Hicks v. St. Mary's Honor Center, Div. of Adult Institutions of Dept. of Corrections and Human Resources of State of Mo.

• Decision Date: 03 September 1992
• Docket Number: No. 91-1571,91-1571
• Citation: 970 F.2d 487
• Parties: 59 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 588, 59 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 41,633 Melvin HICKS, Appellant, v. ST. MARY'S HONOR CENTER, DIVISION OF ADULT INSTITUTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND HUMAN RESOURCES OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI, Steve Long, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 487

970 F.2d 487

59 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 588,

59 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 41,633

Melvin HICKS, Appellant, v. ST. MARY'S HONOR CENTER, DIVISION OF ADULT INSTITUTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND HUMAN RESOURCES OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI, Steve Long, Appellees.

No. 91-1571.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Nov. 13, 1991.

Decided July 23, 1992.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc

Denied Sept. 3, 1992.

Charles R. Oldham, St. Louis, Mo., argued, for appellant.

Gary L. Gardner, Jefferson City, Mo., argued (William L. Webster and Gary L. Gardner, on the brief), for appellees.

Before McMILLIAN and JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judges, and HUNTER, ^* Senior District Judge.

McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge.

Melvin Hicks ("plaintiff") appeals from a final judgment entered in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, after a bench trial, in favor of St. Mary's Honor Center ("St. Mary's") and Steve Long (together "defendants") on the merits of his racial discrimination claim against St. Mary's under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq., and his equal protection claim against Long under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. ¹ Hicks v. St. Mary's Honor Center, 756 F.Supp. 1244 (E.D.Mo.1991). On plaintiff's behalf, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") has appeared in this appeal as an amicus curiae. For reversal, plaintiff and the EEOC argue that the district court erred in holding that plaintiff failed to meet his burden of proving racial discrimination even though he had established a prima facie case of discrimination and had proven by a preponderance of the evidence that defendants' proffered nondiscriminatory reasons for demoting and terminating him were pretextual. For the reasons stated below, we reverse the judgment of the district court and remand the case with directions.

Facts

The following summarizes the facts as found by the district court. St. Mary's is a minimum security correctional facility operated by the Missouri Department of Corrections and Human Resources ("MDCHR"). Plaintiff, an African-American, was hired as a correctional officer at St. Mary's in August 1978. He was promoted to shift commander, a supervisory position, in February 1980.

Starting in 1983, MDCHR began investigating the administration of St. Mary's in response to complaints about poor maintenance inadequate security, and other concerns at the facility. As a result, several persons at the upper levels of St. Mary's administration were demoted or terminated, and new people were hired. Among the changes that were made, defendant Long became the superintendent of St. Mary's. John Powell became the chief of custody and plaintiff's immediate supervisor. Long and Powell are both white.

Prior to 1984, plaintiff had a satisfactory employment record. Plaintiff's supervisors had consistently rated his performance as competent. He had not been suspended, written up, or otherwise disciplined. ² In early 1984, however, plaintiff became the subject of a series of disciplinary actions, based upon three separate incidents occurring in March of that year. The disciplinary actions led to his termination on June 7, 1984.

On March 3, 1984, while plaintiff was on duty as shift commander, two transportation officers observed a number of violations of institutional rules. One of the two transportation officers, Edward Ratliff, submitted a written report about these violations to Powell. A disciplinary review board met and recommended that plaintiff be suspended for five days. Plaintiff was given the five-day suspension. Other officers who were also responsible for the violations were not disciplined. Powell testified that it was his policy to discipline only the shift commander for violations which occur during a shift. 756 F.Supp. at 1247.

On March 19, 1984, plaintiff gave two correctional officers permission to use a St. Mary's vehicle. Neither the correctional officers nor the control center officer on duty at the time logged the use of the car, despite an institutional rule requiring such logging. Powell sought disciplinary action against plaintiff. A disciplinary review board met on April 6, 1984, and voted to recommend that plaintiff be demoted for failing to insure that the use of the car was logged. Powell, who was on the disciplinary board, voted to terminate plaintiff. Plaintiff was demoted to correctional officer I. Neither the control officers who borrowed the car, nor the control officer on duty, was disciplined. Id. at 1247.

