Haugerud v. Amery School District

• Decision Date: 02 August 2001
• Docket Number: No. 00-1911,00-1911
• Citation: 259 F.3d 678
• Parties: (7th Cir. 2001) Faye Haugerud, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Amery School District, Defendant-Appellee
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 678

259 F.3d 678 (7th Cir. 2001)

Faye Haugerud, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Amery School District, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 00-1911

In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Argued October 31, 2000

Decided August 2, 2001

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. No. 99 C 515--John C. Shabaz, Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

Before Bauer, Kanne, and Rovner, Circuit Judges.

Kanne, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff- appellant, a longtime custodial employee of the Amery School District, alleges that her employer discriminated against her on the basis of her sex. She also contends that the School District created a hostile work environment and allowed such an environment to persist. The district court granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment on both of plaintiff's claims. For the reasons stated below, we will affirm the grant of summary judgment on plaintiff's sex discrimination claim, but reverse with respect to her hostile work environment claim. Because we are remanding for further proceedings, we will also vacate the district court's award of costs.

I. History

The Amery School District is a public school district in Amery, Wisconsin with one high school, two middle schools, and one elementary school. Faye Haugerud began working for the School District in 1978, and was hired as a full-time day custodian at the older of the two middle schools in 1982. She held that position until 1992, at which time she transferred to the new middle school. A 1996 School District reorganization eliminated the day position at the new middle school and created a late-afternoon shift. In accordance with the collective bargaining agreement that existed between the School District and its custodial workers, plaintiff was given the opportunity to move to the later position or to transfer into another custodial position in the School District. Plaintiff had enough seniority to permit her to transfer into a daytime custodial position at the high school and when she transferred, she bumped Norm Fougner, a male custodian, out of his position.

Fougner had several conversations with Ray Norsted, the District Administrator of the Amery School District, in which Fougner questioned Haugerud's ability to be a day custodian at the high school. Norsted, who was in charge of human resources issues for the School District, told Fougner that he would try to get his job back for him. On November 25, 1997, Norsted told Haugerud that the custodial changes implemented in 1996 were not working out and asked her to voluntarily give up her position at the high school, so that Fougner could return to it. Haugerud refused. Plaintiff received performance evaluations for 1997 and 1998 that indicated her work was satisfactory/meets expectations.

In August of 1998, two of the three daytime custodial positions at the high school were eliminated in order to match the day custodian schedules at the other three District schools. Norsted advised the custodial staff, before any bumping began, that more maintenance work would be required of the daytime custodians than had been required prior to the reorganization. Norsted also told the staff to make sure they were qualified for any position they selected. Plaintiff felt that, based on her work experience, she could handle any of the available custodial jobs. She thus transferred back to a day position at the intermediate school.

When LaDonna Clark, the one remaining day custodian at the high school, left on sick leave, Fougner filled in for her. Shortly thereafter, in October 1998, Clark decided to take early retirement. Haugerud's seniority allowed her to take Clark's vacated position, which she elected to do. As a result, Haugerud again bumped Fougner out of his position at the high school.

At the time Haugerud elected to return to the high school, the high school principal, Dean Sanders, sent a memorandum to Norsted asking that Haugerud not be allowed to return because she was not qualified. Sanders sent the memo based on his "professional judgment that Haugerud could not perform the required maintenance tasks." Sanders did not ask Joe Mara--the custodial and maintenance supervisor--for his opinion or judgment regarding Haugerud's ability.¹ Haugerud sent a letter to Norsted and to a number of school board members in which she protested Sanders's request. Though Haugerud was subsequently allowed to bump into the day custodial position at the high school, Sanders and Norsted extended her period of probation (beyond the twenty day trial period mandated by the custodian's union contract). Haugerud passed her probation and is, to date, the day custodian at the high school.

