Brown v. Snow

• Citation: 440 F.3d 1259
• Decision Date: 24 February 2006
• Docket Number: No. 04-15095.,04-15095.
• Parties: Mason BROWN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. John SNOW, Secretary of the Treasury of the United States of America, Mark W. Everson, Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

440 F.3d 1259

Mason BROWN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. John SNOW, Secretary of the Treasury of the United States of America, Mark W. Everson, Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 04-15095.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

February 24, 2006.

James Darren Summerville and Ronan P. Doherty (Court-Appointed), Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, LLP, Atlanta, GA, for Brown.

Alonzo Harrison Long, Amy Levin Weil, U.S. Atty., Atlanta, GA, for Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Before CARNES, HULL and PRYOR, Circuit Judges.

PRYOR, Circuit Judge:

Mason Brown's appeal of the summary judgment against his complaint of sexual harassment and retaliation while employed at the Internal Revenue Service presents a threshold issue of jurisdiction and then two issues about the merits of his complaint. The jurisdictional issue is whether Brown failed to exhaust his administrative remedies when he filed his complaint in the district court fewer than 180 days after he had filed an appeal with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and he allegedly did not seek counseling with an Equal Employment Office counselor within 45 days of the alleged harassment. The issues about the merits of Brown's complaint are whether Brown suffered sexual harassment and retaliation when the score on an evaluation of his job performance was lowered and whether Brown pleaded a claim for retaliation based on his later termination.

We conclude that jurisdiction was proper. Brown exhausted his administrative remedies. Brown cooperated with the investigation of the EEOC; the record does not establish that he failed to seek counseling within 45 days of the harassment; and his premature filing in the district court did not deprive the EEOC of the time allotted for its investigation.

We also conclude that Brown's complaint fails on the merits. Brown cannot establish that he suffered any sexual harassment or retaliation from the lowered score on the evaluation of his performance because he cannot prove a causal connection between the lowered score and the denial of promotions that he later sought. Brown's remaining claim of retaliation by termination was not pleaded in his complaint. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

From 1999 to 2004, Brown was employed by the IRS as a tax examiner. Brown received an evaluation of his job performance from June 1, 2000, to May 31, 2001, in which he received a score of 3.67 out of 5 and was rated "Fully Successful" in the four performance categories. In 2001, Dolores Bagley was assigned to Brown's division as an interim manager. Bagley began making sexual comments and advances towards Brown and made several attempts at physical contact with Brown. Brown resisted Bagley's advances.

On January 24, 2002, Bagley revised the earlier evaluation of Brown's job performance. Bagley lowered Brown's rating from 3.67 to 3.33, but the evaluation still rated Brown "Fully Successful" in the four performance categories. Shortly afterwards, Bagley allegedly threatened to "get [Brown] back" for refusing her sexual advances.

Brown reported Bagley's behavior to numerous superiors, but he contends that his complaints went unaddressed. Brown also applied for several positions within the IRS that would have given him greater responsibility and salary. Brown was denied these promotions.

Brown filed a complaint of sexual discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on July 18, 2002, and met informally with an EEOC representative on September 10, 2002. Brown also filed a formal grievance with the IRS on November 8, 2002. On January 30, 2003, the IRS issued a final decision, which denied Brown's complaints of sexual discrimination and retaliation and informed Brown of his right to sue in federal court. Brown filed a notice of appeal with the EEOC on February 4, 2003. The IRS responded on April 2, 2003, and reiterated the denial of Brown's complaint without further comment.

Brown filed this complaint against the Secretary of the Treasury in the district court on July 1, 2003. Brown alleged sex discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. On August 7, 2003, the IRS informed the EEOC of Brown's lawsuit and requested that the EEOC cease its investigation of Brown's claim. On August 28, 2003, the Secretary of the Treasury, John Snow, filed a motion to dismiss Brown's complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The district court denied this motion on October 28, 2003.

Both parties consented to the jurisdiction of the magistrate judge. On June 7, 2004, Snow moved for summary judgment based on a lack of subject matter jurisdiction and on the merits. Brown responded and filed motions for summary judgment and injunctive relief. The magistrate judge granted Snow's motion on the merits and denied Brown's motions.

