Luckie v. Ameritech Corp.

• Citation: 389 F.3d 708
• Decision Date: 19 November 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-3442.,03-3442.
• Parties: Colette LUCKIE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. AMERITECH CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)

389 F.3d 708

Colette LUCKIE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. AMERITECH CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 03-3442.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued September 28, 2004.

Decided November 19, 2004.

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Crystal L. Roberts (argued), Barclay & Dixon, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Laura A. Lindner (argued), Lindner & Marsack, Milwaukee, WI, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before BAUER, EASTERBROOK, and MANION, Circuit Judges.

BAUER, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff-Appellant Colette Luckie filed suit against Ameritech Corporation, claiming racial harassment and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq. The district court granted Ameritech's motion for summary judgment on both claims. Luckie appeals, and we affirm.

Background

Luckie, an African-American, began her employment with Security Link, a division of Ameritech, in 1995. In 1997, she was promoted to the position of Senior Manager of Organizational Development and Planning ("OD & P") in the Human Resources department of the Small Business Services ("SBS") business unit. SBS later merged with Ameritech's Enhanced Business Services unit to form a new unit, General Business Services ("GBS"). Orlando Ashford was Luckie's immediate supervisor and Jane Marvin, Vice-President of Human Resources for GBS, was Luckie's second-line supervisor.

Marvin left Ameritech on April 30, 1999 and was replaced by Gwen Patterson. Patterson had been the Vice-President of Human Resources at Ameritech Information Industry Services ("AIIS"). At the end of May 1999, Ashford also left Ameritech and Luckie began reporting directly to Patterson. In preparation for her new position, Patterson met with the president of GBS, Ronald Blake, who asked her to focus on widespread client dissatisfaction with Human Resources. Blake asked Patterson to talk to the managers of other business units to identify their concerns. As instructed, Patterson contacted several people for their feedback on the Human Resources organization and its employees. As part of this effort, Patterson contacted Marvin, even though she had left the company. During their conversation, Marvin expressed concern regarding Luckie's performance and communicated her belief that Luckie may have "topped out" and might not be able to meet the expectations of her job. Marvin further noted that a Performance Improvement Plan ("PIP") might be necessary. A PIP is a formal procedure by which an employee is given specific objectives and expectations in order to improve performance; in essence, the employee is given a last chance to improve before being terminated for poor performance. Patterson also contacted the Director of Human Resources, Sharon Krolopp. Krolopp also expressed concern regarding Luckie's performance. Additionally, Patterson spoke with Doug Heath, Director of the Ameritech Institute, who stated that Luckie had a "toxic effect" on the organization.

Soon after her arrival, Patterson met with Luckie to assess the performance of Luckie's direct reports. The parties disagree regarding the details of this meeting. Luckie claims that Patterson asked only about the minority employees and wanted Luckie to create performance issues with those employees, or else Luckie would herself be scrutinized. Luckie also contends that Patterson stated that she wanted to "change the complexion" of the department. For her part, Patterson denies asking Luckie to create performance issues with minority employees and denies making the "complexion" comment. Luckie further claims that Patterson later called an African-American employee named Richard Peterson a "dunce." Finally, as further evidence of discrimination, Luckie also points to an e-mail sent by one of her staff, James Boring, to Blake reflecting his dissatisfaction with the current culture at Ameritech and concern with Patterson's management style.

Though the details of Patterson and Luckie's meeting are disputed, it is undisputed that Patterson almost immediately began documenting performance problems with Luckie, including inaccessibility during work hours, missed deadlines, inaccurate communications, and failure to keep her credit card account up to date. Luckie contends that any credit card arrearage was due to Patterson not approving her expenses in a timely fashion. Patterson discussed her expectations with Luckie, but Luckie's performance did not improve. Patterson then met with Krolopp and Blake to discuss Luckie's continuing performance problems. With their input, Patterson ultimately decided to put Luckie on a PIP on August 27, 1999. By its terms, Luckie had 30 days to improve her performance; failure to meet the goals and expectations set out in the PIP could result in the termination of her employment. Patterson discussed the PIP with Luckie. During the PIP, Patterson met with Luckie regularly. In addition, Debbie Lewis or Susan Brenkus, who worked for different business units and did not report to Patterson, also attended. The consensus among the three was that Luckie was defensive during these meetings and not open to suggestions.

