Barnes v. Levitt

• Decision Date: 31 July 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-20597,96-20597
• Parties: 71 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,942 Wanderlon Ann BARNES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Arthur J. LEVITT, Jr., in his official capacity as Chairman of the United States Securities & Exchange Commission, et al., Defendants, Arthur J. Levitt, Jr., in his official capacity as Chairman of the United States Securities & Exchange Commission, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 404

118 F.3d 404

71 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,942

Wanderlon Ann BARNES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Arthur J. LEVITT, Jr., in his official capacity as Chairman of the United States Securities & Exchange Commission, et al., Defendants Arthur J. Levitt, Jr., in his official capacity as Chairman of the United States Securities & Exchange Commission, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 96-20597.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

July 31, 1997.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 19, 1997.

Mary L. Sinderson, Houston, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Robert Mark Loeb, U.S. Department of Justice, Marleigh D. Dover, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Appellate Staff, Washington, DC, for Defendant-Appellant.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Before DAVIS, STEWART and PARKER, Circuit Judges.

ROBERT M. PARKER, Circuit Judge:

Appellant, Arthur J. Levitt, Jr., in his official capacity as Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("the Chairman") appeals the judgment for Appellee Wanderlon Ann Barnes ("Barnes") on her employment discrimination claims. Finding that the district court lacked jurisdiction over her claims, we reverse.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

Barnes is an African-American female who was employed as a staff attorney in the Houston Branch Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") from August 28, 1988 until September 6, 1991. Joseph C. Matta, an Hispanic male, served as the Branch Chief of the Houston Branch Office from April 1986, until October 1987, when he was promoted to Assistant Regional Administrator in the same office. When he became Assistant Regional Administrator, Joy Boddie, an African-American female, replaced him as Branch Chief until she was transferred to the Chicago office. Nancy McGinley, a Caucasian female, succeeded Boddie as Branch Chief and remained in that position throughout the remainder of Barnes's employment. Boddie, and later McGinley, served as Barnes's immediate supervisors and their immediate supervisor was Matta.

During her first year, Barnes had a good relationship with both Boddie and Matta and received "outstanding," the highest possible rating on her annual performance evaluation. In September 1989, Barnes's supervisors strongly urged her to attend a training conference in Austin, Texas along with the other attorneys in the Houston Branch office. She refused, telling her supervisors that she would not be going for personal reasons. In court she testified that the real reason she refused to attend was that she did not like to fly and that she thought that she would have to ride to the conference with Matta. She did not want to ride with Matta because she had heard rumors that he had sexually harassed someone in the past and she did not like his tendency to "talk on and on and on and on and repeat himself over and over again." Matta never asked Barnes to travel to the conference with him nor did he know the reason for her refusal. Barnes testified that after the conference her relationship with Boddie and Matta soured and they began to criticize her work in ways that she thought were unfair.

In late 1989, about the same time Barnes begin to have trouble with her supervisors On August 23, 1991, Barnes's attorney, Beville May ("May"), sent the SEC a formal EEO complaint and on September 3, 1991 submitted an amended formal EEO complaint. Barnes did not sign either complaint as required by the EEOC regulations then in effect. See 29 C.F.R. 1613.214(a)(1). The amended EEO complaint alleged, inter alia, that from autumn of 1989 until September 1991(1) Matta subjected Barnes to a campaign of racially and sexually motivated harassment; (2) Matta subjected Barnes to disparate treatment and work sabotage; (3) Matta retaliated against Barnes after she filed her informal EEO complaint; (4) Matta sexually propositioned Barnes and others at the Houston office; (5) "other senior officials," including former regional administrator Edwin Tomko, created a hostile and offensive environment, and that their conduct included rape, sexual assault, sexually suggestive mannerisms, leering, dirty and racist jokes; and (6) Barnes's mail was tampered with, her telephone calls monitored, and her life threatened after filing her EEO complaint. In response to the complaints, the SEC began an investigation (eventually interviewing approximately thirty people) and immediately placed Matta on indefinite leave status.

