Hatmaker v. Mem'l Med. Ctr.

• Citation: 619 F.3d 741
• Decision Date: 30 August 2010
• Docket Number: No. 09-3002.,09-3002.
• Parties: Janet HATMAKER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)

619 F.3d 741

Janet HATMAKER, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 09-3002.

United States Court of Appeals,Seventh Circuit.

Argued May 24, 2010.

Decided Aug. 30, 2010.

John A. Baker, Attorney (argued), Baker, Baker & Krajewski, Springfield, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

John A. Kauerauf, Attorney (argued), Sorling Northrup Hanna Cullen & Cochran, Springfield, IL, for Defendant-Appellee.

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

POSNER, Circuit Judge.

Janet Hatmaker, a part-time chaplain employed by Memorial Medical Center, a hospital in Springfield, Illinois, was fired and brought this suit against the hospital, charging a violation of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a). That is the provision of Title VII that forbids an employer “to discriminate against any individual ... because he has opposed any practice made an unlawful employment practice by [Title VII], or because he has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under [Title VII].” Hatmaker claims to have been fired because she “participated ... in an investigation ... under” Title VII. She also relies on the opposition clause, but places less emphasis on it; we discuss it briefly at the end of this opinion. The district judge granted summary judgment for the hospital.

Oddly, when one considers Hatmaker's emphasis in this court on the participation clause, it went unmentioned in her complaint. The district court refused to allow her to raise it in her response to Memorial's motion for summary judgment, holding the omission to mention the clause in her complaint a waiver. That ruling was mistaken. Although Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007), and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, --- U.S. ----, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009), require that a complaint in federal court allege facts sufficient to show that the case is plausible, see, e.g., Phillips v. County of Allegheny, 515 F.3d 224, 232 (3d Cir.2008), they do not undermine the principle that plaintiffs in federal courts are not required to plead legal theories. See Aaron v. Mahl, 550 F.3d 659, 665-66 (7th Cir.2008); O'Grady v. Village of Libertyville, 304 F.3d 719, 723 (7th Cir.2002). Even citing the wrong statute needn't be a fatal mistake, provided the error is corrected in response to the defendant's motion for summary judgment and the defendant is not harmed by the delay in correction. Ryan v. Illinois Dept. of Children & Family Services, 185 F.3d 751, 764 (7th Cir.1999). Memorial was not harmed.

When the director of Memorial's chaplain staff (see Memorial Hospital, “Hospital Guide-Pastoral Care,” www. memorial medical. com/ Guide/ Pastoral Care/ (visited Aug. 5, 2010)) took a medical leave of absence, which turned out to be only a short time before she died, the hospital appointed Reverend Greg Stafford acting director. After the director's death, the hospital announced that it was searching for a permanent replacement and that Stafford was a candidate. Forrest Hester, Memorial's Chief Human Resources Officer, who was in charge of the search and would make the appointment, solicited the members of the chaplain staff for their opinion of Stafford. In an email to Hester, Hatmaker expressed concern “about Greg's presentation of himself in public and in representing our department. I have observed him speak on several formal occasions ... and was disappointed in his remarks and appropriateness. He appeared to be both uncomfortable with himself and inexperienced in that role.... If he is chosen to lead our department I would recommend some mentoring in this area.” In a follow-up email she expressed “discomfort with Greg in a leadership role.” She said “he is trying so much to be a ‘good ole boy’ and friend that he sacrifices dignity and leadership in exchange for popularity.... He seems to major in small talk. In short, he does not strike me as a spiritual statesman.”

Stafford was appointed director. Hatmaker was critical that the opening for director had not been posted in “professional publications” before the appointment was made, as Hester had suggested would be done. Apparently some other female members of the chaplain staff were disappointed with the appointment. Their reservations were reinforced, according to Hatmaker, by Stafford's saying in the presence of female staff members that “I have been divorced twice, I don't do women well” and that “what teamwork was” was illustrated by his being permitted to use the same bathroom as the CEO and a vice president of Memorial even though they were his superiors.

