Grube v. Lau Industries Inc.
| Decision Date | 01 August 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-4131,00-4131 |
| Citation | 257 F.3d 723 |
| Parties | (7th Cir. 2001) Diann Grube, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Lau Industries, Inc., Defendant-Appellee |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, South Bend Division. No. 3:99CV0593RM--Robert L. Miller, Jr., Judge.
Before Bauer, Posner, and Coffey, Circuit Judges.
On September 27, 1997, Lau Industries, Inc. asked Diann Grube to accept a transfer from her then- first-shift supervisor position to a second-shift supervisor position. But rather than accept the transfer, Grube resigned and sued Lau under 42 U.S.C. sec. 2000e, et seq., alleging that Lau had discriminated against her on the basis of her gender. The district court granted Lau summary judgment, holding that Grube had failed to establish either that she had suffered an adverse employment action or that Lau's non- discriminatory reasons for the shift transfer were pretextual. We affirm.
Grube began working for Lau on December 13, 1995, after Lau Industries purchased the Rochester, Indiana plant at which Grube had worked since 1969 and had been a supervisor since 1994. Grube's direct supervisor at all times relevant to this appeal was Dan Sullivan, the Manufacturing Manager at the Rochester plant. Lau hired Scott Marquardt to manage the plant in Rochester in July 1996.
According to Grube, the event that precipitated the discrimination was a medical leave of absence that she had taken to undergo surgery following an automobile accident. The facts in the light most favorable to the nonmovingparty, plaintiff-appellant Grube, are as follows. Grube underwent surgery on June 23, 1997, and her doctor advised her to remain on leave until August 28, 1997. For reasons not apparent in the record before us (and in any event not relevant to the disposition of this appeal) a nurse from Lau's Disability Management administrator contacted Grube's doctor's office on August 7 to obtain a release for Grube to return to work, accompanied by any restrictions the doctor recommended. Despite her doctor's earlier instruction for Grube to remain off work until August 28, the doctor's office did issue a release stating that Grube was able to return to work as of that date with some restrictions. Accordingly, after Grube was advised of the release, she reported to work on Monday, August 11. When Grube reported to work, she and Sullivan contacted her doctor to learn why she had been released to work earlier than expected. The doctor's office sent via facsimile a second release, which advised that Grube remain on leave until August 28, 1997, as originally instructed. When the release arrived, Sullivan was not in his office, so Grube placed the release on his desk and then left.
A short time later, Marquardt, the plant manager, found the second release. Marquardt contacted the doctor's office to attempt to resolve the conflict between the releases as to when Grube was able to return to work. Marquardt stated that he called the doctor's office because "it was unclear what was going on with her . . . [because] our office received one doctor's note which said [Grube] was able to return to work with restrictions, and then another note just a few days later which said that she could not return to work." Because Grube's doctor was on vacation, Marquardt did not receive an immediate explanation for the confusion, and ultimately Grube returned to work on August 28, as initially directed by her treating physician. According to Grube, it was at this time that Marquardt began to discriminate against her.
For example, on September 19, 1997, Grube alleged that Lau held a meeting of plant supervisors, during which Marquardt criticized Grube's department. Grube stated that she had not been properly notified about the meeting and so did not arrive "until the very end of [the] discussions, at which point in time [she] was unable to present her rebuttal to Marquardt's criticism of her department." At her deposition Grube testified that she felt excluded from the meeting because of her gender, and yet admitted that there were other women in attendance during the meeting. Grube also made clear that she was never disciplined in September 1997 because of problems in her department.
A few days later, during a September 24, 1997 meeting, Grube alleged that Marquardt commented about absenteeism among salaried personnel and concluded his remarks, stating that "[w]e're taking care of the problem." Although Marquardt did not mention Grube (or any other supervisor) by name, Grube believed that Marquardt's comments were directed at her because of her recent medical leave. Grube inferred from Marquardt's comment that his earlier attempt to contact her doctor had actually been an effort to coerce her to return to work earlier than she was able and in contradiction of the doctor's order. Grube, however, received no discipline or negative performance evaluation related to absenteeism.
Shortly after the September incidents in which Grube alleged Marquardt unfairly criticized her, Grube alleged that Marquardt put teeth into his words and requested that she transfer to the second shift. While Grube had been on leave, one of the supervisors on the second shift had resigned. Marquardt and Sullivan had met to determine which of the eight first-shift supervisors should be transferred to fill the open position on the second shift. Marquardt and Sullivan assessed, among other things, the strengths of each of the eight first- shift supervisors. Marquardt concluded that Grube was "not one of [Lau's] strongest supervisors," an assessment with which Sullivan agreed. Further, both Marquardt and Sullivan believed it critical to keep Lau's strongest supervisors on the first shift. In addition, Marquardt and Sullivan assessed what impact moving each supervisor to the second shift would have upon the company's overall productivity. At the conclusion of their assessments, Marquardt and Sullivan agreed to transfer Grube to the second shift. To that end, Marquardt commented that Grube could "be more effective if she was placed on second shift, where her job would primarily be executing the production plans developed on first shift and handling people issues," rather than being responsible for the design of those production plans.