Adrian Martinez was hired as a staff attorney in the Houston Branch Office. Martinez, like Matta, was an Hispanic male. His starting salary was higher than Barnes's starting salary, but the same as her current pay rate. In February of 1991, Martinez received a pay raise and was then making more money than Barnes. When Barnes learned about Martinez's pay raise, she sought counseling with the SEC's Office of Equal Opportunity ("EEO") complaining of disparate treatment by Matta on the basis of race with respect to work assignments, promotions, time and attendance, working conditions, and support staff assistance. Susann Reilly, the EEO counselor who was assigned to handle the informal complaint, interviewed Barnes on numerous occasions, interviewed twenty individuals identified as witnesses to the events forming the basis of the claims and prepared a Counseling Report. After approximately four months of investigation, Reilly contacted Matta's supervisor to explore settlement options. However, because Barnes's demands could not be acted upon within the one-week time frame Barnes stipulated, Reilly finalized the EEO counseling report and sent Barnes a notification of her right to file a formal administrative EEO complaint.

On Monday, September 9, 1991 Barnes started a job as an attorney at the Resolution Trust Corporation ("RTC") earning the same salary she was then making at the SEC. On that date, she told the SEC that it should consider her constructively discharged as of September 6, 1991.

The SEC requested that Barnes provide information, such as the names of the SEC officials who had allegedly engaged in the misconduct, the specific conduct engaged in, the identities of the alleged victims and when the alleged conduct occurred. On September 10, 1991, Barnes's attorney, Beville May responded to the requests in writing, stating:

It is correct that I have declined to provide detailed information supporting the allegations in Ms. Barnes' Formal Complaint of Discrimination to the Commission. The reason for this refusal, however, was because the SEC has had the information for years and refused to conduct a meaningful investigation and/or do anything to stop it.

May repeatedly declined to cooperate with the SEC investigation, remarking that "you will get it in discovery" and rather than "provide any specifics" she "intended to file a complaint in court." ¹ While declining to discuss the complaint with the SEC, May granted an interview to a newspaper reporter with the Houston Chronicle. A front page article quoted May as stating that an EEOC "complaint filed August 27 claims Matta sexually assaulted a female employee" and "that Matta overlooked rapes by other men in the six- Despite the lack of cooperation from Barnes, the SEC appointed special EEO investigators who interviewed approximately thirty past and present SEC employees. Several additional former employees declined to be interviewed.

person office," when, in fact, the complaint did not make those allegations against Matta. See Matta v. May, 118 F.3d 410 (5th Cir.1997)(discussing the defamation claim against May arising out of the newspaper article).

By letter to attorney May, the SEC informed Barnes that she had an obligation under the applicable regulations (29 C.F.R. 1613.216(b)(2)) to cooperate with the investigation, by providing sworn testimony and documentation concerning her complaint and that the failure to do so could cause cancellation of her complaint. May responded that Barnes would give a deposition only if the SEC provided her a copy of Reilly's EEO report. The agency agreed to release the report, but needed May to sign a routine confidentiality agreement, agreeing not to disclose any nonpublic information about ongoing SEC securities fraud cases. May never executed the agreement or attempted to amend the agreement, despite repeated efforts by the SEC to accommodate any concern she might have.

On January 29, 1992, the SEC sent Barnes a letter stating that if she maintained her lack of cooperation, the agency would cancel her complaint. Barnes then agreed to provide a deposition, which was scheduled for February 5, 1992. On February 4, May informed the SEC that Barnes would not attend the deposition because she had surgery scheduled for the next week, but made no attempt to reschedule the deposition or to claim that Barnes's health prevented her participation in the scheduled deposition. The SEC asked May to agree to extend the 180-day period for filing suit, which would have expired on February 23, 1992, but she refused.

On February 20, 1992, the SEC sent Barnes a letter canceling her complaint for her failure to cooperate. The letter detailed Barnes's allegations, the agency's investigation, and the need for more information from Barnes. On March 23, 1992, Barnes filed this civil action under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e and the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 203. After bench trial, the district court found that the SEC had essentially completed its investigation, except that it wanted Barnes's deposition, holding that the "fact that the SEC wanted to close its investigation with Barnes's deposition and was unable to get the deposition within the SEC's time frame is no reflection on Barnes's cooperation." The district court held that Barnes acted in good faith and made reasonable efforts to provide the necessary information to the SEC. On the merits, the district court concluded that Matta's conduct "represented a pattern and...