Geraci v. Moody-Tottrup, Intern., Inc.

• Decision Date: 30 April 1996
• Docket Number: INTERNATIONA,No. 95-3335,INC,MOODY-TOTTRU,95-3335
• Citation: 82 F.3d 578
• Parties: 70 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1288, 68 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,033 Patricia McGuirk GERACI, Appellant, v.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 578

82 F.3d 578

70 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1288,

68 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,033

Patricia McGuirk GERACI, Appellant, v. MOODY-TOTTRUP, INTERNATIONAL, INC.

No. 95-3335.

United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit.

Argued Jan. 31, 1996.

Decided April 30, 1996.

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (D.C.Civ. No. 94-01093).

David J. Lozier (argued), Cohen & DeRenzo, Pittsburgh, PA, for Appellant.

Elizabeth A. Malloy (argued), Klett, Lieber, Rooney & Schorling, Pittsburgh, PA, for Appellee.

Before: GREENBERG, NYGAARD, Circuit Judges and LAY, Senior Circuit Judge ^*

OPINION

NYGAARD, Circuit Judge.

Patricia McGuirk Geraci sued her employer, alleging that she had been unlawfully terminated because she was pregnant. The district court granted summary judgment to Geraci's employer because she had not shown that the employer knew she was pregnant when it terminated her. The district court held that, given this evidentiary deficit, Geraci could not make out a prima facie case of pregnancy discrimination. We will affirm.

I.

The facts of this case are set forth in the district court's thorough opinion, and we need only summarize. See Geraci v. Moody-Tottrup Int'l, Inc., 905 F.Supp. 241, 243-45 (W.D.Pa.1995). Moody-Tottrup is in the business of inspecting pipe and other materials. It hired Geraci in 1987 as a Clerk Typist but consistently promoted her, until she became an Inspection Coordinator in 1991. It appears from the record that Geraci was an exemplary employee during her tenure.

In the last week of 1992, Geraci suspected that she was pregnant and performed a home pregnancy test; the results were positive. She decided not to inform management at that time, however, fearing that she would not receive her annual raise scheduled for January or February. Geraci did tell six of her twenty co-workers (none of whom were members of management), but specifically asked them not to tell her superiors. There is no evidence that any of them did so, nor that management was otherwise informed of Geraci's pregnancy at that time.

In late January 1993, management laid Geraci off because of a decline in company revenue. It is undisputed that Moody decided to lay Geraci off in mid-December, before Geraci herself knew she was pregnant, but delayed telling her so as not to ruin her holidays.

When she was laid off, Geraci asked whether Moody would rehire her should business improve. Moody management advised her that she would not be rehired, and that she should look for another job. Geraci then told Moody that she was pregnant. Moody continued her health care benefits until after the baby was born and gave her three weeks severance pay.

A few months later, an advertisement appeared in the local newspaper for what appeared to be the same position from which Geraci had been terminated. According to Moody, this position arose to fill a large Malaysian contract, but the "Malaysian people" wanted an inspection coordinator with "hands-on" experience, which Geraci lacked. In any event, Geraci did not apply for this position, believing that it would be futile. Moody asserts that because the Malaysian contract did not materialize, the position was never filled.

In June 1994, after exhausting her administrative remedies, Geraci filed this suit in district court, alleging that Moody terminated her in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, specifically 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-2(a)(1), 2000e(k). After discovery, Moody moved for summary judgment, asserting that, because there was no evidence that anyone in management knew Geraci was pregnant (either when Moody decided to terminate her or when it informed her of its decision), Moody could not have unlawfully discharged her because of her pregnancy. The district court agreed. See Geraci, 905 F.Supp. at 245-48.

II.

A.

Geraci has no direct evidence of unlawful discrimination. Instead, she bases her suit on the familiar burden-shifting framework first enunciated by the Supreme Court in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973) and Texas Dep't of Comm. Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 252-56, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 1093-95, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981). Under that framework, Geraci must first make out a prima facie case of unlawful discrimination. Once she has done so, the burden of production then shifts to Moody to proffer a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for discharging her, at which point the presumption of discrimination arising from the prima facie case drops away, leaving the burden on Geraci to prove that Moody's proffered reasons were pretextual.

Here, Moody argues that we need not consider its reasons for terminating Geraci or whether they were pretextual, because Geraci failed to meet her threshold burden. We therefore begin by determining the elements of the prima facie case of pregnancy discrimination, aware that, if Geraci failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to any of those elements, summary judgment was properly granted. E.g., Fowle v. C & C Cola, 868 F.2d 59, 62 (3d Cir.1989).

B.

Were Geraci alleging that Moody terminated her solely because she is a woman, she could make out her prima facie case by merely showing that she is a member of a protected class, that she was qualified for her position, and that she was discharged "under conditions that give rise to an inference of unlawful discrimination." Burdine, 450 U.S at 253, 101 S.Ct. at 1093. Although often overlooked, the requirement that the adverse employment action occur "under circumstances that give rise to an inference of unlawful discrimination" is a critical one that weighs heavily in this case.

The McDonnell Douglas -Burdine burden-shifting framework was created because only rarely will a plaintiff have direct evidence of discrimination. Gone are the days (if, indeed, they ever existed) when an employer would admit to firing an employee because she is a woman, over forty years of age, disabled or a member of a certain race or religion. To allow those genuinely victimized by discrimination a fair opportunity to prevail, courts will presume that, once the plaintiff has shown the above elements, unlawful discrimination was the most likely reason for the adverse personnel action. The elements of that prima facie case, however, must not be applied woodenly, but must rather be tailored flexibly to fit the circumstances of each type of illegal discrimination. See McDonnell Douglas, 411 U.S. at 802 n. 13, 93 S.Ct. at 1824 n. 13; Torre v. Casio, Inc., 42 F.3d 825, 830 (3d Cir.1994).

The traditional McDonnell Douglas -Burdine presumption quite properly makes no reference to the employer's knowledge of membership in a protected class because, in the vast majority of discrimination cases, the plaintiff's membership is either patent (race or gender), or is documented on the employee's personnel record (age). This case, however, is different. We cannot presume that an employer most likely practiced unlawful discrimination when it did not know that the plaintiff even belonged to the protected class. The employer's knowledge, in this class of cases, is a critical element of the plaintiff's prima facie case. Indeed, it is counter-intuitive to infer that the employer discriminated on the basis of a condition of which it was wholly ignorant, and in this situation the bare McDonnell Douglas presumption no longer makes sense.

In other cases involving personal attributes not obvious to the employer, courts have regularly held that the plaintiff cannot make out a prima facie case of discrimination unless he or she proves that the employer knew about the plaintiff's particular personal characteristic. An employee's religion, for example, is often unknown to the employer, and we have accordingly required that employees had informed their employers of their religious...