On March 21, 1984, while plaintiff was still a shift commander, two inmates were involved in a brawl. One of the two inmates was injured and required emergency medical treatment. After learning that the inmate had been injured in a fight, plaintiff drafted a memorandum to Powell notifying him of the fight and the inmate's injury. Plaintiff ordered the correctional officer who had escorted the injured inmate to the hospital to write a report on the incident. On March 24, 1984, Powell submitted a report to Long charging plaintiff with failure to investigate the assault. On March 29, 1984, Powell gave plaintiff a letter of reprimand, citing failure to investigate the assault as the violation. Id. at 1247.

On April 19, 1984, plaintiff was notified of his demotion during a meeting with Long, Powell, and Vincent Banks, the assistant superintendent. After hearing the news, plaintiff requested and was granted the day off. As plaintiff was leaving, Powell followed him and ordered him to open his locker so Powell could take plaintiff's shift commander manual. Plaintiff refused and the two men exchanged heated words. Plaintiff then indicated that he would "step outside" with Powell. ³ Powell warned him that his words could be perceived as a threat. Plaintiff then left. Powell sought disciplinary action on grounds that plaintiff had threatened him. A disciplinary board was convened and recommended a three-day suspension. Long disregarded their vote and instead recommended termination; he testified that this recommendation was based upon the accumulation and severity of plaintiff's violations. On June 7, 1984, plaintiff was terminated. Id. at 1247-48.

By contrast, when plaintiff filed a report in April 1984 recommending that correctional officer Arthur Turney be disciplined for insubordination to a supervisor, after Turney cursed plaintiff with highly profane language because of a poor service rating, no disciplinary action was taken against Turney. Powell concluded that Turney was "merely venting justifiable frustration." Id. at 1248, 1251 n. 17. ⁴

During this same period from January through June 1984, plaintiff reported violations of institutional rules on numerous occasions but his reports were generally ignored. For example, plaintiff reported to Powell an incident in which transportation officer Ratliff allowed his brother to bring a gun into the correctional facility without checking it at the front desk, despite specific instructions from plaintiff that the gun should be checked. Powell took no disciplinary action. Plaintiff later notified Powell of an incident in which Ratliff instructed an inmate to climb over a wall into Steve Long's locked office so Ratliff could obtain some inmate work passes that were inside. Despite the security breach, Powell did not seek discipline of Ratliff. ⁵ On two occasions in March, plaintiff arrived at work to find the front desk unattended. Apparently both times the shift commander on duty was aware of the front desk officer's absence and had ordered the control center officer to open and close the front door. Plaintiff reported these violations but nobody--including the shift commander, Sharon Hefele--was disciplined. Nor was Hefele disciplined when, on another occasion, plaintiff reported that he found two doors that were supposed to be locked at all times left open under her command. Plaintiff also reported an incident in April 1984 in which a correctional officer, John Newland, took a set of St. Mary's keys home with him; no discipline followed. Another incident occurred in April 1984 in which an inmate escaped due to a correctional officer's admitted negligence. The officer, Michael Doss, received only a letter of reprimand. Id. at 1248.

Turney, Ratliff, Hefele, Newland, and Doss are all white. Id. at 1246 n. 3, 1248 n. 8, 1248 n. 12, 1248 nn. 13 & 14.

During the period from December 1983 to December 1984, approximately twelve blacks and one white were fired at St. Mary's. During this period, the number of blacks hired at St. Mary's was approximately the same as the number of blacks fired. 756 F.Supp. at 1249. ⁶

Discussion

Plaintiff's Title VII claim against St. Mary's and his § 1983 claim against Long were jointly tried by the district court after plaintiff waived his right to a jury trial on the § 1983 claim. In its memorandum opinion, the district court addressed the Title VII claim first and then disposed of the § 1983 claim under the same analysis, reasoning that "the elements of the cause of action are the same under both [Title VII and § 1983]." 756 F.Supp. at 1253. We agree with the district court that the elements of plaintiff's discrimination claim against Long are the same as those which he must prove against St. Mary's under Title VII. See Richmond v. Board of Regents, 957 F.2d 595, 598 (8th Cir.1992) (burden of showing prima facie case of discrimination is the same under Title VII, § 1981, § 1983, or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)); Briggs v. Anderson, 796 F.2d 1009, 1021 (8th Cir.1986) (Briggs ) (inquiry into intentional discrimination for individual actions brought under §§ 1981 and 1983 is essentially the same as inquiry under Title VII); Craik v. Minnesota State Univ. Bd., 731 F.2d 465, 468 n. 5 (8th Cir.1984) (Craik ) (issue of discriminatory intent is common to analyses under Fourteenth Amendment, § 1983, and Title VII).

It is undisputed that...