Harris v. Secretary, U.S. Dept. of the Army, 96-3470
| Decision Date | 14 July 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 96-3470,96-3470 |
| Citation | 119 F.3d 1313 |
| Parties | 76 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1165, 71 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,831, 38 Fed.R.Serv.3d 78, 47 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 873 Suzanne HARRIS, Appellant, v. SECRETARY, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Dayna F. Deck, St. Louis, MO, argued (D. Eric Sowers, St. Louis, MO, on the brief), for appellant.
Wesley Dennis Wedemeyer, St. Louis, MO, argued (Edward L. Dowd, Jr., U.S. Attorney, Rozann Heininger, St. Louis, MO, on the brief), for appellee.
Before BEAM and LOKEN, Circuit Judges, KYLE, District Judge. 1
Suzanne Harris ("Harris") appeals the district court's 2 decision to grant the Secretary of the United States Department of the Army ("the Secretary") a new trial on Harris' Title VII claim for retaliation, after a jury returned a verdict in her favor. Harris further appeals the district court's order of judgment in favor of the Secretary on her Title VII claim of sex discrimination for failure to promote. Finally, she appeals the district court's evidentiary rulings during the second trial on her retaliation claim. We affirm.
Harris began working for the St. Louis District, United States Army Corps of Engineers (the "District"), as a GS-9 archeologist in the Environmental Analysis Branch of the Planning Division (the "Branch"). In 1987, she was non-competitively 3 promoted to a GS-11 archeologist. Harris' claims center around the District's failure to non-competitively promote her to a GS-12 archeologist and its subsequent treatment of her after she complained about not receiving this promotion.
Federal service jobs are classified on a "general schedule" ("GS") scale, and a federal employee's pay is based upon her GS level. The federal government utilizes the same standards for classifying federal employees nationwide; the difference in levels is a function of the complexity and nature of the employee's work. A GS-11 archeologist is a full performance, journeyman archeologist, while a GS-12 archeologist performs senior, complex work.
Two male archeologists worked in the Branch, Terry Norris ("Norris") and Dr. Michael Trimble ("Trimble"). Norris began working for the Branch in 1977, and he was promoted to GS-12 in 1982. Trimble began working for the Branch under an Intergovernmental Personnel Agreement, 4 and in April of 1991, the Branch hired him as a full-time, GS-11 archeologist. During his work for the Branch, Trimble became an expert in curation, oversaw the District's curation work, and authored the Army Corps of Engineers' regulations on curation.
In June 1991, Harris spoke with her supervisor, Daniel Ragland ("Ragland"), about obtaining a non-competitive promotion to a GS-12 position. Ragland agreed to assist her in obtaining this promotion. For civilian employees like Harris, a supervisor only recommends the employee for a non-competitive promotion. The Position Management and Classification Branch ("Classification Branch") ultimately determines whether a non-competitive promotion is warranted.
Ragland attempted to obtain non-competitive promotions for both Harris and Trimble. He submitted Trimble's application in 1991. The Classification Branch denied it because Trimble did not meet the requirement of being employed at the GS-11 level for at least one year. On February 21, 1992, Ragland submitted Harris' application for a non-competitive promotion. Owen Dutt ("Dutt"), the Chief of the Planning Division, denied Harris' application because a reduction-in-force ("RIF") was in place in the District, and it was considered inappropriate to promote employees during a RIF.
In April 1992, Ragland resubmitted both Harris and Trimble's applications for a promotion to GS-12 based on a generic job description he had created from Norris' existing job duties. On June 1, 1992, the Classification Branch denied both promotions, indicating that the Branch would have to justify the grade increases based on the workload and complexity of Trimble and Harris' duties, as opposed to their expertise, membership in professional societies, and job histories. It also recommended that Ragland resubmit both Harris and Trimble's applications for promotions after the Classification Branch performed desk audits to determine the exact nature of their jobs.
After the Classification Branch denied her promotion, Harris met with her second-in-line supervisor, Major Marszalek ("Marszalek") to ask for his support in obtaining a promotion. Marszalek told Harris he would not support her in this endeavor because he did not think her education or experience justified a promotion.
On Friday July 10, 1992, Marszalek instructed Ragland to have Harris work overtime during the upcoming weekend. Harris objected based upon the short notice and because she had personal obligations over the weekend. Ragland informed Harris that if she did not work, Marszalek would consider her to be insubordinate and fire her. He also told her another male archeologist would be expected to work that weekend. Harris, however, was the only archeologist who worked during this weekend.
On July 13, 1992, following the overtime incident, Harris filed a charge of discrimination with the Army Corps of Engineers' EEO officer, alleging she had been denied a promotion because of her sex.
