Geleta v. Gray

• Decision Date: 17 June 2011
• Docket Number: No. 10–7026.,10–7026.
• Citation: 112 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 981,645 F.3d 408
• Parties: Nicholas GELETA, Appellantv.Vincent GRAY, Mayor, District of Columbia and Department of Mental Health, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

645 F.3d 408

112 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 981

Nicholas GELETA, Appellant

v.Vincent GRAY, Mayor, District of Columbia and Department of Mental Health, Appellees.

No. 10–7026.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued Dec. 6, 2010.Decided June 17, 2011.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 1:06–cv–01822).

Ellen K. Renaud argued the cause for appellant. With her on the briefs were Richard L. Swick and David H. Shapiro.Stacy L. Anderson, Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, argued the cause for appellees. With her on the brief were Peter J. Nickles, Attorney General, Todd S. Kim, Solicitor General, and Donna M. Murasky, Deputy Solicitor General.Before: GINSBURG, HENDERSON, and GRIFFITH, Circuit Judges.Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge GRIFFITH.GRIFFITH, Circuit Judge:

Appellant Nicholas Geleta alleges he was transferred to a position of less responsibility within the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health in retaliation for his statements corroborating a claim of racial discrimination against a Department official. The district court granted summary judgment for the District on the ground that Geleta failed to show that his transfer was a materially adverse employment action. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse and remand to the district court for further proceedings.

I

In 2001, appellant Nicholas Geleta helped the Department of Mental Health obtain a five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for a citywide mental health initiative for children with serious emotional disorders and their families. The project, known as D.C. Children Inspired Now Gain Strength (DC CINGS), sought to unite various children's mental health programs throughout the District into a single system of care. In April 2002, Geleta became DC CINGS's Project Director, a position that involved supervising approximately twenty employees and overseeing the planning, implementation, and evaluation of DC CINGS operations.

In June 2004, as part of its annual grant reauthorization process, HHS identified several terms and conditions DC CINGS needed to satisfy to ensure continued funding. These involved housekeeping matters such as submitting quarterly reports, creating communications and sustainability plans, and filling a particular position by a certain date. Four months later, in October 2004, representatives from HHS visited DC CINGS to assess the program's progress and compliance with grant conditions. The site visitors issued a report on November 15, 2004, discussing the project's strengths and offering various recommendations for improvement. The report singled out Geleta's “dedicated leadership” as one of the project's strengths, Def. Ex. B, at 14, and recommended, among other things, targeting services to particular subgroups, expanding outreach efforts, and increasing community involvement in program decisionmaking, id. at 3–5. The report also announced that a follow-up visit would occur in six months to review progress on the recommendations, id. at 5, and reiterated that failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the reauthorization “may result in ... suspension of funding,” id. at 6.

On October 12, 2004, about a month before HHS issued its report, Geleta attended a meeting with several other senior Department of Mental Health officials, including Velva Spriggs, Geleta's direct supervisor; Ella Thomas, the Director of Policy and Planning and Spriggs's supervisor; and Mary Phillips, the Director of the Department's Juvenile Assessment Center. At the meeting, Spriggs, a black woman, and Phillips, a white woman, had a heated argument over whether Phillips reported to Spriggs. According to Spriggs, Phillips called her a “bitch” and said, “My mother told me not to deal with people of your kind.”

Spriggs filed a complaint with the District's Equal Employment Opportunity Office (EEOO) alleging racial discrimination. Following an investigation, on January 12, 2005, the EEOO submitted a report to the Department along with written statements from Geleta and the others who were at the October 12 meeting. In his statement, Geleta corroborated Spriggs's claims and said that he believed Phillips's conduct toward Spriggs “could be interpreted as racially charged.” Statement of Nicholas Geleta 2 (Dec. 21, 2004). The EEOO report concluded that a preponderance of the evidence supported a finding that Spriggs had been the victim of racial discrimination in violation of D.C.Code § 2–1402.11.

