Hux v. City of Newport News, Va.

• Decision Date: 23 June 2006
• Docket Number: No. 05-1230.,05-1230.
• Citation: 451 F.3d 311
• Parties: Jonnie Sue HUX, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 311

451 F.3d 311

Jonnie Sue HUX, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 05-1230.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued: May 25, 2006.

Decided: June 23, 2006.

Carolyn P. Carpenter, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellant. Allen Link Jackson, Chief Deputy City Attorney, City Attorney's Office for the City of Newport News, Newport News, Virginia, for Appellee.

Before WILKINSON, NIEMEYER, and KING, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge WILKINSON wrote the opinion, in which Judge NIEMEYER and Judge KING joined.

OPINION

WILKINSON, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff Jonnie Sue Hux contends that her employer, the City of Newport News, Virginia, failed to promote her to Fire Captain because of her gender, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (2000). In its defense, the City proffers evidence that it promoted male candidates over Hux because they were better qualified. Plaintiff's attempt to find pretext in this neutral explanation consists of comparing herself to individual male applicants on the basis of isolated promotional criteria, without acknowledging that those applicants' qualifications were superior to hers overall. Her suggestion that summary judgment is precluded by pinprick objections to an employer's non-discriminatory justification would place routine personnel decisions in judicial hands. We thus affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment to the City.

I.

Defendant City of Newport News operates the Newport News Fire Department, which provides, among other things, fire suppression and emergency medical services (EMS). The Fire Chief, Kenneth Jones, heads the entire Fire Department. Fire Chief Jones is directly assisted by two Deputy Fire Chiefs. Fire Captains oversee each twenty-four hour shift at the City's ten fire stations. The Fire Captain position is demanding, and involves a variety of supervisory duties both at the fire station and during emergency operations. Fire Captains, in turn, are assisted by Fire Lieutenants. Non-officer positions include Firefighter/Medics, who may themselves earn "Senior" status.

Plaintiff Jonnie Sue Hux commenced employment with the City of Newport News in 1986 as a dispatcher in the Emergency Communications Department. In 1990, Hux joined the Fire Department as an emergency medical technician, and in 1992, the Department assigned her to a "squad unit," a three-person team consisting of two firefighters and one medic. While Hux did receive basic firefighting certification as part of her squad service, her work continued to focus almost exclusively on EMS. The Department subsequently unified its fire and medical personnel, and it reclassified Hux as a Firefighter/Medic in 1995. Hux was later promoted to "Senior" status even though she did not have the five years of experience that was typically a prerequisite.

In 1999, Hux applied for a Fire Lieutenant position. Anticipating that she would not receive the promotion, she filed a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). As it turned out, Hux was awarded the promotion, and she withdrew her EEOC charge. She was the first woman in the Department appointed to a fire officer position. Unfortunately, however, major surgery required Hux to take almost 2000 hours of sick leave during the period between her promotion and September 2003. While the Department permitted her this leave, being so often away from work naturally limited her amount of experience as a Fire Lieutenant.

Hux's tenure as Fire Lieutenant was characterized by continuous friction with her subordinates and fellow officers. In October 2001, for example, ten male and female subordinates at Hux's fire station wrote a joint letter to Hux's superiors, complaining that Hux fostered "antagonistic work conditions" and exemplified "autocratic management." According to the letter, Hux "single [d] out subordinates, on an ongoing basis, to humiliate and frustrate them," and was "intentionally defiant and openly critical" of their Captain. For her part, Hux contends that her Fire Captain was generally unsupportive, and that her subordinates were rude and unwilling to follow her orders because she was a female.

On October 11, 2001, the Department transferred Hux to a different fire station, but the discord followed her to the new location. While Hux suggests things improved, her new Captain informed Fire Chief Jones that Hux's interpersonal interactions were not of "the proper tone to foster . . . unit cohesiveness." In 2003, Hux received a standard pay increase, but a Battalion Chief noted on her employment evaluation that he had spoken with her about her negative attitude and had asked her to improve. Hux contends that this same Battalion Chief was disrespectful to her and made it difficult for her to do her job.