Trimble received his non-competitive promotion to GS-12 on September 5, 1992. His promotion occurred under a federal classification standard entitled "impact of person on the job." Because of Trimble's curation work, the Army Corps of Engineers designated the District as its nationwide Technical Center on Expertise for curation, and the Branch formed a new section to oversee the curation program. Trimble obtained his promotion without a desk audit because the Classification Branch does not require a desk audit when a non-competitive promotion is based upon this standard and the employee's increased and complex job duties are evidenced. On October 13, 1992, Harris filed her second EEO complaint, alleging discrimination based upon sex and retaliation.
During 1993, people within the Branch continued in their attempts to obtain a non-competitive promotion for Harris. Dutt added to Harris' duties, hoping that this would lead to a promotion. In February of 1993, the Classification Branch determined that a desk audit should be conducted on Harris. Barbara Scott ("Scott"), a classification specialist who had worked on neither Harris' nor Trimble's previous promotion requests, conducted the desk audit. Harris objected to the audit because male employees were not audited before receiving non-competitive promotions. In addition, Harris felt that the results of the audit would not be favorable because Marszalek had taken projects from her that would justify her promotion. 5 Scott determined that Harris was performing GS-11 duties, based upon the level and complexity of her work, and thus, she did not recommend a promotion for Harris.
After filing her second complaint of discrimination, Harris received lower performance evaluations. In January of 1993, Harris' evaluation was lowered from an "exceptional" to a "highly satisfactory" rating. 6 Before January of 1993, management in the District was concerned that performance ratings throughout the District were inflated. Dutt sent an e-mail message to all employees in the District, including Harris, informing them that the District needed to give more realistic ratings. Ragland had wanted to lower Harris' 1993 performance evaluation to "fully satisfactory" because of concerns he had about her completing work in a timely fashion. Dutt, however, would only support a lowering of one level, and thus, Harris received the "highly successful" rating. In 1993, Ragland also lowered the ratings of two male employees from "exceptional" to "highly satisfactory."
Harris' Title VII claims for sex discrimination and retaliation were tried in 1995. The retaliation claim was submitted to the jury, and the sex discrimination claim was also submitted to the jury, but for an advisory opinion only. On June 23, 1995, the jury rendered a verdict in favor of Harris on both counts. The district court directed the parties to submit proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, as well as any post-trial motions by July 17, 1995. On July 17, 1995, the Secretary moved for Judgment as a Matter of Law, Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict, or in the alternative, for a New Trial on the retaliation claim. On August 9, 1995, the district court entered partial judgment for Harris on the retaliation claim, and on August 23, 1995, the Secretary moved to alter or amend the judgment. Rejecting the jury's advisory verdict, the district court, on October 23, 1995, made findings in favor of the Secretary and directed the entry of judgment in favor of the Secretary on the sex discrimination claim; the district court also granted the Secretary's Motion for a New Trial on the retaliation claim. In August of 1996, the district court conducted a new trial on the retaliation claim. This time, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the Secretary. This appeal followed.
Harris advances four arguments on appeal: (1) the district court improperly granted the Secretary a new trial on the retaliation claim; (2) granting a new trial was inappropriate because it was inconsistent with the policies underlying the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure governing the granting of new trials; (3) the district court erred in rejecting the jury's advisory verdict on her sex discrimination claim; and (4) the district court improperly excluded probative evidence of discrimination during the second trial.
A district court may grant a new trial on the basis that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence, if failing to do so would result in a miscarriage of justice....
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Cross v. Cleaver
...[v. University of Minnesota], 34 F.3d [698,] 704 [ (8th Cir.1994) ] (Title VII retaliation claim)."); Harris v. Secretary, U.S. Dep't of the Army, 119 F.3d 1313, 1318 (8th Cir.1997) ("To establish a prima facie case of retaliation, [the employee] needed to show: 1) she complained of discrim......
-
Kemin Foods v. Pigmentos Vegetables Del Centro, 4:02-CV-40327.
...("The district court was free to accept or reject the jury's advisory verdict in making its findings."); Harris v. Sec'y, U.S. Dep't of the Army, 119 F.3d 1313, 1320 (8th Cir.1997) (same). However, "`[a] finding of fact must stand unless [the movant] shows that on an entirety of the evidenc......
-
Smith v. Eaton Corp.
...(8th Cir.1998) (citing Jackson v. Delta Special Sch. Dist. No. 2, 86 F.3d 1489, 1494 (8th Cir.1996)); Harris v. Secretary, U.S. Dep't of the Army, 119 F.3d 1313, 1318 (8th Cir.1997); Moschetti v. Chicago, Central & Pacific R. Co., 119 F.3d 707, 709 (8th Cir.1997); Montandon v. Farmland Indu......
-
Cherry v. Menard, Inc.
...v. Delta Special Sch. Dist. No. 2, 86 F.3d 1489, 1494 (8th Cir.1996)); accord Manning, 127 F.3d at 692; Harris v. Secretary, U.S. Dep't of the Army, 119 F.3d 1313, 1318 (8th Cir.1997); Moschetti v. Chicago, Central & Pacific R. Co., 119 F.3d 707, 709 (8th Cir.1997) (explaining this burden-s......