Barra v. Rose Tree Media School Dist.

• Decision Date: 17 September 2004
• Citation: 858 A.2d 206
• Parties: Ruth BARRA, Appellant v. ROSE TREE MEDIA SCHOOL DISTRICT.
• Court: Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court

858 A.2d 206

Ruth BARRA, Appellant v. ROSE TREE MEDIA SCHOOL DISTRICT.

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued June 11, 2004.

Decided September 17, 2004.

Edith A. Pearce, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Anne E. Hendricks, Huntingdon Valley, for appellee.

BEFORE: JUBELIRER, Judge, and SIMPSON, Judge, and MIRARCHI, Senior Judge.

OPINION BY Judge COHN JUBELIRER.

Ruth Barra appeals the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County granting Rose Tree Media School District's (School District) Motion for Summary Judgment and dismissing her claims of gender and racial discrimination. She bases her claims upon: (1) the District's failure to hire her for the position of Director of Technology, (2) its failure to pay her additional wages for performing extra duties and (3) her constructive discharge due to a hostile work environment. On appeal, we must determine: (1) whether Barra's claims are barred by the applicable statute of limitations; (2) whether Barra exhausted her administrative remedies; (3) whether the School District fulfilled its burden of proving that no genuine issue of material fact exists regarding any of Barra's claims; (4) whether the trial court applied the correct standard of review; and (5) whether the School District's motion for summary judgment was sufficiently detailed.

Barra was hired by the School District on March 23, 1998, as a Network Specialist,¹ at an annual salary of $37,000. Prior to accepting this position, Barra attended the Chubb Institute and received computer training for five months. Before that, from 1992-1997, she was employed as a customer service representative for Bell Atlantic. Barra was in the Navy from 1987-1992, where she was a cryptologic technician/operator and worked with satellite communications. Before enlisting in the Navy, Barra attended Bloomsburg University for approximately two years, although she did not declare a major and did not receive a college degree from either Bloomsburg or elsewhere.

About three months after Barra began working for the School District, the Director of Technology, Barra's supervisor, announced his resignation. Because no immediate replacement was available, the Director's duties were temporarily reassigned to other employees, including Barra. Barra's complaints against the School District began when she was not compensated for taking on these extra duties; she claims that the School District refused to pay her additional compensation because she is an African-American female.

While recruiting for a replacement, the School District decided to downgrade the Director's position to that of Supervisor. The qualifications for the Supervisor position were: (1) masters degree, preferred, with advance course work in a technology related field; (2) high degree of technical knowledge, required; (3) Pennsylvania certification in instructional technology, preferred; (4) at least 5 years experience in public education with experience in developing and delivering technology based integrated programs, preferred; and (5) ability to work in teams. Anne Callahan, Human Resources Administrator for the School District, testified that the search committee was particularly interested in a person who possessed, "[a] bachelor's degree and strong technical skills and experience in schools." (Callahan Dep. at 41.) Barra applied for the Supervisor of Technology position in October of 1998, although she admitted that she did not fulfill all of the requirements.² The successful candidate, Michael Norman, according to his resume — which later turned out to be falsified — had a Bachelor of Science degree in Library and Information Science, six years experience developing and delivering technology systems in public schools, several certifications, and other qualifications.³ He had previously worked for the School District as a consultant. (Callahan Dep. at 42.) Norman was hired on November 16, 1998, as the Supervisor of Technology with a starting salary of $72,900. Barra argues that she should have been given this position or been paid the same as Norman prior to his hire, when, she alleges, she was performing the duties of that job.

