Dombrowski v. Arlington International Racecourse
| Decision Date | 19 June 2001 |
| Docket Number | P,No. 00-1678,HOFFMAN-DOMBROWSK,00-1678 |
| Citation | 254 F.3d 644 |
| Parties | (7th Cir. 2001) DANAlaintiff-Appellant, v. ARLINGTON INTERNATIONAL RACECOURSE, INC., Defendant-Appellee |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 98 C 1525--James H. Alesia, Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted]
[Copyrighted Material Omitted]
Before Posner, Manion, and Kanne, Circuit Judges.
After being passed over for a promotion and transferred to another facility, plaintiff-appellant, Dana Hoffman-Dombrowski (Dombrowski) filed suit in federal court alleging that her employer, Arlington International Racecourse, Inc., engaged in unlawful sex discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. sec. 2000e, et seq. Arlington moved for summary judgment, and the district court granted the motion. The district court found that the plaintiff failed to show all of the elements necessary to make out a prima facie case on either claim. We agree with the district court's conclusion; therefore, we affirm.
Arlington operates Arlington International Racecourse, a horse racing facility located in Arlington Heights, Illinois. In addition to the live meet, Arlington also owns and operates several inter-track wagering ("ITW") and off- track betting ("OTB") facilities where customers can place wagers on races run at Arlington and other racetracks. The largest of these facilities, Trackside, is an ITW located next door to the live meet in Arlington Heights.
Dombrowski began working part-time for Arlington in 1980 while she was still in high school. In 1982, Dombrowski accepted a full time position at Trackside working information windows. Between 1983 and 1995, she held various positions at Arlington's live meet and at Trackside including assistant money room head, floor supervisor, assistant mutuel1 manager, auditor, and head trainer. In 1995, Dombrowski was named Trackside's building manager. As building manager, Dombrowski was given full authority to hire, fire, and discipline the managers in the mutuel department as well as the mutuel clerks. She was also given respon sibility over the money room. According to Dombrowski, she accepted this transfer, which included a $17,000 pay cut, in exchange for a promise that she would be named the general manager of that facility at some unspecified time in the future. In early 1996, the acting general manager of Trackside, Ed Jamison, asked plaintiff to apply for a vacant general manager position at one of Arlington's OTB facilities, Waukegan OTB. Plaintiff declined to apply, stating that she would wait for a promotion at Trackside. In June of 1996, Dombrowski became one of three assistant managers at Trackside.
That same month, Scott Lager was hired for the position that Dombrowski claims she was promised--general manager of Trackside. Dombrowski was angered by this, and felt that she had been passed over for the position because of her sex. She spoke with Arlington's human resources manager, Linda Kica, as well as Arlington's Vice-President of Off-Track Operations, Jim Stumpf, to express her concern that she was being treated unfavorably because of her sex. During Dombrowski's conversation with Stumpf, he allegedly told her that she would never be promoted because Mr. Duchossois (the owner of Arlington) does not promote women. Kica reportedly advised Dombrowski to think twice about complaining to upper management because that would be a "career decision." Ignoring Kica's advice, Dombrowski proceeded to meet with Arlington CEO Scott Mordell. In the course of the meeting, Mordell allegedly promised Dombrowski that if she agreed to train Lager, who did not have prior experience in mutuel wagering, she would be named assistant general manager of Trackside. At the time of this conversation, Arlington did not employ an assistant general manager at Trackside-- it was the only off-track facility without an employee in this position.
Dombrowski proceeded to train Lager in all facets of his position, but she was not named to the position of assistant general manager of Trackside. Instead, she claims, she was forced to endure numerous instances of unfair and discriminatory treatment. Dombrowski claims that Lager purposefully changed her schedule so that it would be impossible for her to drop her children off at daycare and still make it to work on time. She also claims that Lager called her a "vindictive manager" and encouraged her to meet Stumpf for drinks if she wanted her career to change. Dombrowski also states that Stumpf made it a practice of having drinks at Trackside and on numerous occasions insinuated that her ability to advance at Arlington was dependent on whether or not she began a romantic relationship with him.