Brown also alleges that, after he filed a complaint with the EEOC, the manager of his department, Bagley's successor, continually questioned him about the status of the complaint. When Brown refused to answer, the manager allegedly informed Brown that his superiors would remove Brown if he did not drop the complaint. Brown was terminated in early 2004.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review questions of subject matter jurisdiction de novo. Williams v. Best Buy Co., 269 F.3d 1316, 1319 (11th Cir. 2001). We also review a grant of summary judgment de novo. Breda v. Wolf Camera & Video, 222 F.3d 886, 888 (11th Cir.2000). We review the record and draw all inferences from it in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Id.

III. DISCUSSION

Our discussion of this appeal is divided into three parts. We first address whether Brown's complaint should have been dismissed based on his failure to exhaust his administrative remedies. Second, we discuss whether the district court erred by entering summary judgment for Snow on the ground that Brown did not suffer an adverse employment action. Third, we examine whether the district court correctly entered summary judgment against Brown's claims of retaliation.

A. Brown Exhausted His Administrative Remedies.

Snow's argument that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction because Brown failed to exhaust his administrative remedies is twofold. First, Snow contends that Brown failed to wait 180 days from the day he filed his appeal with the EEOC before he filed his complaint in the district court. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16(c). Second, Snow contends that Brown failed to contact a counselor at the Equal Employment Office of the IRS within 45 days after the alleged harassment. We address each argument in turn.

1. Brown Did Not Fail to Cooperate with the EEOC When He Prematurely Filed His Complaint.

Both federal statutes and EEOC regulations require a federal employee to exhaust an administrative process before filing a civil complaint of discrimination in the workplace. An aggrieved federal employee first must file a formal complaint with the agency that allegedly discriminated against him. 29 C.F.R. § 1614.106(a). After the agency has rendered a final decision, the employee has the option to appeal the decision of the agency to either the federal district court or the EEOC. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16(c). If the employee appeals to the EEOC and the EEOC does not issue a decision within 180 days, the employee may file a complaint in the district court. Id.; 29 C.F.R. § 1614.407(d).

Although the 180-day waiting period is part of the administrative process that must be exhausted before filing suit in a federal district court, it is unclear whether a premature filing of a complaint deprives a district court of subject matter jurisdiction. Although our case law establishes that "[a] federal employee must pursue and exhaust her administrative remedies as a jurisdictional prerequisite to filing a Title VII action," Crawford v. Babbitt, 186 F.3d 1322, 1326 (11th Cir.1999), we have not addressed whether prematurely filing a complaint is, by itself, a failure to exhaust administrative remedies.

The constant theme of our precedents is that "the purpose of exhaustion is to give the agency the information it needs to investigate and resolve the dispute between the employee and the employer." Wade v. Sec'y of the Army, 796 F.2d 1369, 1377 (11th Cir.1986); see also Johnson v. Bergland, 614 F.2d 415, 418 (5th Cir.1980). To determine whether an employee failed to exhaust his administrative remedies, we consider whether "the complainant made a good faith effort to comply with the regulations and, particularly, to provide all the relevant, specific information available to him or her." Wade, 796 F.2d at 1376; see also Crawford, 186 F.3d at 1326. Satisfaction of this requirement will ensure that "the agency [is] given every opportunity to investigate and resolve the dispute[—]all that is intended by the exhaustion requirement." Wade, 796 F.2d at 1378.

We have applied the exhaustion requirement to affirm dismissals for lack of subject matter jurisdiction when the employee did not provide information requested by the investigating agency. In Johnson, for example, we concluded that a federal employee's failure to make a complaint more specific regarding dates and incidents of discrimination, as required by the agency, was a failure to exhaust administrative remedies that required dismissal. 614 F.2d at 417. More recently, in Crawford, we concluded that another federal employee's failure to provide information requested by the agency regarding the employee's injuries and medical treatment was a failure to exhaust administrative remedies that deprived the district court of subject matter jurisdiction. 186 F.3d at 1326.

We have reversed a dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction when it was unclear from the record whether an employee had provided the agency with the...