Davis v. Ashcroft

• Decision Date: 21 January 2005
• Docket Number: No. CIV.A. 01-0331RBW.,CIV.A. 01-0331RBW.
• Citation: 355 F.Supp.2d 330
• Parties: Sherry L. DAVIS, Plaintiff, v. John D. ASHCROFT, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

355 F.Supp.2d 330

Sherry L. DAVIS, Plaintiff, v. John D. ASHCROFT, Defendant.

No. CIV.A. 01-0331RBW.

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

January 21, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Laura C. Fentonmiller, Raymond Charles Fay, Bell, Boyd & Lloyd, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

Peter David Blumberg, U.S. Attorney's Office, Washington, DC, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

WALTON, District Judge.

The plaintiff has brought this action alleging violations of both Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. §§ 791 and 794. After the completion of extensive discovery, the defendant has filed a motion for summary judgement pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c). Currently before the Court are (1) the Defendant's Memorandum in Support of its Motion for Summary Judgment ("Def.'s Mem."); (2) the Plaintiff's Opposition to Motion for Summary Judgment ("Pl.'s Opp'n"); and (3) the Defendant's Reply to Plaintiff's Opposition to Motion for Summary Judgment ("Def.'s Reply"). For the reasons set forth below, the Court grants in part and denies in part the defendant's motion.

I. Background

The following facts are undisputed or, because the plaintiff is the party opposing summary judgment, construed in the light most favorable to her. Stewart v. Ashcroft, 352 F.3d 422, 425 (D.C.Cir.2003). For clarity, the Court has structured this section of the opinion separately to delineate the facts underlying each claim of discrimination raised by the plaintiff.

(A) The 1996 Non-Selection as Section Chief Claim

In 1976, the plaintiff, an African American female, began her career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"). Defendant's Statement of Material Facts Not In Dispute ("Def.'s Stmt.") ¶ 1. In 1991, the plaintiff was promoted to Unit Chief of the FBI's Document Classification Unit. Id. ¶ 2. On March 18, 1996, the FBI posted a vacancy notice for a Section Chief position for the Administrative Resource Management ("AIRM") Section, Information Resources Division ("IRD"). Def.'s Mem. at 5. The notice instructed qualified applicants to apply for the position by contacting the Executive Development Selection Program Administrator. Id. According to the defendant, the names of all applicants, qualified or not, were forwarded to the selecting official, Carolyn Morris, Assistant Director of the IRD. Id. The plaintiff applied for this position but was not selected. Def.'s Stmt. ¶ 3. At the time of her non-selection, the plaintiff was employed as a GS-15 Unit Chief. Id. ¶ 4. The person selected was a white male who had been employed as a GS-15 Assistant Special Agent in Charge ("ASAC")¹ in the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office at the time of his selection. Id. The defendant maintains that a minimum qualification for the AIRM Section Chief position was previous field management experience as an ASAC in a field office, as opposed to having held such a position at FBI headquarters. Id. For his position, the defendant relies upon an agency policy which states that to be qualified for a Section Chief vacancy, candidates must be either Inspectors on the Inspection Staff or qualified ASACs, unless the Section Chief position requires a specific skill or experience. Id. ¶ 6. Moreover, according to the defendant, the selecting official for this Section Chief position (Morris), included the ASAC requirement for this particular Section Chief position to ensure that the Section Chief would possess the management and operational field experience essential to maintain IRD's credibility with FBI field offices and agents, and further advance IRD's mission to serve the technical and investigative needs of special agents in the field. Id. ¶ 7. Additionally, Morris determined that given her own lack of field office and investigative experience, the ASAC requirement was an essential qualification for her subordinates in order to maintain IRD's credibility and to obtain the necessary perspectives of field-wide investigative and technical issues essential to IRD's mission. Id. ¶ 8. According to the defendant, the only instance in which Morris did not require ASAC experience was when the vacant Section Chief position required particularized and unique technical experience and skills, which would outweigh the need for ASAC experience. Id. ¶ 9. Because the Section Chief position at issue in this case did not require such particularized and unique technical skill or experience, the defendant contends that the ASAC experience exception was not applicable. Id. ¶ 10. Thus, when considering candidates for this position, all applicants who did not have ASAC experience were eliminated from consideration. Id. ¶ 12. In response to the defendant's representations, the plaintiff asserts that requiring ASAC experience for the Section Chief position was contrary to FBI policies and a pretext for discrimination. Plaintiff's Statement of Genuine Issues ("Pl.'s Stmt.") ¶ 26.