Dombrowski also contends that Arlington targeted her by secretly videotaping the manager's office. On September 5, 1997, a written warning was issued to Dombrowski after she was caught on video allowing unauthorized persons into the office area at Trackside. This warning came six months after Lager circulated a memorandum to all managers informing them that only Arlington employees were allowed in the office areas. Dombrowski admits that she violated the policy, but she claims that she should not have been disciplined because the practice of allowing "VIP" customers into the office area was tacitly approved by management.
Shortly thereafter, Arlington announced its intention not to participate in the 1998 live racing season and to indefinitely close Arlington International Racecourse. Accordingly, Arlington reduced its workforce from 400 to 250 employees and transferred several managers from the live meet to Trackside. Two Trackside managers, including Dombrowski, were transferred to other OTB facilities. Dombrowski learned of her transfer on October 15, 1997 during a meeting with Kica, Lager, and Stumpf. During that meeting, Dombrowski was presented with a memo informing her that she was to be transferred to Waukegan OTB as an assistant manager. Angered and surprised by this news, Dombrowski told Lager that he was incompetent and that he would be nothing without her. Lager responded by telling Dombrowski that she had already been replaced and that her career at Trackside was over. He also told her that if she didn't like being transferred that she should just quit. On the same day that plaintiff was instructed to report to Waukegan OTB, Arlington named Dan Majchrzak, the former assistant manager of mutuels at the live meet, to the newly created position of assistant general manager at Trackside. According to Arlington, the creation of this position was necessitated by the reconfiguration of the business that resulted from the live meet closure.
Dombrowski's transfer to Waukegan did not affect her title or compensation. In fact, she earns more than both Waukegan's general manager and assistant generalmanager, and is the highest paid assistant manager at Arlington. Nonetheless, Dombrowski feels that the transfer to Waukegan OTB is a step down because her responsibilities have been greatly reduced and Waukegan is a "small, dirty, roach infested facility so crime ridden that guards and police officers must escort her to her car in the evening." Dombrowski claims that defendants hoped that she would quit rather than accept the transfer to the Waukegan facility.
Dombrowski is now one of four assistant managers at Waukegan OTB. The parties vigorously dispute whether Dombrowski's responsibilities decreased as a result of her transfer, but she claims that she went from preparing the mutuel budget and payroll and staffing hundreds of clerks to scheduling one part time and four full time clerks. Now, she claims, her biggest responsibility is emptying lottery machines three times a week. On November 12, 1997, Dombrowski again met with Mordell to express her feeling that she was transferred because of her sex. Mordell denied this and told her that the transfer would be good for her career at Arlington because working at a different facility would allow her to see the big picture of Arlington's operation. Dombrowski claims that shortly after this meeting, her father and sister, both Arlington employees, were subjected to adverse employment actions.
In March 1998, plaintiff filed suit in federal court alleging that she was the victim of sex discrimination as well as retaliation for reporting sex discrimination. Arlington moved to dismiss certain portions of plaintiff's complaint as time-barred. The district court granted the motion and issued an order specifically limiting plaintiff's claims to conduct occurring after February 6, 1997.2 On February 14, 2000, the district court granted summary judgment for Arlington on Dombrowski's discrimination and retaliation claims. The district court found that Dombrowski failed to make out a prima facie case on either claim, and that even if she had been able to, that Arlington had articulated a non-pretextual business reason for its actions.
We review de novo the district court's decision to grant summary judgment for Arlington, viewing the evidence and drawing all inferences in favor of the nonmoving party. See Oest v. Ill. Dept. of Corr., 240 F.3d 605, 610 (7th Cir. 2001). Summary judgment is appropriate only when the "pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c); see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S. Ct. 2548, 91 L. Ed. 2d 265 (1986). A disputed fact is only material if it "might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law."...
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