Eiland v. Trinity Hosp.
| Decision Date | 24 July 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 97-3165,97-3165 |
| Citation | 150 F.3d 747 |
| Parties | 77 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 800, 76 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,403 Merlee EILAND, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TRINITY HOSPITAL, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Armand L. Andry (argued), Oak Park, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Oswald G. Lewis, Hubert O. Thompson (argued), Carney & Brothers, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellee.
Before FLAUM, RIPPLE and KANNE, Circuit Judges.
Merlee Eiland sued her employer, Trinity Hospital, alleging disparate treatment and retaliatory discharge based on racial discrimination in violation of Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The district court granted summary judgment to Trinity Hospital. Ms. Eiland appeals that decision. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the district court's judgment.
Ms. Eiland, an African American, worked in a dozen hospitals after she became a Licensed Practical Nurse in 1971, and in none of them was she disciplined or fired. However, on February 19, 1996, after she had worked in the Occupational Health Center ("OHC") of Trinity Hospital for almost 2 years, the hospital terminated her employment. Ms. Eiland's suit, filed after receipt of her right-to-sue letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleges that the hospital intentionally discriminated against her because of her race and retaliated against her because she filed complaints of discrimination.
The allegations that she was discharged because of her race are based on several incidents involving a hospital staff physician. According to Ms. Eiland, on three occasions the staff physician showed her newspaper articles that portrayed African Americans in negative ways. She alleges that he commented on the articles in a racially biased way. He also made, according to her allegations, derogatory statements about African Americans sitting in the hospital's waiting room. The complaint also alleges that Ms. Eiland overheard the staff physician using the word "nigger" when telling his co-workers a story about a slave owner in pre-civil war Mississippi. When she confronted him, however, he denied using the term. Nevertheless, she reported the incident to Jan Kois, the OHC's supervisor. Kois turned the complaint over to the Human Resources Department; it found that no improprieties had occurred. Ms. Eiland's complaint alleges that her superiors did nothing to stop the derogatory comments about African Americans made by a staff physician and by other white staff.
Ms. Eiland's complaint also states that she administered a measles, mumps and rubella injection ("MMR shot") to a patient after a staff physician failed to advise her that the patient was pregnant and after the patient had stated that she was not pregnant. She reports that she was terminated by the hospital "allegedly because of the medication error," R.1 p 21, but actually for racial reasons.
The hospital responds that Ms. Eiland's supervisor, Jan Kois, terminated Ms. Eiland's employment because "she was a threat to patients in terms of negligent patient care." R.18, Ex.B at 60. On February 16, 1996, Ms. Eiland administered an MMR shot to a pregnant female patient. Because an MMR shot could harm the mother and the unborn child, the hospital's policy requires that, before a female patient is given an immunization shot, the nurse must read the patient's chart, give the patient a brochure explaining the risks of the shot, talk to the patient about the risks, have the patient sign the brochure, and ask whether the patient is On February 19, 1996, nursing supervisor Kois suspended Ms. Eiland pending an investigation of the incident. She then conducted a hearing on the matter and determined that Ms. Eiland had not followed the hospital policy, had not considered the protocol important and had shown no remorse for her mistake or for the possible harm to the unborn child. Later that day, Kois terminated Ms. Eiland's employment with Trinity Hospital based on this incident.
pregnant. The staff physician submitted an incident report to Kois stating that a patient had reported to him that Ms. Eiland had given her an MMR shot on February 16 without inquiring about her pregnancy status. The staff physician asserted that he had examined the patient on February 9, 1996, a week before the injection was given, and had indicated on her chart that she was pregnant. He also had made the chart available to Ms. Eiland.