Hatmaker emailed Hester that she “continue[d] to have question marks about Greg's leadership in relationship to women,” that other women had expressed “their discomfort” with him, and that his “seeming (perhaps unconscious) diminished view of same age or younger women (he seems to do better with older women) will affect staffing in the [chaplain division].” She also wrote: “On a personal level, in several conversations I have had with him he quickly referenced his 2 divorces and his distrust/discomfort with women; however, his obvious attraction to/fear of women raises many questions for me about whether he has addressed or been addressed by this significant issue in his Clinical Pastoral Education.” She expressed concern that he had been certified by the College of Chaplains only provisionally and said: “I can't help but wonder if his lack of self knowledge in regard to women and intimacy/partnership is part of his provisional acceptance into this professional organization.” She added: “due to my concern I plan to send copy letters to both Martha Sumner on the Board of Directors and [CEO] Ed Curtis, as well.”

Upon receipt of this alarming email, Hester decided to start an investigation; he thought it “important ... to rule out any kind of hostile work environment issue that might exist because the [email] seemed to me to suggest that that could be the case.” He forwarded Hatmaker's email to two employees responsible for investigating complaints of discrimination and also told Stafford that she had complained about him. Stafford denied that he had created a hostile work environment.

Hester wanted Hatmaker to speak to the investigator. She was reluctant. She told Hester that “my desire is for your highly focused oversight of Greg in the future in regard to the issues mentioned. To give it any more time or attention is superfluous.” And further that “Greg is on a path of insight that will not only help him professionally but for his own happiness. That is where I would recommend that he have a spiritual director/counselor to help him deal with the issues ... that I reference.” But Hester insisted that she be interviewed by the investigator and she yielded. The investigator reported her as saying in the interview that Stafford “puts down women”-that he was “a Southern Baptist and a ‘good ole boy’ and therefore has inherent sexist attitudes.” She said that in his shoes she would have sought therapy. In a follow-up email to the investigator she said that the fact that a rabbi and a priest had written “raving reviews for Greg as director” was no surprise because “they both come from traditions from which female clergy are excluded.” She further expressed concern that no female clerics had been asked to speak at a memorial service for Stafford's predecessor, a woman who Hatmaker thought would have wanted female clerics to share the podium. She compared this omission to the “recent Don Imus debacle in regard to the Rutger's WOMEN's basketball team” (Imus had called the players on Rutgers' women's basketball team “nappy-headed hos”), when “instead of black female clergy being interviewed or asked to speak to the issue, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were the chosen male spokespeople.”

Hester and the investigator concluded that Stafford had not created a hostile work environment in the chaplain division and Hester was disturbed by Hatmaker's gratuitous references to Jews, Catholics, Southern Baptists, Don Imus, Al Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson. He instructed the investigator to inform her that “if you are uncomfortable working for Greg and for the department under Greg's leadership you should resign” and that she was “to have no discussions with other employees regarding their perception or problems with Greg.” She responded by emailing Hester and the investigator that she would “direct further concerns and/or communications to Greg directly with the hope that he will seek professional guidance.” The email went on and on, indicating her preoccupation with Stafford. Hester suspended her for 30 days to give her a chance to express willingness to put her feelings about Stafford behind her. When nothing happened by the end of that period he fired her, telling her it was necessary “for the comfort of all concerned.”

Her communications to Hester and to the investigator constituted participation in a purely internal investigation of possible sex discrimination, and even if an internal investigation is an “investigation” within the meaning of the provision of Title VII quoted at the outset of this opinion (a question to which we'll return) she was not fired for participating in it. She was fired because of comments she made that demonstrated bad judgment and a preoccupation with superficial characteristics of her new boss, and for harping on issues, at once irrelevant and sensitive, of religion and race.

An employer is forbidden to discriminate against an employee who participates in an investigation of employment discrimination. But participation doesn't insulate an employee from being discharged for conduct that, if it occurred outside an investigation, would warrant termination. Scruggs v. Garst Seed, 587 F.3d 832, 838 (7th Cir.2009); Kaytor v. Electric Boat Corp., 609 F.3d 537, 553-54 (2d Cir.2010); Gaujacq v. EDF, Inc., 601 F.3d...