Baker v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 88-1384
| Decision Date | 23 February 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 88-1384,88-1384 |
| Citation | 894 F.2d 679 |
| Parties | 51 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1871, 52 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 39,606 F. Mabel BAKER; Howard C. Porter, Jr., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, Defendant-Appellee, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Amicus Curiae. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Charles Lee Nutt (Clements & Nutt, Kenneth W. Koppenhoefer, Jr., Koppenhoefer & Schmitz, on brief), for plaintiffs-appellants.
Carolyn L. Wheeler (Charles A. Shanor, Gen. Counsel, Gwendolyn Young Reams, Associate Gen. Counsel, Lorraine C. Davis, Asst. Gen. Counsel, E.E.O.C., on brief) for amicus curiae in support of plaintiffs-appellants.
Joanne Evans-Anderson, Asst. Sol. (Otho M. Thompson, Associate City Sol., Dept. of Law, on brief) for defendant-appellee.
Before RUSSELL, WIDENER and HALL, Circuit Judges.
F. Mabel Baker and Howard C. Porter, Jr., plaintiffs below, appeal from the district court's order dismissing their age discrimination claims and granting summary judgment in favor of the Mayor and the City Council of Baltimore. 1 Baker and Porter filed actions, later consolidated, under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. Secs. 621 et seq. ["ADEA"], alleging that the elimination of their positions with the City of Baltimore violated the ADEA. The district court held that the doctrine of legislative immunity insulated the City from liability. Finding that legislative immunity is a complete defense to the ADEA claims, we affirm.
In October 1983, the Mayor of Baltimore directed all department and bureau heads to recommend budget cuts in their respective agencies sufficient to realize a 5% budget reduction for the upcoming fiscal year. The Real Estate Department, a division of the Department of the Comptroller, was headed by John Hentschel who in turn was directly supervised by the Comptroller. In his report to the Comptroller, Hentschel recommended that the positions of Baker and Porter be eliminated. In support of his recommendation, he stated that he believed Baker's duties could be spread out among the other employees in the department and that Porter's duties could be split between another city department and Hentschel himself. Additionally, he recommended the creation of a new position of Administrative Analyst. At the time this report was submitted, Baker was 60 years old and a 24-year City employee; Porter was 64 and a 23-year employee. The Comptroller approved Hentschel's recommendations that the two positions be eliminated and that a new one be created. He then submitted his recommendation to the Finance Director, the next rung in the ladder of authority.
In accordance with the City charter, the Finance Director prepared a preliminary operating budget after receiving recommendations from each agency head. He decided to recommend funding the new Administrative Analyst position and eliminating Porter's position; however, he did not recommend the elimination of Baker's position. This preliminary budget was submitted to the Board of Estimates and the Board prepared its proposed Budget Ordinance for submission to the City Council. The Board decided to eliminate both Baker's and Porter's positions and to fund the new one recommended by Hentschel. A "Program Detail for Salaries," detailing the positions for which funding was sought, was attached to the Budget Ordinance presented to the City Council. The Ordinance was adopted by the City Council without modification and approved by the Mayor. Approximately 300 positions were eliminated from the City budget by this ordinance.
In March 1987, Baker and Porter each filed nearly identical lawsuits claiming age discrimination under ADEA and wrongful discharge under state law. The suits were consolidated and the state law claims dismissed. By letter to counsel, the district judge raised the issue of legislative immunity and asked the parties to brief the issue as a supplement to the City's then-pending motion for summary judgment. By order filed November 4, 1988, the City's motion for summary judgment was granted on the ground that legislative immunity was a complete defense. Baker and Porter appeal from this ruling.
Baker and Porter contend that the elimination of their positions was an administrative decision which was merely ratified by the City Council when it adopted the budget bill. Therefore, they argue, legislative immunity should not be permitted to shield the City from liability for what they claim were illegal employment actions. Our analysis of the City's budget-making process convinces us that the purposes behind the immunity doctrine, as set forth in a recent opinion of this Court, mandated dismissal of the plaintiffs' action.
Our first task is to determine which city official's discriminatory intent should be looked to in assessing liability under the ADEA. Baker and Porter argue that the City's liability arises from the discriminatory "employment decisions" of Hentschel and the Comptroller in recommending the job eliminations. Hentschel's position on the lowest rung of the budget-making ladder militates strongly against allowing his actions, regardless of discriminatory intent, to result in liability against the City. His recommendations were just that; they certainly did not bind the Comptroller, the Finance Director, Board of Estimates, the City Council or the Mayor. Similarly, the Comptroller's recommendations were not binding on the higher authorities. To permit the advice or recommendations of low-level personnel to constitute the basis for ADEA liability would impose unwarranted and intolerable burdens on employers, and we decline to do so.
The role of the Board of Estimates is critical in Baltimore's budget-making process. The Board is vested with broad discretionary powers in formulating, determining and executing the City's fiscal policy. The City Council, on the other hand, is limited to merely reducing or eliminating any proposed expenditures, but it may not insert any new amounts. The Board's determination to exclude an appropriation for a given purpose, e.g. an agency position, is final. City of Baltimore v. AFSCME, 281 Md. 463, 379 A.2d 1031 (1977). The City admits that the Board of Estimates is the "real authority and power" in the budget process, and it is upon that body that we focus our inquiry into the applicability of the legislative immunity doctrine.
It is beyond dispute that municipal legislators enjoy the protection of immunity when acting in the sphere of legitimate...
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