Roberts v. Gadsden Memorial Hosp.

• Decision Date: 13 January 1988
• Docket Number: No. 86-3826,86-3826
• Citation: 835 F.2d 793
• Parties: 45 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1246, 45 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 37,714 Charles ROBERTS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. GADSDEN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, Defendant-Appellant. Gadsden County, Florida, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 793

835 F.2d 793

45 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1246,

45 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 37,714

Charles ROBERTS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. GADSDEN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, Defendant-Appellant Gadsden County, Florida, Defendant.

No. 86-3826.

United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit.

Jan. 13, 1988.

Benjamin B. Culp, Jr., David Charles Whitlock, Fisher & Phillips, Atlanta, Ga., for defendant-appellant.

Danni Vogt, Tallahassee, Fla., Steven L. Seliger, Quincy, Fla., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

Before HILL and VANCE, Circuit Judges, and SPELLMAN, ^* District judge.

SPELLMAN, District Judge:

This is a Title VII case in which the trial court found, inter alia, that the Defendant, Gadsden Memorial Hospital (GMH) discriminated against the Plaintiff, Charles Roberts (Roberts), on the basis of race in denying him fair promotion opportunities in July, 1978, and November, 1981. The trial court further found that these two incidents arose out of pattern or practice of discrimination which constituted a "continuing violation" by GMH of Roberts' civil rights. Accordingly, the trial court awarded Roberts damages based on the difference between his salary and those of the maintenance supervisors that GMH promoted in his place, prejudgment interest, costs, and attorneys fees.

Upon careful review, we find that the District Court's conclusion that GMH wrongfully discriminated against Roberts in 1981 was supported by substantial evidence. The court's conclusion that the 1978 and 1981 incidents were so sufficiently related as to constitute a continuing violation, however, was clearly erroneous. See Pullman-Standard v. Swint, 456 U.S. 273, 102 S.Ct. 1781, 72 L.Ed.2d 66 (1982); Carmichael v. Birmingham Saw Works, 738 F.2d 1126, 1129 (11th Cir.1984). Therefore, Roberts' 1978 claim was time-barred and he was not entitled to damages for injuries occurring prior to 1981. Accordingly, we AFFIRM in part and REVERSE in part.

I. Facts

The trial court made extensive findings of fact which we find instructive: Gadsden County, Florida, owns and operates the Defendant-Appellant hospital (GMH). GMH employs more than fifteen people and is an employer within 42 U.S.C. section 2000e. Roberts began his career at GMH in 1966 where he worked in the maintenance department until resigning in 1972. In September, 1976, Roberts returned to GMH's maintenance department as a participant in the county's Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) program. Roberts' duties under this program were equivalent to those of a regular maintenance employee. Roberts also alternated on a weekly basis with Gerald Allen, the supervisor during this time period, in being "on call" to respond to after-hours maintenance problems. Moreover, he "served as supervisor of eight to ten other CETA workers assigned to GMH. In this capacity, [Roberts] assigned work areas, picked up supplies, kept time, and evaluated performance." Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law, (R-58-2).

In August, 1977, GMH appointed Corry Wilhoit, a white male, to serve as maintenance supervisor at a wage of $4.42 per hour after Gerald Allen resigned. Although Roberts had known of the vacancy, he had not applied for the supervisory position. Subsequently, however, on January 2, 1978, GMH hired Roberts as a full-time maintenance worker. Although this entailed Roberts' leaving the CETA program, his duties remained substantially the same.

In July, 1978, Wilhoit resigned, recommending Roberts as his replacement. The GMH administrator at that time, Ed Carter, offered the position to Roberts without a concomitant wage increase so that, whereas Wilhoit had been earning $4.42 per hour, Roberts was offered only $3.50 per hour for the same work. The trial court found no credible explanation in the record for this wage disparity. Roberts rejected the "promotion" because of the discriminatory wage, but temporarily performed the duties of maintenance supervisor for one month until GMH hired David Beach, a white male, for the position at a wage of $5.50 per hour. (R-58-3).

Beach remained in this position until November 20, 1981, when the new hospital administrator, Ken Arnold, forced his resignation and replaced him on the same day with Michael Harrison, a white male who had been working as a hospital scrub technician for three weeks at that time. Arnold considered no one but Harrison for that position. (R-58-3). Arnold filled the position of maintenance supervisor in an informal and secretive manner. (R-58-3, 8).

