Evans v. Sebelius

• Decision Date: 17 December 2009
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 08-1077 (RBW).
• Citation: 674 F.Supp.2d 228
• Parties: Vernard EVANS, Plaintiff, v. Kathleen SEBELIUS, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Defendant.<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL>
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

674 F.Supp.2d 228

Vernard EVANS, Plaintiff, v. Kathleen SEBELIUS, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Defendant.¹

Civil Action No. 08-1077 (RBW).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

December 17, 2009.

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Vernard Evans, Fort Washington, MD, pro se.

Judith A. Kidwell, U.S. Attorney's Office, Washington, DC, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

REGGIE B. WALTON, District Judge.

Vernard Evans, the plaintiff in this civil lawsuit, brings this action against the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (the "Secretary") in her official capacity, alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-2000e-17 (2006) ("Title VII"), Amended Complaint ("Am. Compl.") ¶¶ 5, 30, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 29 U.S.C § 623(a)(2006) (the "ADEA"),² Plaintiff's Opposition to Motion to Dismiss and Oppose Summary Judgment ("Pl.'s Opp'n I") at 1,³ on the basis that the Department, an agency of the United States government and her employer, engaged in discriminatory employment practices against her based on her race (African-American), Am. Compl. ¶¶ 5, 30, and age (55), Pl.'s Opp'n I at 1, when it failed to promote her to a position for which she initially had been selected. This matter is currently before the Court on the defendant's Motion to Dismiss Or Alternatively, For Summary Judgment ("Def.'s Mot."), which the plaintiff opposes, Pl.'s Opp'n. After carefully considering the parties' pleadings, the defendant's motion and the plaintiff's opposition, and all memoranda of law and exhibits submitted with these filings,⁴ the Court concludes that it must not only grant the defendant's motion in part and deny it in part, but also grant the plaintiff limited leave to file an amended complaint for the reasons that follow.

I. BACKGROUND

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, the facts are as follows.

At all relevant times pertaining to this lawsuit, the plaintiff was an employee of the Administration for Developmental Disabilities (the "ADD"), a subordinate office of the Administration for Children and Families (the "ACF"), within the Department of Health and Human Services (the "Agency"). Def.'s Stmt. ¶ 1.⁵ The plaintiff, an African-American female, age 55 at the time of her non-promotion, Def.'s Mem., Exhibit ("Ex.") 4 (Affidavit of Vernard Evans) ("Evans Aff.") at 2, had been employed with the Agency for twenty-two years, and in her most recent position, served as a GS-101-13 Program Specialist within the ADD, the entity "responsible for administrating programs and policies serving persons with developmental disabilities." Am. Compl. ¶ 2; Def.'s Stmt. ¶ 27. The ADD is headed by a Commissioner, who reports to the Assistant Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the ACF. Def.'s Stmt. ¶ 1. Prior to August 27, 2001, Sue Swenson served as Commissioner of the ADD, and she was succeeded by Dr. Patricia Morrissey, the appointee of the incoming presidential administration in 2001. Id. ¶ 3.

A. The Plaintiff's Application to the Lead Developmental Disability Specialist Position

On April 21, 2001, the plaintiff applied for a newly created position within the ADD, a GS-14 position with the title "Lead Developmental Disability Specialist" ("LDDS"), "which was one of the four positions that out-going Commissioner Swenson sought to establish as part of her reorganization of [the] ADD." Def.'s Stmt. ¶ 10. The Agency identified this new position in its vacancy announcement as a non-supervisory and non-bargaining unit position. Def.'s Mem., Ex. 8 (LDDS Vacancy Announcement) at 1. On May 16, 2001, a panel of senior staff members interviewed the plaintiff for the position. Def.'s Mem., Ex. 13 (Plaintiff's Letter to the Agency's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity ("EEO") June 13, 2002) at 1. Leola Brooks, the plaintiff's supervisor and the selecting official for the position, recommended the plaintiff for the promotion.⁶ Def.'s Stmt. ¶ 11; Def.'s Mem., Ex. 2 (Affidavit of Leola Brooks) ("Brooks Aff.") at 6-7, 9, 12. According to the plaintiff, in September of 2001, Ms. Brooks "told [her] she had [been] selected for the position and that the selection certificate had been returned to personnel for processing." Am. Compl. ¶ 6. However, the plaintiff was not formally notified of this purported selection nor placed in the position. Def.'s Mem., Ex. 4 (Evans Aff.) at 5-6. The plaintiff made several inquiries concerning the status of the position, Def.'s Stmt. ¶ 17, and according to her complaint, was also notified by Personnel Specialist Jenny Mason that she had been selected and "would be placed once the Presidential freeze lifted." Am. Compl. ¶ 7.