At some point in August 1999, Luckie contacted the Ameritech internal EEO hotline to complain about Patterson's conduct and spoke with EEO representative Mamie Clay. Luckie only identified herself by her first name, and did not name Patterson as the manager about whom she was calling. Luckie asserts that Clay guessed that she was talking about Patterson and said she would talk to Patterson about the problem. Clay denies that she guessed that the manager was Patterson. Regardless, Patterson and Clay have both testified that they have never met or spoken to one another. Luckie contacted Clay at the EEO hotline again later in August, this time with another employee, Wanda Raymond (an Asian-American), on the line. Again, Luckie and Raymond used their first names only, and did not identify Patterson or the business unit in which they worked. At some point after this second call, Luckie visited Clay face-to-face. She still identified herself only as "Colette" and provided no new information.

Luckie then retained an attorney, who sent three letters to Ameritech beginning on September 16, 1999. The letters claimed that Luckie had been discriminated against and was interested in engaging in discussion to settle her claims. In part, the letters described the dispute between Luckie and Patterson over Luckie's credit card balance. In response to the letters, Deborah Ingram of Ameritech's EEO department asked Patterson to provide information about the credit card account balances of all her employees.

When she failed to improve her performance under the PIP, Luckie was terminated on October 4, 1999. Both Krolopp and Blake approved Patterson's decision to fire her. Luckie filed this suit on November 8, 2001. On August 21, 2003, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of Ameritech.

Title VII Claims

Summary judgment is appropriate where the "pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo, construing all facts and reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Miller v. Am. Family Mut. Ins. Co., 203 F.3d 997, 1003 (7th Cir.2000).

Racial Harassment

Title VII prohibits an employer from engaging in racial harassment that creates a hostile working environment. Johnson v. City of Fort Wayne, Ind., 91 F.3d 922, 938 (7th Cir.1996). To state a claim for a hostile work environment, Luckie must demonstrate that: (1) she was subject to unwelcome harassment; (2) the harassment was based on her race; (3) the harassment was sufficiently severe or pervasive so as to alter the conditions of her employment and create a hostile or abusive atmosphere; and (4) there is a basis for employer liability. Williams v. Waste Mgmt. of Ill., 361 F.3d 1021, 1029 (7th Cir.2004).

Luckie's allegations of harassment do not conform to the traditional hostile work environment claim in that she does not allege that she was the target of any racial slurs, epithets, or other overtly race-related behavior. See Johnson, 91 F.3d at 938. Nonetheless, Luckie contends that three separate incidents are evidence of a campaign of racial harassment by Patterson. Specifically, she points to: (1) Patterson's comment that she wanted to "change the complexion" of the Human Resources group; (2) Patterson calling an African-American employee a "dunce"; and (3) an e-mail sent by James Boring which complained of the effect that Patterson's management style was having on several employees and the department as a whole.¹ None of these incidents are sufficiently connected to race so as to satisfy the second element of the hostile environment analysis. The conduct at issue must have a racial character or purpose to support a hostile work environment claim. Hardin v. S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., 167 F.3d 340, 345 (7th Cir.1999). Among the complained-of incidents, the only comment that arguably has a racial character is Patterson's statement regarding changing the "complexion" of the department. However, this remark was made in the context of discussing the department's organization and ways to increase its efficiency. Indeed, Luckie admits that Patterson did not overtly refer to race at all during this discussion, or at any other time. We agree that the statement reflects Patterson's plans for reorganization, and that no reasonable jury could find that it was racial in character or purpose. Accordingly, the district court correctly held that none of the incidents which Luckie cites have the required racial character and purpose to support a racial harassment...