In December, 1998, the School District posted the position of Information Systems Specialist. Barra claims that she did not apply for that position because it would have been "futile," because she had been discouraged from applying. She alleges that she would not have been hired because she is a "black female." (Barra Dep. at 101, 116.) The School District awarded the position to Kim McCann on January 21, 1999, with a starting salary of $49,000. The qualifications for the position included a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems Technology or a related field, or equivalent on-the-job experience. (Barra Dep. at p. 106.) At the time of her hiring, McCann had a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science, had completed several courses towards her Masters of Education in Technology and had almost nine years of relevant job experience.⁴

In addition to those items already mentioned, Barra complains about other aspects of her employment with the School District. She alleges, inter alia, that she was asked to perform tasks not required of her white co-workers, such as keeping a detailed log of her work day; that she was required to take employment proficiency tests that her white co-workers did not take; that she was required to produce a copy of her transcripts and certifications, while white co-workers were not; that her references were checked, although the references of white co-workers were not; that she was paid less than white males performing the same job duties; that she was excluded from meetings which impacted upon her job responsibilities and duties; that she was not issued new keys allowing entrance to a school building to which she had previously been given access; that she received humiliating emails including reprimands from Mike Norman which he subsequently published to others; that she was given no performance evaluation; and, that her complaints about her treatment were not addressed.

Barra argues that she did not follow the School District's complaint procedures to seek resolution of her concerns, although she read the policy, because it did not cover the types of discrimination she encountered at the School District.⁵ (Barra Dep. at 295-98.) Barra also argues that the School District's racial/ethnic/religious harassment/intimidation policy (harassment policy),⁶ which she did not recall seeing before the date of her deposition, (Barra Dep. at 299), does not apply to discrimination. Barra was aware that the School District had some personnel policies in place and did not ask anyone in the School District about whether a racial harassment or discrimination policy was in existence. (Barra Dep. at 300.) Barra alleges that she orally expressed her concerns to Anne Callahan, the Human Resources Director, and to Denise Kerr, the former Director of Curriculum for the School District. In her deposition, Barra explains that Anne Callahan refused to help her and describes one particular interaction:

Anne specifically told me that there was nothing that she could do, that I needed to go back and resolve it with my supervisor, Mike Norman, and meet with Denise afterwards which I thought was completely inadequate assistance from her because those were the individuals that I was telling her were taking these actions against me.

(Barra Dep. at 185-87.) Barra also testified that she had a conversation with Denise Kerr, and "brought these issues forward ... and [Denise] told me that she didn't feel that any action needed to be taken, that there was no issue." (Barra Dep. at 218.)

On May 27, 1999, Barra resigned from her position, alleging that the discrimination and hostile work environment made her physically sick. Barra alleges that she was "forced to resign from her employment and/or constructively discharged from her position." (Barra Second Am. Compl. ¶ 19.) She then "dual-filed" charges of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC). Her initial charge, dated November 4, 1999 and filed November 10, 1999 (November charge), sought a remedy for alleged discrimination taking place between 9/98 and 5/27/99. A charge dated March 10, 2000, filed on March 14, 2000 (March charge), seeking a remedy for alleged discrimination taking place between 2/10/99 and 5/27/99, was served on the School District. The EEOC and PHRC determined that there was no basis for concluding that any statutes had been violated, and provided Barra with a right to sue letter. (Barra Second Am. Compl. Ex. B, D.)

In April of 2000, Barra instituted suit against the School District in the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County on three counts: (1) unlawful gender and race discrimination in violation of Title VII;⁷ (2) unlawful gender and race discrimination in violation of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act⁸ (PHRA); and (3) violations of the Equal Pay Act.⁹ Barra alleged, inter alia, that the School District engaged in unlawful employment practices "by subjecting [her] to disparate treatment, racial and sex discrimination and harassment in the job place which created a hostile and offensive work environment for her as a black female...." (Barra Second Am. Compl. ¶ 9.) Barra further alleged that the School District denied her other positions of employment¹⁰ because of her gender and/or race, (Barra Second Am. Compl. ¶¶ 16, 17), that she was forced to resign and/or was constructively discharged from her position, (Barra Second Am. Compl. ¶ 19), and that she was not paid commensurate with male employees in the School District engaged in "similar/comparable/equal work." (Barra Second Am. Compl. ¶ 24.) On August 8, 2003, the School District filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, to which Barra responded on September 2, 2003. On September 4, 2003, ...