Peirick v. Iupui Athletics Dept.

• Decision Date: 14 December 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06-1538.,06-1538.
• Citation: 510 F.3d 681
• Parties: Debbie A. PEIRICK, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. INDIANA UNIVERSITY-PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT; Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis; and The Board of Trustees of Indiana University, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

510 F.3d 681

Debbie A. PEIRICK, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. INDIANA UNIVERSITY-PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT; Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis; and The Board of Trustees of Indiana University, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 06-1538.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued November 28, 2006.

Decided December 14, 2007.

Kevin W. Betz (argued), Betz & Associates, Indianapolis, IN, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Ellen E. Boshkoff (argued), Baker & Daniels, Indianapolis, IN, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before FLAUM, MANION, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge.

During Debbie Peirick's thirteenth and final year as head coach of the women's tennis team at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), her team maintained the highest grade point average of all athletic teams, achieved its best season in history, and, for the first time, qualified for the NCAA tournament. Despite this record, Peirick, then age fifty-three, was fired when the season ended. Within a month of her termination, IUPUI hired the twenty-three year old sister of the men's tennis coach to coach the women's tennis team.

Peirick sued IUPUI, the IUPUI Athletics Department, and the Board of Trustees of Indiana University, claiming that her termination was motivated by gender and age. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants on both claims. Material questions of fact exist as to whether Peirick was treated less favorably than her similarly situated male counterparts, so we vacate the grant of summary judgment on her gender discrimination claim. However, because IUPUI and the Board of Trustees of Indiana University are immune from suit under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (and the athletic department is not a suable entity separate from the university), we affirm the grant of summary judgment on Peirick's age discrimination claim.

I. BACKGROUND

The following facts are recited in the light most favorable to Peirick, the nonmovant for summary judgment. Peirick became the head women's tennis coach at IUPUI in 1990. Six years later, Michael Moore accepted the position of Athletic Director, with authority to hire and fire IUPUI's coaches. Denise O'Grady joined IUPUI as Assistant Athletic Director and Senior Women's Administrator in October 2002, eight months before Peirick's termination.

The Department evaluated all coaches at IUPUI based on performance expectations for academics, community service, compliance, budget management, fundraising, professional conduct and development, and athletic competition. The parties do not dispute that Peirick excelled in most areas. Her players performed well academically, far exceeding the 2.6 grade point average (GPA) requirement, and they often had the highest or second highest GPA for all of IUPUI's athletic teams. Peirick was routinely acknowledged by the Athletics Department for encouraging her team's academic performance. She received community service awards, including the 1998 U.S. Tennis Association's Collegiate Community Service Award, a distinction extended to only ten coaches across the country. She never received an NCAA rule violation of any sort during her thirteen-year tenure. No one complained about her budgeting or fundraising abilities. During 2002-2003, Peirick's final year as coach, the women's tennis team had its best season in school history. It went undefeated during regular season play, won its first Mid-Continent Conference championship, and became the first women's team at IUPUI to advance to the NCAA post-season tournament. For her achievements, Peirick was named the 2004 College Coach of the Year by the Midwest Division of the U.S. Professional Tennis Association.

But IUPUI maintains that deficiencies in Peirick's professional conduct overshadowed all of these virtues. According to Moore, events occurring during the two-month window between April and June 2003 led to Peirick's termination. On April 6, 2003, the parents of Emily Dukeman, a team member, sent Moore an email message complaining that Peirick used "negative, foul language," "lacked professional qualities," and made being on the team a "very unpleasant and degrading experience." The message also claimed that "several players may not return next year."

Next, IUPUI says that five of the eight members of the team met with O'Grady on April 10, 2003, to complain about Peirick. During that meeting, which the students requested, they said that Peirick used abusive language, "would yell at them and scream at them, and tell them to shut up," and directed profanity towards the students and coaches of other teams. Further, O'Grady says that the students complained that when they were returning from a road trip to Tennessee, Peirick drove a van of students out of a restaurant parking lot without waiting for the other van of students or making sure they had directions. The students also said that Peirick was an unsafe driver, who drove too fast for the road conditions. (O'Grady says she also felt uncomfortable when riding with Peirick during the trip to the NCAA tournament.) O'Grady claims she took the complaints seriously because it was uncommon for a group of students to come forward with complaints, and because athletes were often reluctant to complain at mid-season when their playing time could be adversely affected.

