Wilson v. B/E Aerospace, Inc.
| Decision Date | 30 June 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 03-14909.,03-14909. |
| Citation | 376 F.3d 1079 |
| Parties | Loretta WILSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. B/E AEROSPACE, INC., Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
Jesse S. Hogg, Coral Gables, FL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Michele L. Stocker, Katz, Barron, Squitero & Faust, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, FL, for Defendant-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Before ANDERSON, HULL and PRYOR, Circuit Judges.
The key issue in this appeal is whether an admission by the decisionmaker that a female employee was "the obvious choice" and "most qualified" for a pending promotion creates a genuine issue of material fact of sex discrimination after the promotion is given to a male employee on the basis that he was allegedly the most qualified. Because this admission could lead a reasonable factfinder to disbelieve the employer's proffered nondiscriminatory reason for not promoting the employee and infer discrimination, we reverse the summary judgment entered against the employee on that claim. We affirm the summary judgment against the employee's claim that her termination, more than a year after the denial of her promotion, was based on sex discrimination, and we remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Loretta Wilson began her employment with B/E Aerospace, Inc. (B/E), a manufacturer of airplane cabin interior products, on April 28, 1997, at its facility in Delray Beach, Florida. The Delray facility was divided into five operating groups. Wilson worked in the Interior Systems Group (ISG) during her tenure at B/E. Wilson was recruited to B/E as an Engineering Business Manager by Michael Stelmat, ISG Vice President. On July 6, 1998, Wilson was promoted to Engineering Manager, and on April 4, 2000, she was promoted to Engineering Director. In all three of these positions, Wilson's supervisor was Stelmat. Wilson received her last promotion immediately before taking maternity leave. When she returned from leave, Wilson was given the position of Director of Commercial Operations with the same salary and benefits as her previous position.
A Group Vice President and General Manager managed each of the five operating groups and had responsibility for multiple facilities. Below the Group Vice President, the Site Vice President managed a single facility. Subordinate to the Site Vice President, directors and managers supervised the hourly and non-managerial employees.
Roman Ptakowski was the Group Vice President with supervisory responsibility for the Delray facility. It is undisputed that Ptakowski had the ultimate authority to hire, fire, and promote employees at the facility. Ptakowski made the promotion and termination decisions at issue in this appeal.
Although B/E does not have a formal application process for vacancies at the vice presidential level and above, in the fall of 1999, Wilson expressed to Ptakowski an interest in the open Site Vice President position at the Delray facility. Wilson was then the Engineering Manager. Wilson testified that when she inquired about the position, Ptakowski told her that she was "the obvious candidate" for Site Vice President, and "even though women aren't typically in that type of position we'll see what happens when we throw your name out there to corporate." Wilson also testified that Ptakowski told her that she was qualified for any vice president position. Wilson's supervisor, Stelmat, also testified that Ptakowski admitted that Wilson was an excellent candidate for the position. Philip Pelfrey, Wilson's immediate subordinate and the person who ultimately succeeded her as Engineering Director, testified that Ptakowski told him that Wilson was "the obvious choice" for the Site Vice President position, and that she was the "most qualified based on her accomplishments in the engineering department." Ptakowski denies making any of these statements.
Ptakowski asserts that he went through a series of steps in November 1999 to select the Site Vice President. He first contacted the corporate department of human resources and inquired about possible candidates. He gave human resources the following three minimum requirements for the potential candidates: (1) prior profit and loss responsibility; (2) experience with customers; and (3) knowledge of the aerospace industry. Human resources provided Ptakowski two candidates for the position: Joseph Baker, then Vice President of Marketing and Sales, at the Delray facility, and Norm Jordan, then Vice President or Director of the Seating Products Group, at a Connecticut facility. According to Ptakowski, Wilson was not qualified for the position. Ptakowski interviewed Baker and Jordan for the position and chose Baker as the new Site Vice President at the Delray facility because he met all three requirements. As Site Vice President, Baker was Wilson's supervisor when she became Director of Commercial Operations.
