Cifra v. General Electric Co.

• Decision Date: 01 August 2000
• Docket Number: DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES,Docket No. 99-9148,PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT
• Parties: (2nd Cir. 2001) KATHLEEN M. CIFRA,, v. GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY AND LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION, AS ITS SUCCESSOR,
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 205

252 F.3d 205 (2nd Cir. 2001)

KATHLEEN M. CIFRA, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT, v. GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY AND LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION, AS ITS SUCCESSOR, DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES.

Docket No. 99-9148

August Term, 2000

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

Argued: November 3, 2000

Decided June 7, 2001

Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, Neal P. McCurn, Judge, dismissing complaint alleging employment discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. See 62 F.Supp.2d 740 (1999).

Affirmed in part, vacated and remanded in part.

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Patrique Campbell, law student, Syracuse, New York (Janis L. McDonald, Sarah B. Fuller, The Public Interest Law Firm, Syracuse University College of Law, and law students Julinda Dawkins, Mani S. Han, Chandler Matson, and Martine Voltaire, Syracuse, New York, on the brief), for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Larry P. Malfitano, Syracuse, New York (Gretchen White, Bond, Schoeneck & King, Syracuse, New York, on the brief), for Defendants-Appellees.

Before: Kearse, Leval, And Sotomayor, Circuit Judges.

Kearse, Circuit Judge

Plaintiff-appellant Kathleen M. Cifra appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, Neal P. McCurn, Judge, dismissing her complaint alleging that defendants General Electric Company and Lockheed Martin Corporation as its successor (collectively "GE" or the "Company") violated her rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (1988) ("Title VII"), by terminating her employment because of her gender and in retaliation for her attempts to protect her rights under Title VII. The district court granted summary judgment dismissing the retaliation claim on the ground that Cifra proffered no evidence of any causal connection between her protected activity and the termination of her employment. The court dismissed her claim of gender discrimination following a bench trial, finding that the Company's assertion of her poor work performance constituted a legitimate, nondiscriminatory explanation for her termination and that Cifra had failed to persuade the court that that explanation was a pretext for gender discrimination. On appeal, Cifra challenges the summary dismissal of her retaliation claim, contending that the undisputed sequence of events was sufficient to show a genuine issue to be tried as to whether the termination of her employment was the result of her retaining an attorney and asserting her claim of employment discrimination. She challenges the dismissal of her gender discrimination claim after trial, contending principally that the court ignored evidence, failed to draw available inferences, and misapplied Title VII standards. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the posttrial dismissal of the gender discrimination claim, but we conclude that summary judgment was inappropriate with respect to the retaliation claim.

I. BACKGROUND

Much of the sequence of events is not in dispute. Cifra was employed by GE in Syracuse, New York, from 1986 until June 1991. She held a Master's degree in Environmental Science and Industrial Hygiene and began as an industrial hygienist in the Company's medical department. She had responsibility for recognizing, evaluating, and controlling environmental, health, and safety hazards to employees. Her immediate supervisor until mid-1990 was David Wilson, who consistently gave her excellent performance evaluations; her immediate supervisor thereafter was Kenneth Meashey.

A. The Events

Until 1990, the medical department reported to the Company's personnel department. In mid-1990, the medical department was merged into a broader environmental health and safety ("EHS") department at the Syracuse facilities and reported instead to plant management; Meashey, who had been a member of an internal "environmental audit" team that in June 1990 found serious health and safety problems at GE's Syracuse facilities, became head of the new EHS unit. Meashey viewed the EHS professional-level employees as having conducted themselves, prior to mid-1990, essentially as consultants; upon assuming command of the department, he insisted that they not only identify problems and suggest solutions but also take on the responsibility for the solutions' implementation.

Cifra, who by 1990 had been promoted to senior industrial hygienist, was the only full-time woman at the senior level of EHS reporting directly to Meashey. Beginning in September 1990, Meashey wrote a series of memoranda to her criticizing her work. He warned that if her performance did not improve, she would be subjected to a "performance improvement plan," which would require her to meet his performance expectations within 60 days or face termination of her employment. Eventually, in February 1991, Meashey placed Cifra on such a plan. In April 1991, Meashey wrote a memorandum acknowledging that Cifra had met the goals set in that plan. However, his memorandum criticized Cifra for failing to perform three of her minor "daily activities," including, with respect to one deadline, a criticism that Cifra contended was unjustified because Meashey himself had relieved her of the supposed deadline.

