Elen Bahr v. Capella Univ.

• Decision Date: 09 September 2010
• Docket Number: No. A08-1367.,A08-1367.
• Citation: 788 N.W.2d 76
• Parties: Elen BAHR, Respondent, v. CAPELLA UNIVERSITY, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

788 N.W.2d 76

Elen BAHR, Respondent,

v.CAPELLA UNIVERSITY, Appellant.

No. A08-1367.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Sept. 9, 2010.

Syllabus by the Court

The district court did not err in dismissing, pursuant to a Minn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(e) motion to dismiss, a reprisal claim brought under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, Minn.Stat. §§ 363A.01-.41 (2008), where plaintiff's belief that defendant was engaged in discrimination is unreasonable as a matter of law.

Joni M. Thome, Frances E. Baillon, Halunen & Associates, Minneapolis, MN, for respondent.

Thomas A. Harder, Foley & Mansfield, P.L.L.P., Minneapolis, MN, for appellant.

Lori Swanson, Attorney General, Angela Behrens, Assistant Attorney General, St. Paul, MN, for amicus curiae Commissioner of Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

OPINION

ANDERSON, G. BARRY, Justice.

This case arises from appellant Capella University's employment termination of respondent Elen Bahr. Bahr brought an action in district court claiming that her employment termination was in retaliation for opposing discriminatory practices and that such retaliation violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA), Minn.Stat. §§ 363A.01-.41 (2008). Capella moved to dismiss Bahr's suit for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, Minn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(e). Capella argued that Bahr failed to establish that Capella's conduct was forbidden by the MHRA, and the district court granted Capella's motion. The court of appeals reversed, holding that Bahr need only allege facts showing a good-faith, reasonable belief that the conduct opposed was discriminatory, and that Bahr's complaint set forth a legally sufficient claim. Bahr v. Capella Univ., 765 N.W.2d 428, 436, 439 (Minn.App.2009). Because we conclude that Bahr's belief that Capella was engaging in discriminatory conduct in violation of the MHRA was unreasonable as a matter of law, we reverse.

Bahr, a white woman, began working in Capella's communications department in February 2006, and assumed management of L.A., an African-American woman, in June 2006. ¹ By September 2006 Bahr noticed that L.A. was failing to meet performance expectations. Bahr provided informal coaching to assist L.A., but L.A. did not improve.

In January 2007 Bahr asked Capella's Human Resources Department for assistance in improving L.A.'s performance. After Bahr discussed L.A.'s work performance with Human Resources, Bahr met with L.A. in February 2007 to discuss performance issues, and Bahr noted several specific areas of concern. After the meeting, Bahr told Human Resources that L.A.'s performance was adversely affecting the communications team. On March 6, 2007, Bahr again met with L.A., established time and work management processes for L.A., and shifted some of L.A.'s duties to another employee. The two also set up weekly meetings to review L.A.'s progress. On March 7, 2007, Bahr met with her supervisor, Brad Frank, as well as Seth Lockner and Nichole Scott, two Human Resources employees, and reported that Bahr believed L.A. should be placed on a performance improvement plan (PIP). Lockner “demanded” that Bahr “move slowly with [L.A.]” and “insisted that [Bahr] could NOT move forward with any formal PIP.” Bahr alleges that Capella's resistance was “highly unusual” because she had previously placed two other employees on a PIP. ² Bahr met with L.A. again on March 27, 2007, to discuss her deficient work performance.

During March and April 2007 Bahr continued to work with L.A. and to report to Scott the negative effect L.A.'s performance was having on Bahr's department. In response, Scott told Bahr to “move more slowly on the matter [with L.A.] than she had ever moved on a performance issue.” Scott also told Bahr that L.A. “ha[d] a history” in the organization that was “racially based” and warned that action could result in a discrimination lawsuit by L.A. Scott added that L.A.'s “situation was known and monitored by the highest levels in [Capella].”

During this time, Bahr completed annual performance evaluations, meeting with all of her team members except L.A. Scott instructed Bahr to send L.A.'s review to Scott and the legal department before sharing it with L.A. When L.A. rated poorly, Scott told Bahr to “minimize the performance issues raised” and to “do the right thing” and provide “balance” to L.A.'s review. Scott added that she and Lockner would review the evaluation and have the legal department review it. Human Resources did not evaluate a performance review of any other employees.

