Tenkku v. Normandy Bank

• Decision Date: 07 November 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-3328.,02-3328.
• Citation: 348 F.3d 737
• Parties: Rhonda TENKKU, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NORMANDY BANK, Defendant-Appellee,
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

348 F.3d 737

Rhonda TENKKU, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NORMANDY BANK, Defendant-Appellee,

No. 02-3328.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: September 11, 2003.

Filed: November 7, 2003.

Order Denying Petition for Rehearing and for Rehearing En Banc December 16, 2003.

The petition for rehearing en banc is denied. The petition for rehearing by the panel is also denied.

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Susan H. Mello, Clayton, MO, for appellant.

David W. White, Jacqueline M. Sexton, Jack W. Green, Jr., Kansas City, MO, for appellee.

An Amicus Curiae brief was filed by the FDIC in support of Normandy Bank by J. Scott Watson of Washington, D.C.

Before LOKEN, Chief Judge, HEANEY and HANSEN, Circuit Judges.

LOKEN, Chief Judge.

In April 1996, Normandy Bank of St. Louis gave its vice president and cashier, Rhonda Tenkku, a negative performance review and placed her on probation for six months. Seven weeks later, Tenkku resigned to accept a higher-paying job in Tennessee. Tenkku then commenced this action against Normandy Bank, alleging sex discrimination in violation of the Equal Pay Act, Title VII, and the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA). See 29 U.S.C. § 206(d); 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a); MO. REV. STAT. §§ 213.010 et seq. After protracted discovery proceedings, the district court¹ granted summary judgment in favor of Normandy Bank. Tenkku appeals the grant of summary judgment and the district court's earlier discovery and sanction orders. Reviewing the grant of summary judgment de novo, see Buettner v. Arch Coal Sales Co., 216 F.3d 707, 713 (8th Cir.2000), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1077, 121 S.Ct. 773, 148 L.Ed.2d 672 (2001), and the earlier orders for abuse of discretion, we affirm.

I. Summary Judgment Issues.

Tenkku joined Normandy Bank as an auditor in 1981. She was later made director of marketing and a vice president of the bank. In 1991, Normandy Bank fired another vice president, Randy Meyer. Tenkku assumed Meyer's duties as cashier, which placed her in charge of the bank's accounting department. In mid-1995, Tenkku learned from a former employee that she and two other female vice presidents were being paid about $10,000 per year less than Meyer and the remaining male vice presidents. Tenkku met with Robert Kueker, her supervisor, and Robert Levin, the bank president, to complain of the wage disparity. Tenkku testified that when she expressed her hope that management would resolve the wage disparity issue internally, Levin responded, "if we have to go to outside agencies then obviously we are not the right people for these jobs." Tenkku interpreted that as a threat of termination if she filed a charge of discrimination.

In response to Tenkku's complaint, Kueker analyzed the salaries and responsibilities of Normandy Bank's officers, consulted trade association surveys to compare those salaries with similar positions in the region, and concluded that Normandy Bank's salary policy was not discriminatory. Tenkku then filed a charge of wage and retaliation discrimination with the Missouri Commission on Human Rights in November 1995, alleging that her complaint to management of wage discrimination "was subject to a demeaning and disparaging response threatening my job." Normandy Bank received notice of the charges in early February 1996.

In January and February 1996, Normandy Bank's certified public accountants conducted their annual audit, and FDIC bank examiners conducted a periodic examination of the bank. The auditors met with Kueker and Levin in late January to report numerous problems with Tenkku's supervision of the accounting department, including deficiencies in specific accounts. The auditors later reported that, in late February, they met with the FDIC examiners to correct erroneous entries Tenkku had made to the retained earnings account, resulting in a net credit to retained earnings of over $80,000. In addition, the auditors reported, "the FDIC examiners were not pleased with the documentation or lack thereof supporting the Call Report or any of the other accounting information received from [Tenkku]." Tenkku was passed over for a raise in February or March 1996.

On April 10, 1996, Tenkku received her annual performance review, which included placing her on six months probation. She responded in writing, conceding some deficiencies, blaming most problems on staff shortages and the bank's new software, and requesting that "the review be reconsidered in light of the extenuating circumstances." On May 6, Tenkku filed an amended charge of discrimination alleging that she had been the subject of an unwarranted and retaliatory review and probation. In late May she resigned and again filed an amended charge of discrimination, adding a constructive discharge allegation. This lawsuit followed.