(B) The 1994-1998 Hostile Work Environment Claim

Kevin O'Brien began supervising the plaintiff sometime in 1994. Pl.'s Opp'n at 9. According to the plaintiff, after O'Brien began supervising her, he engaged in a pattern of harassing activity against her. Id. The plaintiff states that O'Brien would frequently scream at her over the telephone, talked to her in a condescending tone, and failed to involve her in matters directly related to her area of expertise. Id. For example, the plaintiff references an occasion when she helped O'Brien prepare for Congressional testimony, but she was not invited to attend the hearing. Id. at 9-10. The plaintiff asserts that based upon the alleged abusive treatment, she submitted a request to Assistant Director John Collingwood for reassignment to a position in which she would not be under O'Brien's supervision, but her request was denied. Id. at 10. Despite the denial of her request, the plaintiff represents that a white support staff female was transferred from O'Brien's supervision after she complained about him. Id.

In 1997, Collingwood decided to restructure the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act ("FOIPA") section to reduce a considerable backlog of FOIPA matters. Def.'s Mem. at 35. In this reorganization, Collingwood separated the Litigation Unit from the FOIPA section. Id. Despite the plaintiff's seniority, she claims that she was never consulted regarding the creation of the separate Litigation Unit even though Collingwood consulted with white employees within the division on the subject. Pl.'s Opp'n at 12. The plaintiff was ultimately assigned as Chief of this new Litigation Unit. Def.'s Stmt. ¶ 2. The plaintiff represents that, after being assigned as the Unit Chief of the Litigation Unit, the pattern of discrimination intensified. Pl.'s Opp'n at 10. First, according to the plaintiff, O'Brien attempted to dissuade employees from transferring to the plaintiff's unit and limited the resources made available to her. Pl.'s Opp'n at 12. Moreover, the plaintiff contends that she was excluded from certain meetings, including a meeting with then Attorney General Janet Reno and other meetings which had a direct impact on her unit. Id.

Additionally, the plaintiff alleges that she was denied the resources she needed to effectively perform her job. Specifically, she asserts that her new office was "filthy, unfurnished, and had poor ventilation, and had never before been used as a unit chief's office." Id. at 11. Further, she was not given a speaker telephone even though some lower-ranked white support staff members in the division were supplied with one. Id. The plaintiff also contends that she was discriminated against because one-third of the Litigation Unit's space was reassigned to another unit, O'Brien continued to frequently talk to the plaintiff in a loud tone, she did not receive quality step increases while under the supervision of O'Brien, and her unit's appeals reclassification function was reassigned back to the Document Classification Unit ("DCU"). Def.'s Mem. at 43-48.

Moreover, the plaintiff claims that in 1998, she was stripped of her duties as Unit Chief of the Litigation Unit. Pl.'s Opp'n at 13. According to the plaintiff, in November 1998, she discovered a stack of memoranda addressed to Collingwood that detailed a plan drafted by O'Brien, which was designed to eliminate the backlog of classification appeals. Id. at 13-14. The plan called for the reassignment of the classification appeals function to Nancy Steward, a while female who did not have a bachelors degree. Id. at 14. Collingwood later followed the suggestions that had been made in the memoranda and transferred to Steward the classification appeals function. Id. According to the plaintiff, following this reassignment, she "became an emotional wreck." Id. She was nauseous, unable to sleep, and had severe emotional challenges. Id. These events lead the plaintiff to take leave in an attempt to recover from the trauma caused by the reassignment. Id. at 14-15. This need to take leave resulted in the plaintiff taking an extended medical leave of absence, which began on November 17, 1998. Id. Thereafter, the plaintiff never returned to work. Id. at 34.

(C) The Leave of Absence and Fitness for Duty Examination ("FFD") Claim

On November 17, 1998, the plaintiff left a handwritten note along with a doctor's slip for her supervisor, which indicated that she was taking medical leave for at least a month due to work related stress. Def.'s Mem. at 49. On December 9, 1998, the plaintiff asked to be continued on medical leave and stated that her doctor had advised her not to have contact with the office except for "severe emergencies." Id. On January 20, 1999, the plaintiff requested that she be placed on leave without pay. Id. The plaintiff was then on unpaid leave for over a year, when on March 15, 2000, she sent Collingwood a note advising him that she planned to return to...