From the time Haugerud returned to the high school, she was the target of numerous discriminatory and harassing incidents. In her view, these incidents can be divided into four different groups. First are statements that allegedly evidence the intent of Norsted and Fougner to force her to give up her day custodial position at the high school so that Fougner could take it. Norsted asked Doug Anderson, a long-time custodian, why he had not talked to plaintiff before she chose to return to the high school, stating that "you know as well as I know that she cannot do the job." Anderson later overheard a conversation between Fougner and Norsted during which they talked about assigning Haugerud extra maintenance duties. Anderson understood this to mean that Haugerud would be assigned duties Fougner had not been required to do. Robert Thompson, another custodian, came upon Fougner when he was writing up a work schedule; Fougner said that he was writing it up so that there was "no way in hell" that Haugerud could do the job on day shift, stating that "this is what Dean [Sanders] and I want." Two other custodians--Joe Drinkman and Bob Thompson--also recounted conversations in which Fougner had said that "no woman could do my job," that he was going to get his job back because Norsted had promised it to him, and that women working in the kitchen at the high school should not get the same pay as men.

Second, Haugerud asserts that a) the School District issued express instructions in 1998 that male custodians were not to assist female custodians and b) the maintenance people would not assist her with maintenance tasks even though her job is primarily custodial. With respect to the first allegation, there is no written evidence of this pol icy, although a number of individuals testified to its existence. Joyce Peterson said that Mara told her, in an August 1998 meeting also attended by Cheryl Meyer, that "the Board was very adamant about the night men not helping the day ladies," i.e., the male custodians were not to help the female custodians. Peterson Dep. at 70-72. Also in the fall of 1998, three male custodians--Wes Bader, Wayne Jones, and Keith Bader--told Clark that they were told not to help any of the female custodians. Clark Dep. at 38-40. With respect to the second allegation, Norsted criticized Brian Elkin (the maintenance, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning specialist for the School District) and Mara (Elkin's direct supervisor) in the fall of 1998 for doing more maintenance work at the high school than at other schools. While Elkin did not think this was true, Norsted's critique nonetheless caused him to be more cautious about assisting Haugerud with maintenance tasks. Elkin has attempted to help her but has been told by Mara that Haugerud should do the maintenance tasks herself, though Mara did not make such comments when Elkin helped male custodians with similar tasks. Both Mara and Elkin do maintenance work for Leland Paulson, the female day custodian at the elementary school, but Mara is reluctant to help Haugerud to the same extent. Mara told Thompson that Haugerud "was going to have to make it on her own, sink or swim." Thompson Dep. at. 66. Haugerud has requested assistance from the maintenance department on an as needed basis since the fall of 1998, but often does not hear back or receives a delayed response. Haugerud asserts that she specifically asked Sanders for help to assemble a desk in 1999, a task that required more than one person, but he did not respond and she was forced to enlist the assistance of her husband. The same year she was instructed to install a window, which was also not a one person job--it took two people to even bring it into the high school. Nonetheless, Mara instructed Elkin that he was not to help Haugerud with the window.

Third, plaintiff asserts that she was given duties and responsibilities that were not given to the male custodians. Generally the night custodians are responsible for cleaning the bathrooms at the high school. When Elkin noticed that the bathrooms were not cleaned for several weeks, in the fall of 1998, he reported it to Mara. Rather than requesting the night custodians (who are male) to clean the bathrooms, Sanders told Haugerud to do it. Plaintiff is now required to clean restrooms at the high school though the male day custodian at the middle school, Joe Drinkman, is not required to do so. The record does not reflect whether the other two female day custodians in the School District are also responsible for cleaning bathrooms.

Plaintiff's male co-workers at the high school have failed to assist in shoveling snow, a task not assigned to any particular shift. Plaintiff asked Sanders to enlist their assistance in the fall of 1998, but they still do not assist, and Sanders has done nothing to remedy the problem. In 1998 and 1999, Haugerud and the two other female custodians at the high school, including a female night custodian, were required to shovel snow in all of the entrances to the high school, while the male custodians were not. Snow removal can take plaintiff up to 2½...