Henry v. Jefferson County Personnel Bd., 2:05-CV-1788-RDP.

• Decision Date: 23 February 2007
• Docket Number: No. 2:05-CV-1788-RDP.,2:05-CV-1788-RDP.
• Citation: 519 F.Supp.2d 1171
• Parties: Sandra HENRY, Plaintiff, v. JEFFERSON COUNTY PERSONNEL BOARD, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Alabama

519 F.Supp.2d 1171

Sandra HENRY, Plaintiff, v. JEFFERSON COUNTY PERSONNEL BOARD, Defendant.

No. 2:05-CV-1788-RDP.

United States District Court, N.D. Alabama, Southern Division.

February 23, 2007.

Kevin W. Jent, Rocco Calamusa, Jr., Wiggins Childs Quinn & Pantazis, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiff.

Christopher D. Cobb, Laura C. Nettles, Lloyd Gray & Whitehead PC, Birmingham, AL, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

R. DAVID PROCTOR, District Judge.

The court has before it Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. # 13) filed August 1, 2006, and Defendant's Motion to Strike (Doc. # 20) filed September 11, 2006. The motions have been fully briefed and were deemed submitted, without oral argument, as of November 3, 2006.¹ For the reasons outlined below, the court finds that the motion for summary judgment is due to be granted. Defendant's motion to strike will be denied.²

I. Legal Standards for Evaluating a Summary Judgment Motion

Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R.Civ. P. 56. All reasonable doubts about the facts and all justifiable inferences are resolved in favor of the nonmovant. See Fitzpatrick v. City of Atlanta, 2 F.3d 1112, 1115 (11th Cir.1993). A dispute is genuine "if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

A plaintiff in an employment discrimination case maintains the ultimate burden of proving that the adverse employment decision was made because of intentional discrimination. See Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 134, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000); St. Mary's Honor Center v. Hicks, 509 U.S. 502, 509-12, 113 S.Ct. 2742, 125 L.Ed.2d 407 (1993); Nix v. WLCY Radio/Rahall Communications, 738 F.2d 1181, 1184 (11th Cir.1984). Although the Supreme Court previously established the basic allocation of burdens and order of proof in a disparate treatment case, McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973); Texas Dept. of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981), as modified by Desert Palace v. Costa, 539 U.S. 90, 123 S.Ct. 2148, 156 L.Ed.2d 84 (2003), that allocation scheme applies only in cases where there is no direct evidence of discrimination, Grigsby v. Reynolds Metals Co., 821 F.2d 590, 595 (11th Cir.1987).³

Under the McDonnell Douglas/Burdine scheme, a plaintiff first has the burden of proving by a preponderance of evidence a prima facie case of discrimination. Second, once the plaintiff proves a prima facie case, the burden of production shifts to the defendant to articulate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for its employment decision. Finally, if the defendant carries its burden, the plaintiff must either prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the legitimate reasons offered by the defendant are merely a pretext for discrimination or present sufficient evidence, of any type, for a reasonable jury to conclude that discrimination was a "motivating factor" for the employment action, even though defendant's legitimate reason may also be true or have played some role in the decision. McDonnell Douglas, 411 U.S. at 802-05, 93 S.Ct. 1817; Burdine, 450 U.S. at 252-54, 101 S.Ct. 1089; Desert Palace, 539 U.S. at 101-02, 123 S.Ct. 2148. The Court is aware that the summary judgment rule applies in job discrimination cases just as in other cases. Chapman v. AI Transport, 229 F.3d 1012, 1025 (11th Cir.2000) (rejecting an earlier, contrary general rule and emphasizing that no thumb is to be placed on either side of the scale).

II. Relevant Undisputed Facts⁴

On July 8, 2002, after having found the Jefferson County Personnel Board (the "Board") in civil contempt for failing to comply with various court orders, Judge Lynwood Smith of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama entered an order appointing Ronald R. Sims, Ph.D., as Receiver of the Board. (United States v. Jefferson County, 2:75-CV-666-CLS, Doe. # 935 (N.D.Ala. July 8, 2002)) "(the "Order" or "Judge Smith's Order"). Pursuant to the Order, Sims received "all powers vested by Act No. 248 (Enabling Act) in the three members of the Personnel Board and Personnel Director, including the power to hire, promote, demote, transfer, and remove subordinates as necessary." (United States v. Jefferson County, 2:75-CV-666-CLS, Doc. # 935, at 2, 11-12 (N.D.Ala. July 8, 2002); June 7, 2006 Henry Dep., pp. 17-18). During his tenure as Receiver, Sims transferred employees within the Board, hired consultants, hired a Deputy Director, hired new employees, terminated employees, and created two new departments. (June 7, 2006 Henry Dep., pp. 19, 20, 26, 27).