Sullivan met with Grube on September 27, 1997, to inform her that she was being transferred to the second shift. Grube resigned twenty minutes later. According to Grube, she resigned in part because transferring to the second shift would interfere with her ability to care for her husband, who was undergoing treatment for leukemia. Grube's husband, however, was working at the time and also no longer required in-home nursing care. In fact, the only daily medical care that Grube did provide for her husband was assistance in taking his medication.
After Grube resigned, Marquardt and Lau made several attempts to fill the open (2) supervisor positions. Initially, Lau promoted an employee from the first shift to the second shift supervisor position. But this employee failed to meet Lau's expectations as a supervisor and he was returned to his original position. Lau then conducted a search outside the company for a qualified supervisor, but was unable to hire anyone. Ultimately, Lau decided to reorganize its supervisory structure and, after streamlining operations, Marquardt felt that a second supervisory position on the second shift was unnecessary and eliminated the position.
Meanwhile, after receiving a right to sue letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Grube timely filed this suit. She alleged five specific instances in support of her claim of sexual discrimination: 1) Marquardt's call to Grube's doctor's office; 2) late notification of a meeting where her department was criticized; 3) being singled out for absenteeism; 4) being reassigned to the second shift; and 5) Lau's refusal to provide a letter of reference after she had resigned.
On October 30, 2000, the district court granted Lau's motion for summary judgment, finding that neither the criticism from Marquardt nor the transfer to the second shift constituted an adverse employment action and therefore Grube had not established a prima facie case of gender discrimination. In addition, the court concluded that even if Grube had established a prima facie case of gender discrimination she had not demonstrated that Lau's stated reasons for its actions were pretextual.
On November 28, 2000, the final day of the 30-day period for Grube to appeal the district court's judgment, Grube filed a Rule 56(g) motion, alleging that Sullivan had perjured himself by declaring that he was unaware of Grube's husband's leukemia until after her resignation. Shortly later on that same day, Grube filed a notice of appeal. On December 28, 2000, the district court dismissed Grube's 56(g) motion because it concluded that jurisdiction was properly before this court. Grube never filed a notice of appeal from the district court's December 28 order denying her 56(g) motion.
On appeal Grube asserts that the district court erred in granting Lau summary judgment on her gender discrimination claim. Next Grube urges that the district court erred in concluding that it did not have jurisdiction to hear her 56(g) motion.
Summary judgment is proper 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 review de novo a district court's grant of summary judgment, viewing the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party." See Gleason v. Mesirow Fin., Inc., 118 F.3d 1134, 1139 (7th Cir. 1997) (quoting Anderson v. Baxter Healthcare Corp., 13 F.3d 1120, 1122 (...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Keaton v. Cobb County
...of notes was based on bad motive, Plaintiff cannot establish pretext based on the destruction of notes. See Grube v. Lau Indus., Inc., 257 F.3d 723, 730 (7th Cir.2001) (indicating that speculation cannot establish pretext); Lowery v. Univ. of Houston-Clear Lake, 82 F.Supp.2d 689, 696 (S.D.T......
-
Sellers v. U.S. Dept. of Defense
...hours for a period of only four weeks is not sufficient to rise to the level of an adverse employment action. See Grube v. Lau Indus., Inc., 257 F.3d 723, 729-30 (7th Cir.2001)(holding that transfer of plaintiff from first to second shift did not constitute an adverse employment action); id......
-
Pacheco v. New York Presbyterian Hosp.
...to a night shift is not a change in duties, compensation or benefits constituting an adverse employment action); Grube v. Lau Indus., Inc., 257 F.3d 723, 728 (7th Cir.2001) (holding that an employer's decision to move an employee from a first shift to a second shift does not, without more, ......
-
Walker v. Board of Regents of Univ. Of Wis. System
...("[W]e are not concerned with the correctness or desirability of reasons offered for employment decisions."); Grube v. Lau Industries, 257 F.3d 723, 730 (7th Cir.2001) ("A pretext for discrimination means more than an unusual act; it means something worse than a business error."); Kulumani ......
-
When is sex because of sex? The causation problem in sexual harassment law.
...(33) Infra Part III.A. (34) E.g., Doe v. City of Belleville, 119 F.3d 563, 575 (7th Cir. 1997). (35) See, e.g., Grube v. Lau Indus., Inc., 257 F.3d 723, 727 (7th Cir. 2001) (characterizing disparate treatment claim based on sex but not involving sexual harassment as a claim of "sexual discr......