Blow v. City of San Antonio

• Citation: 236 F.3d 293
• Decision Date: 08 January 2001
• Docket Number: No. 99-50856,99-50856
• Parties: (5th Cir. 2001) DOROTHY BLOW, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, Defendant-Appellee
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

Page 293

236 F.3d 293 (5th Cir. 2001)

DOROTHY BLOW, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 99-50856

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS, FIFTH CIRCUIT

January 8, 2001

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Before JOLLY, HIGGINBOTHAM, and EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judges.

E. GRADY JOLLY, Circuit Judge:

Dorothy Blow, an African-American, has been employed since 1988 as a librarian for the City of San Antonio Public Library. When she applied for a supervisory position in 1997, the library hired a white male from outside the department. Believing that the library had failed to promote her because of her race, Blow filed suit against the City of San Antonio under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The City argued that the supervisory position had already been filled by the time the hiring committee received Blow's application. The district court concluded that Blow had not presented sufficient evidence that would allow a jury to conclude that the City's reason for not promoting her was a pretext for racial discrimination. The court granted the City's motion for summary judgment and dismissed Blow's claims. We reverse and remand.

I

The City of San Antonio Public Library hired Dorothy Blow in 1988 for the position of "Librarian I" in the Business and Science Department. Blow claims that from the beginning of her employment, she has been subjected to racially insensitive remarks and treatment. She further alleges that the library has required other African-American employees to transfer to smaller branches in neighborhoods with a high concentration of minorities.

In early 1995, Blow joined the newly created Government Documents Department and was promoted to the level of Government Documents Librarian II ("GDL-II"). During her first few months in the department, Blow received favorable performance appraisals.

In late 1995, the library created a new supervisory position, Government Documents Librarian III ("GDL-III"). Blow applied for the job and was granted an interview, but the library instead hired Owen Ellard, a Librarian II from another department. Blow confronted Craig Zapatos, the library supervisor, and demanded to know why she had not been promoted. Zapatos explained that Ellard was more experienced in managing a government documents collection and was proficient in using the internet to retrieve government information.

Ellard's tenure as GDL-III lasted only ten months, from January to November 1996. Ellard was Blow's immediate supervisor. According to Blow, Ellard treated her disrespectfully and assigned her menial tasks, such as shelving and stacking, that were usually performed by subordinate library assistants. On one occasion, Blow alleges, Ellard physically threatened her.

When Ellard resigned in November 1996, Craig Zapatos named Jana Prock interim GDL-III. Blow was unaware that Prock and Zapatos were the only members of the "hiring team" responsible for finding a permanent GDL-III. Blow claims that she periodically asked Prock whether she hoped to keep the GDL-III position permanently, and in January 1997, while asking Prock again about her intentions, Blow announced that she was interested in the job. At this point, Prock asked Blow directly whether she thought she was qualified to be a GDL-III. Blow listed her qualifications and even asked to list Prock as a reference. In spite of these conversations about Blow's interest in the position, Prock never told her that the library had posted a job opening announcement and was searching for a permanent GDL-III.

Blow learned of the job posting over the internet in late January 1997 and decided to formally apply about a month later. She found the job opening announcement and called the City personnel department to confirm that the position was still open and that applications were still being accepted. On March 3, 1997, she delivered her application to the City's personnel department.

To make sense of what happened next, Blow argues, we must understand the City of San Antonio's hiring procedures. Blow points to documents on the City's website and to the City's detailed "Administrative Directive 4.16" for an explanation of the city's normal hiring process. The stated purpose of these written hiring procedures is "to insure fair and impartial . . . placement of qualified applicants." When a department has an open position, the department is required to set qualifications and publish a recruitment announcement. Significantly, each department is responsible for insuring "that each and every employee is aware" of recruitment announcements within his or her department. Applications are received and initially processed by a central personnel department. "After an appropriate number of applications have been received for the position involved, [an] eligibility list is then established." It was customary for eligibility lists for librarian positions to be forwarded to Martha Montemayor, the senior administrative assistant in the library department, who would then forward the lists and applications to Craig Zapatos, the library personnel director, or to the hiring team for particular positions.

There are two hiring preferences relevant to this case. First, qualified city employees are given a preference when establishing eligibility lists. Apparently, this means that city employees are placed at the top of the eligibility list with the designation "C.E." next to their names. Second, the City adopted an affirmative action plan in 1994-1995 that establishes departmental "goals" for "job groups in which there is significant minority or female underutilization." Blow presented some evidence that black females are underrepresented in the library system, but the City failed to produce requested documents pertaining to the library department's "action goals" for 1997.

Blow, however, was never in the running. Before Blow submitted her application for the GDL-III position on March 3, Wilson Plunkett had submitted an application on February 10, 1997. Plunkett's application appears to have been misclassified by the City personnel department as an application for entry level Librarian I position. When Montemayor received it and noticed the error, she forwarded his application to Prock, who scheduled an interview. (The City failed to produce Plunkett's application and is not part of the record.) Prock and Zapatos interviewed Plunkett on March 28 and recommended that he be hired. Blow asserts that shortly after Plunkett's interview, Prock advised Blow that "now is a good time for you to submit your application." After receiving approval from the head of the library department, the library officially extended an offer to Plunkett in April 1997.

On April 22, the city personnel department finally issued an eligibility list for the GDL-III position. There were ten names on the list, with Dorothy Blow's at the top with the "C.E." designation. Because Plunkett had already been selected, Blow was not considered for the position.

II

Blow filed a complaint with an in-house EEO officer, who found no discrimination in the handling of the application. Blow then filed a complaint with the EEOC on July 10, 1997, alleging that she was denied the promotion to GDL-III in both 1996 and 1997 on account of her race. Before completing its investigation, the EEOC issued a right to sue letter, and Blow filed suit against the City of San Antonio in state court in October 1997. Blow alleged racial discrimination in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000 et. seq., because of the City's failure to promote her to the position of GDL-III. The City then removed the case to the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.

After she filed suit, Blow filed another complaint with the EEOC alleging that she had received a low work performance evaluation because she had instituted this suit. At her request, the EEOC issued a right-to-sue letter on the retaliation claim, and Blow amended her complaint to add this claim.

The City filed its motion for summary judgment on January 25, 1999. The district court referred the matter to a magistrate judge, who recommended that all claims be dismissed. Blow filed objections to the magistrate judge's report, and the City responded. On July 30, 1999, the district court accepted the magistrate judge's recommendation and issued an order granting the City's motion for summary judgment and dismissing all of Blow's claims.

III

The ultimate issue raised on appeal is whether the district court erred in granting the City's motion for summary judgment on Blow's 1997 Title VII failure to promote claim.

A

Summary judgment is appropriate only if the full record discloses "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. When a district court has granted a motion for summary judgment, we review the question de novo, applying the same substantive test set forth in Rule 56. Horton v. City of Houston, 179 F.3d 188, 191 (5th Cir. 1999). In reviewing the record as a whole, we view all facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party and do not defer to any factual assumptions the district court has apparently made. Cardinal Towing & Auto Repair, Inc. v. City of Bedford, 180 F.3d 686, 690 (5th Cir. 1999); New York Life Ins. Co. v. Baum, 707 F.2d 870, 871 (5th Cir. 1983) (on rehearing).

B

In McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802 (1973), and subsequent decisions, the Supreme Court has allocated the burden of production in Title VII cases. The plaintiff must first establish a prima facie case of discrimination. In a failure to promote claim under Title VII, a plaintiff must show that: (1) she was within a protected class; (2) she was qualified for the position sought; (3) she was not promoted; and (4) the position she sought was filled by...