A. Equal Pay Act and Wage Discrimination Claims. To recover under the Equal Pay Act, Tenkku must prove that Normandy Bank discriminated on the basis of sex by paying different wages to employees of opposite sexes "for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions." 29 U.S.C. § 206(d)(1). If Tenkku meets this burden, Normandy Bank may avoid liability by proving any of the four statutory affirmative defenses. See Corning Glass Works v. Brennan, 417 U.S. 188, 195-97, 94 S.Ct. 2223, 41 L.Ed.2d 1 (1974) (explaining the respective burdens of proof). Thus, our inquiry turns on whether Tenkku presented sufficient evidence that she and her male colleagues performed "equal work in jobs that required equal skill, effort, and responsibility" and were "performed under similar conditions." Buettner, 216 F.3d at 719. Normandy Bank's potential affirmative defenses, on which it bears the burden of proof, are not at issue.²

Tenkku first argues that her work was substantially equal to that of her predecessor as cashier, Randy Meyer, who was paid a considerably larger salary. But it is undisputed that Meyer had seven more years of experience at Normandy Bank than Tenkku. More significantly, Normandy Bank submitted uncontroverted evidence that Meyer's job included numerous functions in addition to that of cashier. When Meyer was terminated, Tenkku assumed his cashier duties, but his other functions were spread among other officers, as one would expect when an employer reduces its payroll by firing an officer deemed expendable. In these circumstances, Tenkku's conclusory allegation that her total work responsibilities were equivalent to those performed by Meyer is insufficient to survive summary judgment. See Sowell v. Alumina Ceramics, Inc., 251 F.3d 678, 683-84 (8th Cir.2001).

Tenkku next argues that Normandy Bank violated the Equal Pay Act by failing to pay her as much as its remaining male vice presidents. Each vice president was responsible for a distinct department within Normandy Bank. Tenkku submitted no evidence comparing the male vice presidents' disparate responsibilities with her responsibilities as vice president and cashier. Instead, she relies on her opinion "that if someone is going to be promoted to the title of vice president they should have sufficient duties and responsibility to warrant a vice president's pay." However, "neither job classifications nor titles are dispositive for determining whether jobs are equal for purposes of [the Equal Pay Act] and Title VII." Hunt v. Neb. Pub. Power Dist., 282 F.3d 1021, 1029 (8th Cir. 2002). Thus, summary judgment was appropriate. "[T]here is no issue for trial unless there is sufficient evidence favoring the nonmoving party for a jury to return a verdict for that party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

Tenkku also asserts wage discrimination claims under Title VII and the MHRA. Title VII wage discrimination claims based on unequal pay for equal work are analyzed under Equal Pay Act standards. See Buettner, 216 F.3d at 718-19, and cases cited. To that extent, Tenkku's Title VII and MHRA claims fare no better than her Equal Pay Act claim. In addition, the Supreme Court has held that an employer violates Title VII, but not the Equal Pay Act, if it intentionally depresses wages on account of sex and there were no employees of the opposite sex doing equal work for more pay. County of Washington v. Gunther, 452 U.S. 161, 101 S.Ct 2242, 68 L.Ed.2d 751 (1981). Although Tenkku argues that Normandy Bank's response to her wage complaint evidenced intentional sex discrimination, she does not cite County of Washington v. Gunther, and she bases her wage discrimination case on a comparison of the wages paid to Normandy Bank vice presidents of opposite sexes. Accordingly, her Title VII and MHRA claims must be considered under Equal Pay Act standards, and the district court properly granted summary judgment dismissing those claims.

B. Retaliation Discrimination Claims. Title VII prohibits an employer from discriminating against any employee "because [she] has opposed any practice made an unlawful employment practice by this subchapter, or because [she] has made a charge ... under this subchapter." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a). A prima facie case of retaliation discrimination requires a showing that plaintiff engaged in conduct protected by Title VII and suffered an adverse employment action that was "causally linked to the protected conduct." Kiel v. Select Artificials, Inc., 169 F.3d 1131, 1136 (8th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 818, 120 S.Ct. 59, 145 L.Ed.2d 51 (1999). Tenkku's wage complaints to Normandy Bank management and her November 1995 charge of discrimination were protected conduct. The district court assumed that Tenkku suffered adverse employment actions when she was denied a raise and placed on probationary status in early 1996. But the court granted summary judgment dismissing this claim because "there is no evidence of causality."

On appeal, Tenkku argues that in April 1996 she "was...