During the time period covered in this complaint, several hiring policies were in effect at the Agency, the ACF, and the ADD. Def.'s Stmt. ¶¶ 7-9, 12-14. One was a January 20, 2001 decision by the incoming presidential administration to place "all Executive departments and agencies" on a hiring freeze. Def.'s Stmt. ¶ 7; Def.'s Mem. Ex. 17 (Government Hiring Controls Memo Jan. 30, 2001) at 1. Thereafter, in February 2001, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson issued an agency wide memorandum asking the heads of all divisions "to defer decisions to fill positions at the GS-13 through SES levels until [he had] the opportunity to review staff deployment throughout the Department." Def.'s Stmt. ¶ 8; Def.'s Mem., Ex. 6 (Undated Memo from Thompson) at 1. Despite the hiring freeze, the Agency was not prohibited from advertising vacancies, but purportedly "could not make official offers until the hiring control was lifted." Def.'s Stmt. ¶ 9; Def.'s Mem., Ex. 15 (Affidavit of Vanessa Jenkins) ("Jenkins Aff.") at 6. By October 2001, the Agency had relaxed the hiring freeze, but retained controls on supervisory and managerial positions at the GS-14, 15, and Senior Executive Service level. Def.'s Stmt. ¶ 12; Def.'s Mem., Ex. 9 (Memo from Sontag Oct. 15, 2001) at 1. Then, in November 2001, Dr. Wade Horn, Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, issued a memorandum to all subordinate ACF offices, in which he discussed the relaxation of agency wide hiring controls. Def.'s Stmt. ¶ 13; Def.'s Mem., Ex. 10 (Memo from Horn Nov. 29, 2001) ("Horn Memo") at 1-3. Dr. Horn's memorandum "continued the hiring controls on all promotions to the GS-13 level and above, including career ladder promotions and accretions in [the] ACF." Def.'s Mem., Ex. 10 (Horn Memo) at 2. The memorandum directed agency officials to "obtain [Dr. Horn's] approval before any official offer is made . . . for any personnel actions that are currently pending . . . in this category." Id.

Still awaiting promotion into the LDDS position, on February 2, 2002, the plaintiff enlisted the aid of her local union chapter representative, Isadora Wills. Def.'s Stmt. ¶ 18; Am. Compl. ¶ 8. The plaintiff alleges that on February 5, 2002, she contacted the personnel office to inquire into the status of the LDDS position and was given contradictory information, being told on the one hand that personnel records indicated that she had already occupied the position, while being ultimately told that "it could be years before any action is taken." Am. Compl. ¶ 9. On February 7, 2002, Ms. Wills submitted the plaintiff's "questions to the Union concerning" the status of the position. Id. ¶ 10. When she had not received a response by February 28, the plaintiff "began feeling stressed by her workload, and the added frustration from [the] promotion process" and officially retired from the Agency. Id. However, according to the plaintiff, she "was told by her manager and Union rep that [the] position was still available," and she subsequently rescinded her retirement and returned to work. Id.

On March 4, 2002, the plaintiff and Ms. Wills met with the President of the Union to discuss the inquiries that the plaintiff had submitted. Id. ¶ 11. The Union President purportedly informed the plaintiff that "she ha[d] been told that the position . . . ha[d] been cancelled per J. Ingrid Clemons." Id. Thereafter, the plaintiff again telephoned the personnel office to inquire into the status of the position. Id. The personnel office "denie[d] that the . . . [position] had been cancelled, saying instead that it [was] on hold and that the selection certificate [was] `still good.'" Id. Then, on March 25, 2002, Dr. Horn, Assistant Secretary of the ACF, held an "All Hands Staff Meeting," id. ¶ 12, and according to the plaintiff, he announced that "there was `no' promotion freeze on GS-13's and above," which was "totally contradictory" to what the plaintiff had been informed previously. Id. ¶ 12; Pl.'s Opp'n I, Ex. 16 (Affidavit of Lonnie Stewart) ¶ 2.

After the plaintiff's March 4, 2002 meeting with the Union representatives, Ms. Wills contacted personnel representatives with a list of the plaintiff's questions concerning the LDDS position and the legitimacy of the agency hiring freeze and she received a response from Ms. Clemons, the ACF Labor Relations Officer, on March 28. Am. Compl. ¶ 13, Def.'s Mem., Ex. 11 (Email from Clemons to Wills, March 28, 2002) ("Clemons Email"). The email stated that the LDDS position "had been cancelled on March 7, 2002 and that the cancellation was authorized by Leola Brooks, [the plaintiff's] supervisor." Def.'s Mem Ex. 11 (Clemons Email) ¶ 8. However, according to the plaintiff, Ms. Brooks denied ever having cancelled the promotion. Am. Compl. ¶ 13. The Clemons email also informed Ms. Wills that the requested list of promotions and hires during the Presidential and Secretarial freeze "would be forwarded to [her] via inter-office mail." Def.'s Mem., Ex. 11 (Clemons Email) ¶ 4. However, when the plaintiff and Ms. Wills received the hiring and promotions list on April 11, 2002, "it did not list any promotions...