IUPUI claims that Peirick's handling of a scheduling conflict involving the Indianapolis Tennis Center was the key factor in her termination. In early April 2003, the women's tennis team was on target to win the Mid-Continent regular-season crown, an achievement that would entitle them to host the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament. The team practiced and played at the Tennis Center, an exceptional facility, and it expected to host the Tournament there. When Peirick sought to reserve the Tennis Center, she learned that it was already booked and conveyed this fact to Moore and O'Grady. After trying to resolve the scheduling conflict, Moore and O'Grady decided that they would have to secure an alternate, off-campus location for the Mid-Conference Tournament. Peirick asked Moore and O'Grady not to share this information with the team for fear that the disappointment might affect their play in remaining games.

On April 15, 2003, after the regular season ended, Peirick informed her players that they would not be able to host the Mid-Continent Tournament at the Tennis Center. Later that day when two team members confronted O'Grady about the situation, O'Grady was surprised by the extent of their anger and asked them to explain their feelings. According to O'Grady, the team members stated that "Coach Peirick had informed them that the tennis center was not going to be available for the conference tournament, and indicated to them that it could have—it could be available, but that the athletic administration would not pick up the phone and make the call to reserve the center . . . ." Moore and O'Grady thought Peirick had lied, and Moore claims this was the final straw requiring her termination.¹ Neither Moore nor O'Grady ever informed Peirick of the concerns that emerged during the months preceding her termination, and she was given no opportunity to respond or improve either before or at the time of her termination.

It is not clear whether Peirick was entitled to a warning. The answer to that question, IUPUI suggests, depends only on whether Peirick was an hourly or appointed employee. IUPUI classifies employees into a dizzying array of categories: part-time, full-time, hourly, appointed, monthly appointed (appointed and paid on a monthly basis), biweekly appointed (appointed and paid on a biweekly basis), to name a few. Only the hourly versus appointed distinction is relevant to our review.

IUPUI's Hourly Staff Handbook provides that an hourly employee "may work irregular, intermittent, or on-call hours," and that hourly positions are intended to be "less than full time, and [to] supplement[] full and part-time appointed positions in the department." Further, "[s]ince hourly employees fill in for temporary needs of the department, some of the policies and benefits that apply to appointed staff such as probationary periods, seniority, paid time off and progressive discipline, do not apply to hourly staff." By contrast, "[a]n appointed position is one that is needed for at least nine months in a 12-month period and is needed for at least 20 hours a week. . . ." Appointed employees "may be eligible for benefits such as paid time off, health and life insurance, retirement, fee courtesy, etc." So, by IUPUI policy, appointed, but not hourly employees, were guaranteed progressive discipline.

This is not to say that the difference between hourly and appointed employees had any practical significance. Hourly and appointed staff were held to the same performance standards. Employees were not made aware of the two designations, and Moore provided progressive discipline to hourly employees—persons that he considered "valuable." Before terminating Peirick, Moore asked O'Grady to speak with IUPUI's Human Resources Department about IUPUI's disciplinary process. At her deposition, LaVonne Jones, an Employment Consultant within the Human Resources Administration, testified that O'Grady had said that Peirick was an hourly employee. Based on that representation, Jones told O'Grady what options the Athletics Department had. It could consider demoting Peirick, talking to her, calling a meeting, or terminating her. O'Grady shared these possibilities with Moore, and he made the decision to terminate.

On June 10, 2003, Moore informed Peirick, who was 53 years old, that she would not be invited back to coach the women's tennis team during the following year. In explaining his decision, Moore simply stated that he wanted to take the women's tennis program in a "new, different direction." At that time, he gave Peirick the option of...