Evans v. Technologies Applications & Service Co., 95-1697

• Decision Date: 05 April 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-1697,95-1697
• Citation: 80 F.3d 954
• Parties: 72 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1222, 68 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,010, 34 Fed.R.Serv.3d 1033 Christine EVANS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TECHNOLOGIES APPLICATIONS & SERVICE COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 954

80 F.3d 954

72 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1222,

68 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,010, 34 Fed.R.Serv.3d 1033

Christine EVANS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TECHNOLOGIES APPLICATIONS & SERVICE COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 95-1697.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued Jan. 31, 1996.

Decided April 5, 1996.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Greenbelt. Alexander Williams, Jr., District Judge. (CA-94-1767-AW).

ARGUED: Mindy Gae Farber, Jacobs, Jacobs & Farber, Rockville, Maryland, for

Appellant. Ronald Wayne Taylor, Venable, Baetjer & Howard, L.L.P., Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Patricia Gillis Cousins, Venable, Baetjer & Howard, L.L.P., Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee.

Before HALL and MURNAGHAN, Circuit Judges, and STAMP, Chief United States District Judge for the Northern District of West Virginia, sitting by designation.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge MURNAGHAN wrote the opinion, in which Judge HALL and Chief Judge STAMP joined.

OPINION

MURNAGHAN, Circuit Judge:

Appellant Christine Evans appeals a district court order granting summary judgment to her employer in a Title VII discrimination case. She argues that the district court erred by failing to apply the appropriate legal standards in analyzing the motion for summary judgment, by striking much of her affidavit and by barring several of her discrimination claims as not proceeding from or relating to her original charge of failure to promote because of sex discrimination. We find her challenges meritless.

I. BACKGROUND

Evans was a temporary worker assigned to the Norden Service Company, Inc., when Technologies Applications and Services Company, Inc. ("TAS"), purchased it in April 1991. ¹ Two months later, Gary Houseman, TAS's Director of Quality Assurance, recommended that TAS hire Evans full-time as an Inspector/Quality Control Analyst in his department. ² Upon assuming the position in June 1991, Evans was assigned to inspect TAS computer hardware products, such as consoles for naval ship combat centers at various stages of production. As early as December 1991, Evans informed company officials that she was interested in obtaining a supervisory position.

Overall, Evans received good evaluations at TAS. Houseman described her as an excellent employee in a September 1992 performance review, but also indicated that her attitude and "moodiness" would affect her promotability. In addition, Evans and another quality control inspector, Winston Samuel, both received reprimands in February 1993 for squabbling on the job.

Several personnel changes took place at TAS, some of which were related to financial difficulties at the company. In February 1992, the Quality Control Supervisor ("QCS") resigned. TAS officials selected James Thompson, a supervisor and long-time Field Service Engineer, to assume the QCS duties and work in a dual capacity as QCS/Field Engineer. Neither Evans nor Samuel was given an opportunity to apply for the supervisory position. A year later, Thompson resigned as QCS. TAS officers never advertised the QCS job as open, but instead eliminated the position and assigned its duties to Ronald Lewis, a man already performing software engineering functions. Again, neither Evans nor Samuel had a chance to apply for the reconfigured position.

On April 21, 1993, Evans filed a discrimination charge with the Montgomery County, Maryland, Human Relations Commission ("HRC"). In the charge, Evans alleged that TAS denied her a promotion because of her gender. She asserted that Houseman's February 1993 decision to eliminate the QCS position and merge its duties into the software engineering position held by Lewis constituted sex discrimination. On April 4, 1994, Evans amended her charge to allege that the February 1993 decision amounted to age discrimination as well.

The following month, Evans filed suit in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County, Maryland, claiming that TAS had discriminated against her because of her sex and age in violation of local laws and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. Evans made numerous allegations: that another employee harassed her in 1990; that she was "ripe" but not selected for promotion in 1991; ³ that she received different pay, benefits, and seniority than younger males; that TAS failed to promote her in 1993 because of her age and her gender; and that TAS failed to take adequate affirmative steps to correct its unlawful practices.

