Anderson v. The Foster Group

• Decision Date: 16 October 2007
• Docket Number: No. 04 C 5755.,04 C 5755.
• Citation: 521 F.Supp.2d 758
• Parties: Clark ANDERSON, Plaintiff, v. THE FOSTER GROUP, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

521 F.Supp.2d 758

Clark ANDERSON, Plaintiff, v. THE FOSTER GROUP, Defendant.

No. 04 C 5755.

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.

October 16, 2007.

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Stuart X. Jones, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff.

Linzey D. Jones, Jr., Tiffany Mary Ferguson, Pugh, Jones, Johnson & Quandt, P.C., Chicago, IL, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

REBECCA R. PALLMEYER, District Judge.

From January 2000 until June 2004, Clark Anderson ("Plaintiff'), an African-American, was employed by The Foster Group ("Defendant"), an information technology consulting company owned and operated by African-Americans. On June 25, 2004, Defendant terminated Plaintiff for the stated reason of insubordination after Plaintiff refused to meet with one of his superiors and then hung up the phone on him. In this action, Plaintiff claims that Defendant discriminated against him on the basis of his race and on the basis of what he claims is a disability resulting from a herniated disc in his back. Plaintiff further claims that his termination was a product of retaliation. Plaintiff now sues Defendant for race discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (Count I); retaliation for complaints of race discrimination under Title VII (Count II); disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. (Count III); retaliation for complaints of disability discrimination in violation of the ADA (Count IV); and retaliatory discharge under Illinois law (Counts V, VI, and VII). Defendant has moved for summary judgment on all counts. For the reasons explained below, the court grants Defendant's motion as to Plaintiffs federal law claims (Counts I, II, III, IV, and VII). Plaintiffs state law claims (Counts V and VI) are dismissed without prejudice.

BACKGROUND¹

A. Plaintiff's Employment Prior To His July 2003 Medical Leave

Plaintiff, who is a high school graduate and took some classes at the Computer Learning Center in the early 1980's, began working for Defendant as a Senior Consultant in January 2000. (Def. LR 56.1 Stmt. ¶¶ 12, 7-8.)² Plaintiffs initial salary was $65,000 a year; by the time he was terminated on June 25, 2004, Plaintiff was earning a salary of $75,354. (Id. ¶¶ 3, 5.) During the time Defendant employed Plaintiff, he never experienced a decrease in pay. (Id. ¶ 6.)

Defendant uses one set of job titles internally and another set in its dealings with its clients. (Id. ¶ 26.) Internally, "Senior Consultants" report to "Managers" or "Directors," and "Managers" or "Directors" report to "Partners." (Pl. LR 56.1 Stmt. ¶ 4.) Though the parties disagree about Plaintiffs internal job title at certain points during his employment, it is undisputed that when he began working for Defendant, Plaintiffs internal title was Senior Consultant, and his duties included supervising two other employees. (Def. LR 56.1 Stmt. ¶ 28; Pl. LR 56.1 Stint. ¶ 2.) Defendant claims that Plaintiffs title never changed, (Def. LR 56.1 Stint. ¶ 23), but the portion of Plaintiffs deposition to which Defendant cites establishes only that Plaintiff had the title Senior Consultant at some point, and does not make clear how long Plaintiff held that title. (See 4/8/05 Anderson Dep. at 169, Tab A to Def. LR 56.1 Stmt.) Although Plaintiff did testify that his title was Senior Consultant, (id.), he also asserts that his internal title was Manager for several years and that, as Manager, he supervised from six to eleven employees. (Pl. LR 56.1 Resp. ¶ 28; Pl. LR 56.1 Stmt. ¶ 5.) In support, Plaintiff cites to a December 6, 2000 Staff Evaluation Form that refers to his job title as of that date as Manager. (12/6/00 Staff Evaluation Form, Tab KK to Pl. LR 56.1 Stmt.) A Staff Evaluation Form also lists Plaintiff as Manager, (10/17/01 Staff Evaluation Form, Tab LL to Pl. LR 56.1 Stmt.), but Staff Evaluation Forms completed in each of the next two years identify Plaintiff as a Senior Consultant. (11/22/02 Staff Evaluation Form, Tab MM to Pl. LR 56.1 Stmt.; 11/5/03 Staff Evaluation Form, Tab NN to Pl. LR 56.1 Stmt.)