According to Geleta, sometime in late February 2005 Thomas told him he needed to find a new position. Decl. of Nicholas Geleta ¶ 4. Thomas declined to give a reason why, but Geleta alleges it was because he had supported Spriggs's discrimination charge. Thomas relieved Geleta of his duties as Project Director on March 3, 2005, and detailed him to the Department's Office of Accountability (OA). Geleta claims his new job at OA had significantly narrower and less important responsibilities than his previous position at DC CINGS. For example, according to Susan Curran, Geleta's first supervisor at OA, during the time she worked with Geleta he did not have a job description, but instead worked as her “right arm” in helping to “clear up a backlog” of treatment center applications. Decl. of Susan Curran ¶ 8. After approximately eight months at OA, Geleta became its Residential Treatment Center Certification and Monitoring Projects Manager. He entered the position at Grade 14, Step 6, the same grade and one step higher than he had been at DC CINGS. In October 2007, the District converted Geleta's position at OA to a Management Supervisory Service position. Although his job duties did not change, he received a substantial pay raise.

On October 23, 2006, Geleta filed a complaint in the district court alleging retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII prohibits discrimination by an employer against an employee because of the employee's “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e–2(a). Title VII's anti-retaliation provision further prohibits employer actions that discriminate against an employee because the employee has “made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner” in a Title VII “investigation, proceeding, or hearing.” Id. § 2000e–3(a). The district court granted the District's motion for summary judgment on February 19, 2010. We have jurisdiction over Geleta's appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

II

Summary judgment is appropriate when “the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). We review a grant of summary judgment de novo, drawing all reasonable inferences from the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Salazar v. Wash. Metro. Area Transit Auth., 401 F.3d 504, 507 (D.C.Cir.2005).

We analyze Title VII retaliation claims under the familiar three-step framework of McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), as we restated it in Brady v. Office of Sergeant at Arms, 520 F.3d 490 (D.C.Cir.2008), and Jones v. Bernanke, 557 F.3d 670 (D.C.Cir.2009). To make out a prima facie case of retaliation, a plaintiff must show “(1) that he engaged in statutorily protected activity; (2) that he suffered a materially adverse action by his employer; and (3) that a causal link connects the two.” Gaujacq v. EDF, Inc., 601 F.3d 565, 577 (D.C.Cir.2010) (quoting Jones, 557 F.3d at 677). “[W]here an employee has suffered an adverse employment action and an employer has asserted a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the decision,” however, whether the plaintiff has made out a prima facie case is no longer relevant. Brady, 520 F.3d at 494. Rather, “a court reviewing summary judgment looks to whether a reasonable jury could infer retaliation from all the evidence, which includes not only the prima facie case but also the evidence the plaintiff offers to attack the employer's proffered explanation for its action and other evidence of retaliation.” Gaujacq, 601 F.3d at 577 (quoting Jones, 557 F.3d at 677) (internal quotation mark omitted).

Drawing all reasonable inferences from the evidence in Geleta's favor, we conclude a reasonable jury could find that he suffered an adverse employment action when the District transferred him away from his position as Project Director of DC CINGS and that the District's proffered explanation for the transfer is a pretext for retaliation. Accordingly, we find “a material dispute on the ultimate issue of retaliation,” Jones, 557 F.3d at 678, and reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment for the District.

A

We consider first whether a reasonable jury could conclude that Geleta suffered a materially adverse employment action. “An employment action is materially adverse where it ‘well might have dissuaded a reasonable worker from making or supporting a charge of discrimination.’ ” Pardo–Kronemann v. Donovan, 601 F.3d 599, 607 (D.C.Cir.2010) (quoting Burlington N. & Santa Fe Ry. Co. v. White, 548 U.S. 53, 68, 126 S.Ct. 2405, 165 L.Ed.2d 345 (2006)). A “lateral transfer”—that is, a transfer involving “no diminution in pay and benefits”—may qualify as a materially adverse employment action if it “result [s] in ‘materially adverse consequences affecting the terms, conditions, or privileges' of the plaintiff's employment.” Id. (quoting Stewart v. Ashcroft, 352 F.3d 422, 426 (D.C.Cir.2003)).

Geleta contends that he suffered a materially adverse employment action when he was transferred to OA because he lost all supervisory responsibilities and experienced significantly diminished programmatic responsibilities. See Czekalski v. Peters, 475 F.3d 360, 364 (D.C.Cir.2007) (“[W]ithdrawing an employee's supervisory duties...