On April 11, 2007, Bahr met with L.A. to discuss the performance review. After the meeting, Bahr told Scott that she wanted to place L.A. on a PIP. Bahr also told Scott that the university's treatment was “unfair and discriminatory to [L.A.] and to other employees” because no other employee was receiving the same treatment. On April 16, 2007, Bahr restated to Scott and Frank that she believed Capella's conduct discriminated against L.A. and other employees.

On April 17, 2007, Frank told Bahr that employees Bahr managed complained about Bahr to Human Resources. Frank did not believe the complaints and complimented Bahr on her performance. Bahr had requested a 360-review ³ of her department in December 2006 to address any concerns, but Frank denied the request. After Bahr complained about allegedly unfair discriminatory treatment of L.A. and others in March and April 2007, Capella ordered the 360-review, to be followed by a development plan for Bahr, not L.A.

Bahr told Frank on April 19 that she could no longer participate in the treatment of L.A. that Bahr perceived as discriminatory. On June 12, 2007, Frank asked Bahr how L.A. was performing. Bahr responded that L.A. was not doing her job. Bahr reminded Frank that her “hands were tied by the directives of HR” and that Bahr was “unwilling to engage in discriminatory treatment.”

That same day, Bahr met with an outside consultant to discuss the 360-review results. The results showed high rankings from Bahr's director and peers but lower scores from staff. Bahr also met with another outside consultant to discuss how to improve her work team's dynamic. Bahr alleges managers in similar situations were given opportunities to work on team dynamic issues.

On June 19, 2007, Bahr told Frank that she had taken steps to improve her department's dynamics. Frank told Bahr that he did not think Bahr could “turn the situation around to suit him” and listed various options for terminating Bahr's employment. Bahr claims she had no reason to believe her employment was in jeopardy. On June 20, 2007, Bahr told Frank she would not resign. Frank terminated Bahr's employment and told Bahr to go home.

Bahr brought an action in district court, alleging that Capella engaged in reprisal under the MHRA by terminating Bahr's employment for refusing to participate in employment practices forbidden under the MHRA and for good-faith reports of discriminatory treatment. Capella brought a motion to dismiss under Minn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(e) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The district court noted that the only contested issue was whether Bahr had pleaded that the conduct that led to her employment termination was statutorily protected. As part of its analysis, the court looked at whether the practices Bahr opposed were discriminatory and in violation of the MHRA. ⁴ The court concluded that Capella's treatment of L.A., and specifically, the decision to not place L.A. on a PIP, did not constitute an adverse employment action, and therefore was not forbidden by the MHRA. Because the district court did not view the practices Bahr opposed as forbidden by the MHRA, the court granted Capella's motion to dismiss. The court, however, did not reach the issue of whether Bahr merely had to plead a good-faith, reasonable belief that Capella discriminated against L.A. because the court viewed Bahr's assertion that Capella discriminated against L.A. as unreasonable as a matter of law. Bahr appealed, and the court of appeals reversed. Bahr, 765 N.W.2d at 439.

The court of appeals concluded that Bahr only had to plead a good-faith, reasonable belief that Capella's actions, which Bahr opposed, were violations of the MHRA. Id. at 436. Applying this standard, the court of appeals noted that on four occasions, Bahr complained to Human Resources that Bahr believed that Capella's refusal to implement a PIP for L.A. to help her improve her job performance was discriminatory. Id. at 437. In addition, Capella's Human Resources Department had previously allowed Bahr to initiate PIPs with other employees, and Human Resources had commented that L.A. had a “racially-based history” with Capella, and Capella expressed concern about L.A. initiating a race discrimination lawsuit if Capella placed L.A. on a PIP. See id. The court of appeals concluded that Bahr's “complaint sets forth objectively reasonable grounds upon which to base [Bahr's] subjective belief that [Capella] was treating L.A. differently on the basis of race in violation of the MHRA.” Id.

Because this case comes to us on appeal from the district court's decision to dismiss Bahr's complaint pursuant to Minn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(e) for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted, we review the legal sufficiency of the claim de novo. Hebert v. City of Fifty Lakes, 744 N.W.2d 226, 229 (Minn.2008). A pleading must “contain a short plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief and a demand for judgment for the relief sought.” Minn. R. Civ. P. 8.01. When conducting our review, we “consider only the facts alleged in the complaint, accepting those facts as true and must construe all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party.” Hebert, 744 N.W.2d at 229 (citation omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted).

We have said that “a pleading will be dismissed only if it appears to a certainty that no facts, which could be introduced consistent...