Graehling v. Village of Lombard, Ill.

• Decision Date: 20 June 1995
• Docket Number: No. 95-1263,95-1263
• Parties: 4 A.D. Cases 864, 11 A.D.D. 378, 6 NDLR P 366 John S. GRAEHLING, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. VILLAGE OF LOMBARD, ILLINOIS, and Steven Williams, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 295

58 F.3d 295

4 A.D. Cases 864, 11 A.D.D. 378, 6

NDLR P 366

John S. GRAEHLING, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. VILLAGE OF LOMBARD, ILLINOIS, and Steven Williams Defendants-Appellees.

No. 95-1263.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued June 5, 1995.

Decided June 20, 1995.

James T. Harrison (argued), David M. Ososky, Woodstock, IL, for plaintiff-appellant.

Russell W. Hartigan (argued), Keith A. Mandelski, James P. Bartley, Michael J. Duggan, Julianne Schumacher Gran, Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins, Chicago, IL, for defendants-appellees.

Before POSNER, Chief Judge, and FLAUM and EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judges.

EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge.

Police in the Village of Lombard were not amused when John Graehling pulled away from a gas station with the nozzle still attached to his car, yanking the pump out of the ground. It did not help matters that Graehling was a fellow member of the police force and that the car was his police car. The Village paid for the damage and suspended Graehling for three days. Emulating Lt. Frank Drebin of Police Squad, Graehling repeated the stunt, demolishing another gas pump. He was unable to write a report about the second incident; his hands were shaking violently and he was suffering blackouts. Graehling's fellow officers called for an ambulance, and he was admitted to a hospital.

Graehling had been suspended for 30 days following an earlier incident in which he struck a prisoner. A psychiatrist concluded after the second gas station debacle that Graehling suffers from bipolar manic depression, alcoholism, and post-traumatic stress syndrome. Steven Williams, the Village's deputy chief of police, concluded that Graehling was no longer fit for duty. On January 10, 1991, Williams summoned Graehling to his office and offered him two choices: resign immediately, but with an effective date far enough ahead for his pension to vest, or be sent home on leave. Graehling was out of sick leave and vacation days, so the second option would have cut off his income. He took the first option, after changing the effective date of the resignation to September 4, 1993, to ensure that he would complete 20 years of service. On January 14, 1991, the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners accepted Graehling's resignation. Williams then assigned Graehling to back-office duties.

Nine days before his scheduled departure, Graehling asked the Village to let him stay on the police force. The Village refused "on the basis that his resignation was effective and, thus, irrevocable as of the date of its acceptance at the January 14, 1991 meeting of the Fire and Police Commissioners." This language, like all of the facts we have recited, appears in Graehling's complaint seeking relief under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. Secs. 12101-12213. The district court dismissed the suit under Fed.R. 12(b)(6). 1994 U.S.Dist. Like the district court, we conclude that the ADA does not apply to resignations tendered before its effective date, and the vivid details in the complaint show that Graehling is not entitled to relief. He has pleaded himself out of court.

Let us start with the ADA. Although the President signed the ADA on July 26, 1990, its rules applicable to employment were deferred until July 26, 1992. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 12111 note--Effective Date. Sacking a police officer whose alcoholism interfered with his job or endangered the safety of others did not violate the Rehabilitation Act, which governed the Village's conduct in January 1991. See 29 U.S.C. Sec. 706(7)(B), limiting the scope of 29 U.S.C. Secs. 793, 794. Graehling submits that once the ADA took effect, however, the Village could not enforce his resignation. As he sees things, the police force committed two acts of handicap discrimination: extracting the resignation and implementing it. The first was not illegal, but the second, coming after the ADA, was, the argument concludes. The difficulty with the argument is that numerous cases hold that a separation at a time established by an earlier decision is not a fresh act of discrimination. Only the original decision to let the employee go is subject to analysis under the anti-discrimination laws. Chardon v. Fernandez, 454 U.S. 6, 102 S.Ct. 28, 70 L.Ed.2d 6 (1981); Delaware State College v. Ricks, 449 U.S. 250, 101 S.Ct. 498, 66 L.Ed.2d 431 (1980); Lever v. Northwestern University 979 F.2d 552 (7th Cir.1992); Cada v. Baxter Healthcare Corp., 920 F.2d 446, 449-50 (7th Cir.1990). Cf. United Air Lines, Inc. v. Evans, 431 U.S. 553, 97 S.Ct. 1885, 52 L.Ed.2d 571 (1977).

These cases all deal with the statute of limitations rather than with the effect of a newly-operative law, but the principle for which they stand is equally apt today. "The premise of these cases is that the employer took one dispositive act. Like punching someone in the nose, this act may lead to injury in the future, but when there is only one wrongful act the claim accrues with the first injury." Palmer v. Board of Education, 46 F.3d 682, 685-86 (7th Cir.1995). If the actual end of employment were a new act of discrimination, then the statute of limitations would run anew from that date. See Bazemore v. Friday, 478 U.S. 385, 106 S.Ct. 3000, 92 L.Ed.2d 315 (1986). But Ricks and cases in its wake hold that a discharge with a deferred effective date entails only one discriminatory decision. "An employer's refusal to undo a discriminatory decision is not a fresh act of discrimination." Lever, 979 F.2d at 556. Cases such as Ricks and Lever interpret 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5, part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but they apply directly (rather than by analogy) because the ADA incorporates the enforcement provisions of Title VII. See 42 U.S.C. Sec. 12117(a). So for Graehling the critical decision preceded the ADA's effective date. Cf. Landgraf v. USI Film Products, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 1483, 128 L.Ed.2d 229 (1994).

Now one could imagine an employer treating a resignation or discharge as tentative--no more than the status of a recommendation--so that the vital decision is whether to let the initial act hold sway. Consider the Cabinet of the United States. Many Presidents require their cabinet officers to submit undated letters of resignation, which the President may accept when political circumstances dictate while permitting the cabinet member to save face. ("I wasn't fired; I quit to return to my career in private life.") The real decision is to put a date in the letter and announce the "resignation" to the public. Similarly, we suppose, the Village of Lombard could collect resignations from its police officers, dated the 20th anniversaries of their service, accept them all, but relent when they wanted an officer to stick around. Graehling's complaint alleges that the Village told him that the resignation was irrevocable. A suit should not be dismissed if it is possible to hypothesize facts, consistent with the complaint, that would make out a claim. Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 2232-33, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984); Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Sanjuan v. American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology, Inc., 40 F.3d 247, 250-51 (7th Cir.1994); American Nurses' Ass'n v. Illinois, 783 F.2d 716, 727 (7th Cir.1986). One such hypothetical fact is that the Village was lying--that it does not really treat resignations as irrevocable. Suppose the Village had a sheaf of resignations and, after July 26, 1992, enforced those by persons with disabilities but relented for non-disabled officers. That would be a post-ADA decision on the basis of disability, one within the coverage of the Act. Cf. Jordan v. Duff & Phelps, Inc., 815 F.2d 429, 435 (7th Cir.1987). But at oral argument Graehling's lawyer said that he had no reason to suppose that the Village had ever let an employee retract a resignation. Counsel did not ask for an opportunity to inquire into the subject by discovery. As master of the complaint, Graehling can decide which lines of inquiry to abjure. He apparently views his complaint as his case; he is content to stand on it rather than to...