Earnhardt v. Com. of Puerto Rico, s. 84-1055
| Citation | 744 F.2d 1 |
| Decision Date | 17 September 1984 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 84-1055,84-1105,s. 84-1055 |
| Parties | 35 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1406, 35 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 34,643 Kent EARNHARDT, et al., Plaintiffs, Appellees, v. The COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO, et al., Defendants, Appellants. Kent EARNHARDT, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. The COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO, et al., Defendants, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit |
Carlos V. Garcia Gutierrez, Santurce, P.R., for Kent Earnhardt, et al.
Gerardo Mariani, Asst. Sol. Gen., San Juan, P.R., with whom Miguel A. Pagan, Deputy Sol. Gen., Dept. of Justice, San Juan, P.R., was on brief, for The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, et al.
Before BOWNES and BREYER, Circuit Judges, and DOYLE, * Senior District Judge.
In this Title VII discriminatory discharge case, based on 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e, plaintiff, Dr. Kent Earnhardt (Earnhardt), convinced the district court that his employment with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico was terminated because of invidious national origin discrimination and the court awarded him his lost salary as damages. Defendant Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Commonwealth) appeals, maintaining that the district court, 582 F.Supp. 25, erred in concluding the plaintiff was fired as a result of discriminatory animus. Plaintiff Earnhardt cross-appeals the denial of a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e) motion to amend the back pay judgment to include prejudgment interest and a liquidated sum for loss of fringe benefits.
The court's subsidiary findings of fact and its ultimate determination of liability are amply supported by the evidence. Because the findings rest on a strong evidentiary base, we rehearse only the factual highlights.
Earnhardt, who was born in the continental United States, was hired by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Health Department (Department) by contract dated October 24, 1975. The decision to hire Earnhardt was made by Dr. Antonio Silva Iglecia (Silva), who at that time was Assistant Secretary of Health for the Family Planning Division. The contract, under which he was to work ninety-five hours per month, expired on June 30, 1976. Shortly before that date, the contract was renewed for an additional year. In September 1976, the new contract was amended to allow for prorated sick leave and vacation time.
During his tenure with the Department, Earnhardt worked closely with Silva, preparing speeches and other policy statements. He represented Silva and the Department at an international conference on population and worked on various research projects. Earnhardt subsequently became subdirector of the Planning and Development Division under Sandra Quinones Lopez (Quinones) in July of 1976. Earnhardt's contract was terminated later that year by a memorandum dated December 20, 1976, stating that clause 11 of the contract was the basis for the termination. Clause 11 provided that either party had the right to terminate the contract on thirty days' notice. No reason was given to Earnhardt for the contract termination; Silva testified that he had invoked clause 11 so that the termination would not have to be justified by specific reasons.
The district court found as follows. Earnhardt, the only continental American working in the Family Planning Program, was frequently reminded of this by being addressed as "gringo" by his supervisors and co-workers rather than by his name. He was criticized upon occasion for being "muy Americano" ("very American"). "There existed in the workplace a sense that 'Americans' were outsiders, and that Earnhardt was one of them." Earnhardt's supervisor, Silva, who signed the termination memorandum, was "overly sensitive to professional differences of opinion when they came from 'Americans.' " This was evidenced by a memorandum couched in ethnic terms from Silva responding to a critique by a team of evaluators from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and by comments Silva made to Earnhardt.
The Commonwealth contends that low productivity was the cause of Earnhardt's termination rather than any discriminatory animus of his supervisors and co-workers. We agree with the district court that this profferred reason is not credible: "The overall impression we get from the memorandums submitted [into] evidence is that the plaintiff was a worker whose goal was to get on with his work and accomplish it in the most efficient manner...
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...OCAHO no. 906, §7:3.C.4 Earley v. Champion Int’l Corp ., 907 F.2d 1077 (11th Cir. 1990), §§23:6.C.3, 40:2.D.2.a Earnhardt v. Puerto Rico , 744 F.2d 1 (1st Cir. 1984), §24:4.B.1 Easterling v. Sch. Bd. of Concordia Parish , 196 Fed. Appx. 251, 253 (5th Cir. 2006), §21:7.I.3 Easterling v. Youn......
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Discrimination Based on National Origin, Religion, and Other Grounds
...employer’s discrimination against Anglo-Saxon employees on the basis of their national origin is unlawful. Earnhardt v. Puerto Rico , 744 F.2d 1, 2 (1st Cir. 1984). a. Birthplace and Language Birthplace and language can play a significant role in determining national origin discrimination c......
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Table of cases
...OCAHO no. 906, §7:3.C.4 Earley v. Champion Int’l Corp ., 907 F.2d 1077 (11th Cir. 1990), §§23:6.C.3, 40:2.D.2.a Earnhardt v. Puerto Rico , 744 F.2d 1 (1st Cir. 1984), §24:4.B.1 Easterling v. Sch. Bd. of Concordia Parish , 196 Fed. Appx. 251, 253 (5th Cir. 2006), §21:7.I.3 Easterling v. Youn......