Cifra disagreed with all of Meashey's criticisms of her performance and, beginning in September 1990, she complained about him to Karen M. Loeffler, the Company's human resources department representative in charge of EHS personnel matters. Cifra contended that Meashey, whose undergraduate and graduate degrees were not in science but in management, consistently refused to recognize the quality or quantity of her work. The parties appear to be in disagreement as to whether these complaints included any allegation of gender discrimination. Cifra states that, although her written memoranda did not mention gender discrimination, she made such assertions to Loeffler orally, complaining that Meashey placed her under greater scrutiny, and held her to higher standards, than he did EHS's similarly situated males. Loeffler testified in a pretrial deposition that Cifra first complained to her of gender discrimination in a meeting on March 4, 1991; at trial, however, Loeffler testified that Cifra never mentioned gender discrimination to her in any of their meetings and that that accusation did not surface until mid-May.

When Cifra received Meashey's April 1991 memorandum, she telephoned Loeffler. In light of what Cifra perceived as Loeffler's inaction in response to Cifra's prior complaints, Cifra requested a meeting with the human resources department manager, Robert Erich Florentine. On April 30, 1991, Florentine and Loeffler met with Cifra, who described her problems with Meashey's harassment and unjustified criticisms of her work. Florentine, who wanted to hear Meashey's version, scheduled a meeting for May 17, to be attended by Florentine, Loeffler, Cifra, and Meashey. Florentine informed Cifra she could bring someone with her to the meeting.

At or shortly after the April 30 meeting, Cifra told Florentine that she feared that the scheduling of the May 17 meeting would incite Meashey to escalate his harassment of her. According to Cifra, subsequent events bore out her apprehension, as on May 6, 1991, she received another memorandum from Meashey, again containing what she contends were false criticisms of her performance.

On May 16, Cifra retained an attorney, Anita U. Roberts, to accompany her to the meeting scheduled for May 17. On the evening of May 16, Loeffler called Cifra and informed her that if she planned to bring an attorney to the meeting, the meeting would be canceled, as GE would wish to have its own counsel present. Cifra indicated that she did intend to bring her attorney, and at that point Loeffler apparently stated that the meeting was canceled. Roberts promptly caused a letter dated May 16, 1991, to be hand-delivered to the GE personnel department, advising that she had been retained by Cifra and requesting an opportunity to meet to discuss Cifra's concerns that she was being discriminated against on the basis of gender and that she would suffer retaliation for making such complaints. Roberts asked to be contacted with respect to the scheduling of any meeting concerning Cifra's employment.

Despite Loeffler's having informed Cifra on May 16 that the May 17 meeting was canceled in light of Cifra's intent to bring her attorney, Meashey, on the morning of May 17, informed Cifra that he, Loeffler, and Florentine were waiting to meet with her. Cifra was thus required, without her attorney, to attend the meeting, where Meashey, Loeffler, and Florentine tried to convince her that she did not need an attorney.

After May 17, Cifra received additional memoranda from Meashey criticizing her performance and taking the position that Cifra had refused to attend a performance review unless she was accompanied by counsel. A May 21 memorandum stated that unless Cifra's performance exhibited marked improvement in the next two weeks, her employment would be terminated. On June 5, 1991, Cifra sent Florentine a memorandum requesting a meeting with him as soon as possible, stating that

[y]esterday, I was confronted by Ken Meashey who told me I did not belong in the EHS organization and he would do whatever to get rid of me. He accused me of not agreeing to a performance review without Counsel and therefore intended on terminating me. I explained I have never refused a performance review. The agreement was that the Attorneys would have the opportunity to speak first and a performance review with you present would follow. This has not been set up. I also communicated to Karen Loeffler on 5/23/91 that I was not declining a performance review and was trying to be cooperative. I find Kens [sic] attacks to be harassing; making it difficult for me to work. Again, I would not decline a performance...