As part of its technology consulting business, Defendant had a contract to provide services to the Cook County Bureau of Health. (Def. LR 56.1 Stmt. ¶ 24.) When Defendant hired Plaintiff in January 2000, his external or "client" title was "Manager of Network Services" for Cook County Hospital; in April 2000, Defendant assigned Plaintiff the client title of "Associate Director of Network Services." (Id. ¶ 30.) Plaintiff characterizes this assignment as a promotion because his salary increased at the same time from $65,000 to $69,000 and, in a letter dated May 25, 2000, John Foster, Defendant's Managing Partner, congratulated Plaintiff on his "new position." (Id. ¶ 30; 4/08/05 Anderson Dep. at 176-78; 5/25/00 Letter, Tab CC to Pl. LR 56.1 Stmt.)³ It is undisputed that Plaintiff supervised between six and eleven employees in this position. (Pl. LR 56.1 Stmt. ¶ 5.) Both Plaintiffs December 6, 2000 and October 17, 2001 Staff Evaluation Forms, which list Plaintiff's internal title as Manager, also list his client title as "Associate Director of Networking Services." (12/6/00 Staff Evaluation Form; 10/17/01 Staff Evaluation Form.) The parties agree that this client title was reassigned to other employees, Haitao Yao and Donna Hart, in late 2000, though Plaintiff claims he was not informed at that time that his duties in that position were reassigned as well. (Def. LR 56.1 Stmt. ¶¶ 30-31; Pl. LR 56.1 Stmt. ¶ 11.)⁴ The parties dispute whether this reassignment of Plaintiffs title and duties in late 2000 constituted a demotion. Defendant contends that Plaintiff was never demoted because his pay was never reduced. Although Plaintiff characterizes the reassignment as a demotion, (Pl. Aff. ¶ 6, Tab AAA to Pl. LR 56.1 Stmt.), he does not say what his own client title was after this reassignment, and the court notes that Plaintiffs October 17, 2001 Staff Evaluation Form continued, to list Plaintiff as the Associate Director of Networking Services. Plaintiff's November 22, 2002 Staff Evaluation Form lists his client title as "Network and Server Services," and his November 5, 2003 Staff Evaluation Form lists his client title as "Server Analyst." (11/22/02 Staff Evaluation Form; 11/5/03 Staff Evaluation Form.)

Plaintiff has not explained exactly when or how he became aware of the purported demotion. He asserts, however, that in February 2001, Mike Sommers, a Partner who at times gave Plaintiff assignments, told him that he would have to share his position with Donna Hart. (Pl. LR 56.1 Stmt. ¶ 12.)⁵ Plaintiff also asserts that in February 2001, Sommers admitted to Plaintiff that he had told Plaintiff's subordinates to ignore his attempts to supervise them. (Id. ¶ 13.) And, Plaintiff claims, for several months in 2001, Sommers gave him no assignments, with the result that Plaintiff was forced to search for and create work for himself. (Id. ¶ 14.) According to Plaintiff, by mid-2001, Sommers began giving him "entry-level, desk-top [sic] assignments." (Id.) From early 2001 on, Plaintiff's duties included taking computer equipment to outlying clinics of the Cook County Hospital and resolving problems on personal computers. (Def. LR 56.1 Stmt. ¶ 34)⁶ It is undisputed that, by late 2001, Plaintiff was no longer supervising any employees. (Pl. LR 56.1 Stint. ¶ 16.) Although Plaintiff claims (and his October 2001 Staff Evaluation Fqrm reflects) that he continued to hold the" internal title of Manager, Plaintiff asserts that in October 2001, Sommers began treating him as if he were a desktop computer technician and told him to take directions from Winslow Redmond, an employee Plaintiff had previously supervised. (Id. ¶ 17.)

In March 2002, Sommers assigned Plaintiff to take a one-week class in systems engineering. (Id. ¶ 18.) Plaintiff stopped taking the class before its completion because, he asserts, systems engineering was really no more than data entry; thus, in completing the class, he would "appear to be acquiescing to [his own] ... demotion." (Id.) In the fall of 2002, Sommers frequently sent Plaintiff to outlying clinics to perform desktop work, such as installing computer systems. (Id. 1120.) In 2002, Plaintiff was also assigned to work under the supervision of Henry O'Neal, an African-American, who had the rank of a Director and therefore reported to a Partner. (Def. LR 56.1 Stmt. ¶¶ 22, 36.) While under O'Neal's supervision, Plaintiff worked on the "time and attendance" project, which involved deploying several kinds of devices and software to meet clients' needs for managing their employees' time and attendance records, and ensuring that the devices worked. (Id. ¶¶ 37-38; Howard Dep. at 34-36.)⁷ As stated above, Plaintiff's November 2002 Staff Evaluation Form reflected that, as of that date, his internal title had been reduced from Manager to Senior Consultant, that his client title was Network and Server Services for Cook County Hospital, and that he no longer supervised any employees. (Pl. LR 56.1 Stmt. ¶ 21; 11/22/02 Evaluation Form.)

B. Plaintiffs Complaint Of Race Discrimination In Pay

Plaintiff claims that in late 2000, he complained to Russell Pike, Defendant's Chief Operating Officer, about race discrimination in pay. (Pl. LR 56.1 Stmt. ¶ 9.) Specifically, as the result of information he received from Stephanie Osabouhien, a Senior Consultant, Plaintiff came to believe that two of his peers who are both white males, Tony Bullaro, a Manager, and Richard Balluff, were earning over $100,000.⁸ (Id. ¶ 6.) In fact, however, it is undisputed that both Bullaro and Balluff were earning only $78,000 as of May 2001. (Id. ¶ 17-8.) Plaintiff asserts that when he complained to Pike in 2000, Pike instructed him to take his complaint to Mike Sommers, who had the rank of...