After satisfying all administrative and procedural prerequisites, Roberts sued GMH for wrongfully failing to promote him to this position on the basis of his race.

II. Discussion

Roberts' claim was essentially that GMH discriminated against him in denying him fair promotion opportunities in 1977, 1978, and 1981, and that these incidents demonstrate the existence of a continuing violation such that the earlier two claims were not time-barred, but rather, were preserved under the scope of the "continuing violation" doctrine. The District Court found that racial discrimination was not involved in the 1977 incident. As Roberts did not appeal this finding, we need focus our discussion only upon the 1978 and 1981 incidents and whether these incidents, taken together, constituted a "continuing violation."

A. The 1981 Incident

The record supports the District Court's finding that Roberts established a prima facie case of racial discrimination in the 1981 incident, which GMH failed to rebut. In McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, the Supreme Court set forth the complicated burden-shifting analysis for proving, by indirect evidence, a Title VII claim of racially disparate treatment. 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973); see also Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981). To establish a prima facie case, a plaintiff is required to prove that "he or she is a member of a protected minority, was qualified for and applied for the promotion, was rejected despite these qualifications, and that other employees with equal or lesser qualifications who were not members of the protected minority were promoted." Perryman v. Johnson Products Co., 698 F.2d 1138, 1142 n. 7 (11th Cir.1983).

Once a plaintiff has established a prima facie case, thereby raising an inference that he was the subject of intentional race discriminated, the burden shifts to defendant to rebut this inference by presenting legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons for its failure to select the plaintiff for the position sought. Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981). If the employer fails to satisfy this burden, the inference of intentional discrimination stands unrebutted and the plaintiff is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id.

If, however, the employer successfully articulates a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for the action, the plaintiff must next establish by a preponderance of the evidence that a discriminatory intent motivated the employer's action. McDonnell Douglas, 411 U.S. at 804, 93 S.Ct. at 1825; Perryman, 698 F.2d at 1142. A plaintiff may carry this burden either indirectly, by showing that the defendant's proffered explanation is pretextual, or directly, by showing that a discriminatory reason more likely motivated the defendant's action. Burdine, 450 U.S. at 256, 101 S.Ct. at 1095; Perryman, 698 F.2d at 1142. By successfully meeting this burden, the plaintiff creates a presumption that the adverse employment action was the product of discriminatory intent. The employer may rebut this presumption only by showing that the adverse action would have occurred even in the absence of discriminatory intent. Mount Healthy City School District Board or Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 287, 97 S.Ct. 568, 576, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977); Perryman, 698 F.2d at 1142.

Although the burgeoning progeny of McDonnell Douglas often treats the shifting burden test as an inflexible yardstick, the Supreme Court has cautioned that it intended the test to function more as an evidentiary guide to determine the ultimate question in a racial discrimination case under Title VII: whether the employer discriminated against the claimant on the basis of race. United States Postal Service Board of Governors v. Aikens, 460 U.S. 711, 715, 103 S.Ct. 1478, 1481, 75 L.Ed.2d 403 (1983). For example, when the failure to promote arises out of an informal, secretive selection process, as the District Court found occurred in the case at bar, a plaintiff may raise an inference of intentional, racially-disparate treatment without proving that he technically applied for, and failed to obtain, the promotion. Carmichael v. Birmingham Saw Works, 738 F.2d 1126, 1133 (11th Cir.1984). Accordingly, rather than technically retrace the District Court's steps through the McDonnell Douglas-Burdine test, we will engage in a more flexible analysis to determine whether the record supports the district court's finding that Roberts successfully raised an inference of intentional racial discrimination, which GMH failed to rebut. See Hill v. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Co., 767 F.2d 771, 773 (11th Cir.1985); Carmichael, 738 F.2d at 1129. It is this Court's opinion that such a finding was not clearly erroneous.

Soon after beginning his job as hospital administrator and relocating to Quincy, Florida, the site of GMH, Arnold, concerned with the status of the hospital facilities, began investigating Beach's competence as maintenance supervisor. (Defendant's Exhibit # 3-Composite). At about the same time, he began to socialize with certain members of the hospital staff, one of whom was Michael Harrison, the husband of a GMH nurse (R4-79). On the same day that Arnold terminated Beach's employment, he offered the position to Harrison. Arnold had never posted notice of the "open" position...