More than a year later, in late January 2001, Baker asked Wilson to move her office closer to the majority of the employees who worked for her in her position as Director of Commercial Operations. When Baker first asked her to move, Wilson protested the move and told Baker that she did not understand this request. Baker replied that "co-locating would help [her] to better manage the department." Wilson told him that she disagreed with his decision, but Wilson agreed to move her office. Although Wilson told Baker that she would move her office, Wilson went to Ptakowski to discuss Baker's decision. Ptakowski told Wilson, however, that he supported Baker's decision to move Wilson's office. Wilson replied that, although she did not like the decision, she would move her office.
On Thursday, January 25, 2001, Wilson packed the contents of her office, locked the door, left the facility, and took some of her belongings home. She asked for copies of her performance appraisals as she left. As she was leaving, Wilson sent an e-mail to Baker stating, "I have an immediate personal issue to address and will be out of the office," but she did not state when she would return.
Ptakowski was out of the office that day and received a phone call from someone at the Delray facility. He was informed that Wilson packed the contents of her office, took her personal belongings, locked the door, and closed the blinds. Ptakowski told human resources to open her office and investigate the circumstances. He also told human resources to contact Wilson and ask her what happened.
On Friday, January 26, 2001, Ptakowski returned to the Delray facility. He visited Wilson's office and found that Wilson had removed almost all of the contents of her office. It appeared to Ptakowski that Wilson had vacated her office. Ptakowski and others inferred from Wilson's conduct that she quit. Two other employees contacted Wilson and told her about Ptakowski's concern over the way she left the facility. Wilson, however, did not make any attempt to contact B/E. She testified that she did not think it was necessary to contact anyone because she informed Baker that she would be out of the office, he had her phone number, and he could have called her if he needed to reach her.
That same day, the Vice President of Human Resources, Barbara Latimer, contacted Wilson and told her not to perform any further work for B/E until she explained her actions. Latimer asked Wilson to come to the facility to meet with her on Monday. During the meeting, Wilson stated that she packed her office in preparation to move offices. Latimer did not believe Wilson's story, and Ptakowski was not satisfied with Wilson's explanation of her actions. The following Friday, February 2, 2001, after consultation with Baker, Latimer, and other corporate representatives, Ptakowski terminated Wilson for insubordination.
Wilson then filed this employment discrimination action against B/E and alleged sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended 42 U.S.C. sections 2000e et seq., and the Florida Civil Rights Act, Fla. Stat. sections 760.01 et seq. She contends that B/E discriminated against her on the basis of sex by not promoting her to the position of Site Vice President and by terminating her. At the end of discovery, B/E filed a motion for summary judgment. The district court entered summary judgment for B/E on all of Wilson's claims. Wilson now appeals.
We review a grant of summary judgment de novo. See Damon v. Fleming Supermarkets of Fla., Inc., 196 F.3d 1354, 1357 (11th Cir.1999). Summary judgment is appropriate when "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); see Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). A genuine factual dispute exists "if the jury could return a verdict for the non-moving party." Damon, 196 F.3d at 1358 (quoting United States v. Four Parcels of Real Property, 941 F.2d 1428, 1437 (11th Cir.1991) (en banc)). In examining the record, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. See Damon, 196 F.3d at 1358.
A plaintiff may establish a claim of illegal disparate treatment through either direct evidence or circumstantial evidence. See Schoenfeld v. Babbitt, 168 F.3d 1257, 1266 (11th Cir.1999). Wilson alleges that B/E discriminated against her because of her sex when it did not promote her to Site Vice President and when it terminated her. Wilson argues that both direct and circumstantial evidence support her promotion claim. Wilson argues that circumstantial evidence supports her termination claim.
Before we turn to each of her claims, we reject Wilson's contention that "[s]ummary judgment is especially questionable and should seldom be...
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