The district court granted the hospital's motion for summary judgment. It noted that Ms. Eiland's complaint and affidavit had alleged that the staff physician did not advise Ms. Eiland that the patient was pregnant and that the patient herself had told Ms. Eiland that she was not pregnant. However, stated the court, Ms. Eiland failed to include those assertions in her Rule 12(N) statement or to support her allegations with evidence. The court then determined that Ms. Eiland's disparate treatment claim failed because she established no link between the staff physician's allegedly racist statements and her termination by Jan Kois. The court held that Ms. Eiland also failed to establish her retaliation claim: She did not demonstrate that the hospital's nondiscriminatory reason for her discharge--that Kois believed the nurse was a threat to patient safety--was pretextual. The court also concluded that the record did not permit any racial or retaliatory animus on the staff physician's part to be imputed to Kois' final decision. It granted summary judgment to the hospital.
Our review of a district court's entry of summary judgment is plenary. See Talanda v. KFC Nat'l Mgmt. Co., 140 F.3d 1090, 1095 (7th Cir.), petition for cert. filed, 67 U.S.L.W. 3093 (U.S. July 2, 1998) (No. 98-37). Our review considers the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, Ms. Eiland, and draws all reasonable inferences in that party's favor. See Gonzalez v. Ingersoll Milling Mach. Co., 133 F.3d 1025, 1031 (7th Cir.1998). We shall uphold summary judgment whenever "the pleadings, depositions, answers to the interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with 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). Nevertheless, "the mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment; the requirement is that there be no genuine issue of material fact." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (emphasis in original). Ms. Eiland may avoid summary judgment by setting forth "specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). An issue is genuine if it must be resolved at trial because the evidence, seen in the light most favorable to Ms. Eiland, would permit a reasonable factfinder to decide the issue in favor of Ms. Eiland. See Bahl v. Royal Indem. Co., 115 F.3d 1283, 1290 (7th Cir.1997).
In her complaint, Ms. Eiland alleges that the hospital treated her differently and intentionally discriminated against her because of her race. She brings the same allegation under Title VII (count I) and 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (count II). Because we analyze both § 1981 and Title VII discrimination claims in the same manner, see Bratton v. Roadway Package System, Inc., 77 F.3d 168, 176 (7th Cir.1996), we shall review both of Ms. Eiland's racial discrimination claims together. According to Ms. Eiland, we can infer from the staff physician's racist actions and comments that he had a discriminatory motive in filing the incident report which led, in part, to her termination. She does not claim that the decisionmaker, Kois, was motivated by racial animus; rather, she seeks to impute the staff physician's racial animus to Kois.
The district court examined the staff physician's actions--the articles he had shown Ms. Eiland and the statements she considered racial slurs--and concluded that "a reasonable jury could not infer from these actions and comments alone that [the staff physician] was motivated to report Eiland because of her race." R.34 at 6. The court also determined that Ms. Eiland did not demonstrate that the doctor's statements and articles related to the incident report he filed with Kois. For that reason, it held, her disparate treatment claim failed.
Under § 1981, "[a]ll persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right ... to the full and equal benefit of all laws ... as is enjoyed by white citizens." 42 U.S.C. § 1981. Under Title VII, it is unlawful for an employer "to discharge any individual ... because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). When racial discrimination is based on a claim of disparate treatment, "[p]roof of intentional discrimination is required." Gonzalez, 133 F.3d at 1031 (citing St. Mary's Honor Ctr. v. Hicks, 509 U.S. 502, 113 S.Ct. 2742, 125 L.Ed.2d 407 (1993)). An employee may demonstrate her employer's intentional discrimination by providing either direct or indirect evidence. Direct evidence is evidence which, " 'if believed by the trier of fact, will prove the particular fact in question without reliance upon inference or presumption.' " Plair v. E.J. Brach & Sons, Inc., 105 F.3d 343, 347 (7th Cir.1997) (quoting Randle v. LaSalle Telecomms., Inc., 876 F.2d 563, 569 (7th Cir.1989)). According to Ms. Eiland, the staff physician's racist comments about the articles he brought to her and his other statements that negatively referred to African Americans are direct evidence of discriminatory intent.
We agree with the district court that such comments do not support a direct inference that race was a determining factor in Ms. Eiland's discharge....
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