr. Nicholson, diagnosed severe fatigue syndrome and recommended release from work until April 1992. At that time, Nicholson and Wilson's social worker, Forest Price, determined that she was able to return to work. However, Wilson was also examined by a Chrysler physician, Dr. Vitek, who opined that she was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and that she was not fit for reinstatement. Vitek sought an independent opinion from a psychiatrist, Dr. Glenn, who confirmed Vitek's diagnosis. Meanwhile, sometime in late 1991 or early 1992, Wilson had applied for social security disability benefits on the advice of a union benefits representative. In due course, the Social Security Administration (SSA) determined that she was eligible to receive benefits. ¹ According to Wilson her application was half-hearted at best: she stated on the benefits application form that she did not consider herself disabled; she subsequently asked the SSA to reverse its determination in her favor; and at one stage she even tried to return benefits received. However, she concedes that at all relevant times she has continued to accept social security disability benefits. Moreover, in December 1992, she secured a Chrysler disability pension relying on the diagnosis of Vitek and Glenn.

Title VII prohibits retaliation against an employee who has engaged in activity protected by the Act. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a). To establish a prima facie case of retaliation Wilson must show: (1) that she engaged in statutorily protected activity; (2) that she suffered an adverse employment action; and (3) that there is a causal link between the protected activity and the adverse action. See Debs v. Northeastern Ill. Univ., 153 F.3d 390, 397 (7th Cir.1998) (quoting Essex v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 111 F.3d 1304, 1309 (7th Cir.1997)). It is undisputed that Wilson filed a sexual harassment charge and that Chrysler subsequently refused to reinstate her. The third element of Wilson's prima facie case (causal link) is disputed and dovetails with the issue of pretext. Under the burden-shifting method established by McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), and its progeny, Chrysler must articulate a non-discriminatory reason for its failure to reinstate; the burden then shifts back to Wilson to show that the proffered reason was a pretext for discrimination.

Chrysler contends that it did not allow Wilson to return to work because she suffered from paranoid schizophrenia which rendered her permanently and totally disabled. The issue on appeal is whether Wilson has raised a genuine issue whether she was fit and able to work and was therefore constructively discharged. Wilson characterizes Chrysler's disability determination as a pretext for retaliation. But herein lies the rub for Wilson--how can she square her contention that she was fit and able to return to work with her prior claim of disability before the SSA? The district court could not reconcile these two apparently conflicting positions and reasoned that Wilson was estopped from pursuing her present line of argument. Judicial estoppel prevents a party that has taken one position in litigating a particular set of facts from later reversing that position to her advantage. The doctrine is equitable and is "intended to protect the courts from being manipulated by chameleonic litigants who seek to prevail, twice, on opposite theories." Levinson v. United States, 969 F.2d 260, 264 (7th Cir.1992). Thus, we accept as probative and presumptively dispositive a party's prevailing position in previous litigation or quasi-judicial proceedings. See DeGuiseppe v. Village of Bellwood, 68 F.3d 187 (7th Cir.1995).

However, we must be careful to distinguish cases under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), see 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., which deal with similar but not identical issues. For we have recognized that the grant of disability benefits by the SSA is not necessarily dispositive of the issue whether an individual is qualified to work. ² A benefits recipient may sue her employer under the ADA notwithstanding the need to demonstrate that she is qualified to work. See Weigel v. Target Stores, 122 F.3d 461, 466 (7th Cir.1997) ("While it might seem incongruous at first blush that someone deemed 'totally disabled' by the Social Security Administration (SSA) might nevertheless be deemed a 'qualified individual' under the ADA, the incongruity is entirely illusory because the terms 'totally disabled' and 'qualified individual with a disability' are terms of art that must be understood within their respective statutory contexts."). ³ There are persuasive justifications for the distinction: whereas the ADA requires an individualized inquiry into the ability of the employee to perform a particular job, the SSA makes general presumptions about the employee's ability to work; the SSA does not consider whether the employee could work if provided with reasonable accommodation--an important element of the ADA inquiry; the ADA and the SSA may speak to ability to work at different times; and the SSA may award disability benefits on a finding that the individual meets the criteria for a listed impairment, without inquiring into her ability to find work within the economy. See Haschmann v. Time Warner Entertainment Co., 151 F.3d 591, 603 (7th Cir.1998); McCreary v. Libbey-Owens-Ford Co., 132 F.3d 1159, 1164 (7th Cir.1997); Weigel, 122 F.3d at 466-67. ⁴

In the present case, there is no comparable divergence between the SSA's inquiry into Wilson's disability and our examination of her constructive discharge claim. The inquiry posed by the SSA was whether Wilson suffered from paranoid schizophrenia--a listed impairment under the Social Security Act, see 20 C.F.R. Part 404, Subpart P, App.1, § 12.03 (1998). And in testing the veracity of Chrysler's proffered reason for its refusal to reinstate, we ask the same essential question. Since the issue here is whether Wilson can make conflicting representations about whether or not she has the relevant impairment--paranoid schizophrenia--we need not wrestle with the further issue of whether, and if so to what extent, the impairment is disabling. ⁵

On this decisive issue--whether she has the relevant impairment--Wilson's position has been anything but consistent. The medical opinions of Vitek and Glenn are the common thread that unravels this inconsistency. Wilson concedes that the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia rendered automatic the SSA's determination of total disability. Similarly, it formed the basis for Chrysler's determination that she was totally and permanently disabled and therefore unfit to resume her post. Wilson asked the SSA to grant her disability benefits on the strength of Vitek's and Glenn's diagnosis; yet she asks us now to disregard that same diagnosis...