Hux's problems were not, however, related solely to personality differences, as the record reveals numerous instances of unprofessional behavior. For example, Hux called a subordinate a "stupid mother fucker" in front of the rest of her firehouse crew following an incident in which a fire hose was packed improperly. This resulted in a formal counseling from Fire Chief Jones. In addition, and in the presence of the Fire Administration staff, Hux insulted a Fire Captain by proclaiming that he had earned his promotion by "using knee pads." Other examples include intentionally hanging up on a call to her fire station, and, in front of others, openly chastising her Fire Captain as a "wuss" after he decided there had been enough training for one day. Hux did not deny these allegations in the court below, and they unfortunately represent only a sampling of the various improprieties found in the record.

Despite this bumpy tenure as Fire Lieutenant, Hux continued to seek advancement within the Department. Once she had met the threshold eligibility requirements, including a minimum of two years service as a Fire Lieutenant, Hux applied for a promotion to Fire Captain on four separate occasions: February 2002,¹ December 2002, September 2003, and January 2004, the last a reconvening of the September 2003 process. Combined, these four promotion periods filled nineteen Fire Captain vacancies. Hux was never selected, and all of the promotions went to male applicants. Hux was the only female candidate considered in each of the promotion periods because she was the only woman who met the threshold eligibility requirement of two years service as a Fire Lieutenant.

Hux filed multiple administrative charges with both the EEOC and the City alleging gender discrimination in the Department's failure to promote her to Fire Captain. After exhausting her administrative remedies, Hux commenced this lawsuit, contending that the Department failed to promote her because of her gender, and in retaliation for her filing administrative charges. The district court granted summary judgment to the City. Hux appeals.

II.

Title VII makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an individual because of that individual's sex. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). Hux acknowledges that she can proffer no direct evidence of discrimination, and so elects to proceed under the burden-shifting scheme set forth in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), and its progeny. See, e.g., Hawkins v. PepsiCo, Inc., 203 F.3d 274, 278 (4th Cir.2000). Plaintiff first must make out a prima facie case of discrimination, see McDonnell Douglas Corp., 411 U.S. at 802, 93 S.Ct. 1817, and we will assume that Hux has done so here. The burden then shifts to the City to give a legitimate, non-discriminatory justification for its decision. See, e.g., Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 142, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000). The City has met this burden by providing evidence that it did not promote Hux to Fire Captain because male candidates were better qualified. See, e.g., Evans v. Techs. Applications & Serv. Co., 80 F.3d 954, 960 (4th Cir.1996). As a result, Hux must show that this proffered explanation is pretext for intentional discrimination. See Reeves, 530 U.S. at 142-43, 120 S.Ct. 2097. "A plaintiff alleging a failure to promote can prove pretext by showing that [she] was better qualified, or by amassing circumstantial evidence that otherwise undermines the credibility of the employer's stated reasons." Heiko v. Colombo Savings Bank, F.S.B., 434 F.3d 249, 259 (4th Cir.2006).

The general standards for summary judgment naturally inform any assessment of whether a plaintiff has provided sufficient evidence of pretext such that her case may proceed to trial. See, e.g., Anderson v. Westinghouse Savannah River Co., 406 F.3d 248, 272 (4th Cir.2005); Mereish v. Walker, 359 F.3d 330, 339 (4th Cir.2004). As the Supreme Court has made clear, "trial courts should not `treat discrimination differently from other ultimate questions of fact.'" Reeves, 530 U.S. at 148, 120 S.Ct. 2097 (quoting St. Mary's Honor Ctr. v. Hicks, 509 U.S. 502, 524, 113 S.Ct. 2742, 125 L.Ed.2d 407 (1993)). Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c), 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." Together, the genuineness and materiality requirements express the sound proposition that litigation for its own sake is not a judicious use of resources. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 327, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

The summary judgment standards mesh comfortably with the McDonnell Douglas framework. Once an employer has provided a non-discriminatory explanation for its decision, the plaintiff cannot seek to expose that rationale as pretextual by focusing on minor discrepancies that do not cast doubt on the explanation's validity, or by raising points that are wholly irrelevant to...