After removal to the United States District Court, TAS moved for dismissal or summary judgment, arguing that all of Evans's claims--except for the sex discrimination allegation--should be dismissed because they were never raised in a timely administrative charge. TAS also maintained that Evans failed to make out a prima facie case to support her claim of sex-based failure to promote and ultimately failed to establish that she was the victim of sex discrimination. In support of its position, TAS submitted an affidavit from Evans's immediate supervisor, Houseman, and other exhibits.

Evans opposed TAS's motion and submitted her own affidavit attesting to her qualifications for the QCS position. Although the memorandum of law in support of her motion indicated that she had not had the opportunity to conduct discovery, Evans had never requested discovery nor sought a continuance to enable her to gather information to refute TAS's motion.

The district judge issued a memorandum and order in February 1995, granting TAS's motion for summary judgment. The judge examined Evans's affidavit and struck portions of it as "not based on personal knowledge," "containing hearsay statements," or "irrelevant, conclusory, or both." He dismissed Evans's claims of sexual harassment, failure to promote in 1991, and discrimination in pay and benefits as outside the scope of Evans's administrative charge and not "reasonably proceeding from a sex discrimination claim based on failure to promote." The judge also dismissed Evans's age discrimination claim as untimely, finding that the allegation was belated and unrelated to her original administrative charge of sex discrimination. He noted that "Evans never mentioned her age or indicated in any manner that age was a factor" in the original charge. Finally, the district judge found that Evans had not established a prima facie case of failure to promote in 1993 because of sex discrimination nor provided any evidence that TAS's articulated reasons for assigning the QCS duties elsewhere were pretextual or "unworthy of credence." Determining that no issue of material fact existed for a jury to resolve, the district judge granted summary judgment to TAS. Evans filed a timely notice of appeal.

II. CLAIM OF SEX DISCRIMINATION BY FAILURE TO PROMOTE

Evans rests on two grounds her contention that the district court erred in granting TAS's motion for summary judgment on her claim that she was denied promotion because of her sex: that the court failed to apply the appropriate legal standards and that she had not received adequate opportunity to conduct discovery. We consider each in turn.

A. Summary Judgment Analysis

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo, applying the same legal standards as the district court and viewing the facts and inferences drawn from the facts in the light most favorable to Evans, the nonmoving party. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587-88, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); Nguyen v. CNA Corp., 44 F.3d 234, 236-37 (4th Cir.1995). Summary judgment is appropriate only when "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); see also Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2509-10, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). While courts must take special care when considering a motion for summary judgment in a discrimination case because motive is often the critical issue, summary judgment disposition remains appropriate if the plaintiff cannot prevail as a matter of law. Ballinger v. North Carolina Agric. Extension Serv., 815 F.2d 1001, 1005 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 897, 108 S.Ct. 232, 98 L.Ed.2d 191 (1987). If, after reviewing the record as a whole, however, we find that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for Evans, then a genuine factual dispute exists and summary judgment is improper. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. at 2510.

Evans's charge that TAS refused to promote her because of her gender is a claim of disparate treatment. To meet her burden on summary judgment, Evans might have offered direct or circumstantial evidence, or proceeded under the proof scheme set forth in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 1824, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973). Mitchell v. Data General Corp., 12 F.3d 1310, 1314 (4th Cir.1993); EEOC v. Clay Printing Co., 955 F.2d 936, 940 (4th Cir.1992). Our analysis reveals that Evans failed to meet her various burdens under either approach. In reaching the same conclusion, the district court set forth the appropriate governing standards then analyzed the evidence before it, primarily using the burden-shifting scheme established by McDonnell Douglas and its progeny.

To satisfy ordinary principles of proof, Evans must provide direct evidence of a purpose to discriminate or circumstantial evidence of sufficiently probative force to raise a genuine issue of material fact. Goldberg v. B. Green & Co., 836 F.2d 845, 848 (4th Cir.1988). The record reveals little, if any, direct or indirect evidence of discriminatory motive. Evans alleges differential treatment in pay, benefits and seniority but fails to provide supporting proof. She also alleges, without offering corroborating evidence, that she was discriminated against in previous promotion decisions. Evans offers an alleged comment by Houseman that he would...