Plaintiff Sandra Henry was employed with the Board from April 1987 until January 2005, with the exception of a three-month period in 1988 when she transferred to the City of Birmingham. (Henry Dec., ¶ 2). Prior to the appointment of Sims as Receiver, Plaintiff held the position of Administrative Coordinator in the Administrative Division of the Board, which was a Salary Grade 22 position with an annual salary of $50,523. (June 7, 2006 Henry Dep., p. 33; Henry Dec., ¶ 6). In this position, Plaintiff provided advanced administrative and clerical support for the Director of Personnel and the three Board members, including "answer[ing] the phone and [] schedul[ing] meetings, [] work[ing] with the Board as far as the minutes were concerned, [preparing] the minutes, and [preparing] the agenda, [and attending] the Board meetings." (Henry Dec., ¶ 6; James Dep., pp. 55-56). It is undisputed that prior to Sims' tenure as Receiver, Plaintiff was the highest classified clerical employee in the Administrative Division of the Board. (Henry Dec., ¶ 3).

A. Plaintiff's Job Duties After the Appointment of Sims as Receiver

On August 14, 2002, Sims relocated Plaintiff's office to the office next to it so that April Hunter, who was hired as the Principal Administrative Analyst, a Salary Grade 28 position, could be moved into Plaintiff's old office, which was next to Sims. (Henry Dec., ¶ 7, 8; Sims Dep., pp. 21-22). According to Sims, "[Hunter] was hired in a management leadership position to provide leadership for what we call our Quality Enhancement Division, which was made up of the departments, I think at the time of Employee Relations, Department of Recruiting, the Department of Training and Development, and I think the Department of Performance Assessment. [She supervised] five [employees] in Employee Relations, four in Training, three in — I would say probably at the most twenty employees." (Sims Dep., pp. 18-19). Although Hunter did not assume any of Plaintiff's duties, Sims decided to give Hunter Plaintiff's old office because he "needed [Hunter] close to me and need [sic] to be at my ready access to her for whenever I needed her to go out and do whatever things I needed her to do." (Sims Dep., pp. 21-22). Later in October 2002, Sims awarded Hunter a non-competitive appointment to the newly created Salary Grade 34 classification of Quality Enhancement & Employee Development Division Manager. (Henry Dec., ¶ 9). Plaintiff believes that Hunter's appointment was in violation of the Board Rules, although Plaintiff does not claim that she should have been given that position. (Henry Dec., ¶ 9).

In addition to moving the location of her office, Sims also assigned Plaintiff different duties than she had previously performed as Administrative Coordinator. Specifically, Sims assigned to her the task of transcribing the Birmingham Pension Board Minutes. (Sims Dep., p. 26; Henry Dec., ¶ 10). He also assigned her to work on the "Five-Year Survey" that was being conducted by the Classification and Certification Department because he felt that additional clerical work was required on that project. (June 7, 2006 Henry Dep., p. 24; Sims Dep., pp. 20-24). Sims informed Plaintiff that he "wanted a respected person to lead the clerical portion of the Five-Year Survey" and that he was "reassigning [Plaintiff] to the Classification and Compensation Division for that purpose." (Henry Dec., ¶ 10).

Plaintiff complains that after reporting to the Classification and Compensation Division, instead of assuming the leadership role on the survey, she received a list of "Proficiency Expectations for Compensation Support Staff" and was assigned to share an office with two other employees, which she believed to be distracting. (Henry Dec., ¶ 13, 15, 16). Plaintiff's request that her office be moved was denied, although partitions were placed around her desk at her request. (Henry Dec., ¶ 17).

Despite the assignment of new duties, Plaintiff still held the official classification of Administrative Coordinator for salary purposes and was still classified as a Salary Grade 22 employee. (Henry Dec., ¶ 10). Although the parties dispute whether Plaintiff initially continued to perform her prior Administrative Coordinator duties in addition to her new assignments (compare Henry Dec., ¶ 8 with Sims Dep., pp. 22-23), there is no dispute that by October 2003, Plaintiff was no longer performing any Administrative Coordinator duties. (Henry Dec., ¶ 20).

B. Executive Assistant Position

In late October 2002, Plaintiff learned that a position titled "Executive Assistant" was being advertised, which she believes was her Administrative Coordinator position with a new title. (Henry Dec., ¶ 11, Ex. 1). It is undisputed that the Executive Assistant position was created by. Sims (Sims' Dep., p. 37), and that the position required a Bachelor's Degree, which Plaintiff does not have. (Henry Dec., Ex. 1; July 20, 2006 Henry Dep., p. 27, Ex. 7). The Salary Grade for both positions (Grade 22) was the same. (Henry Dec., Exs. 2, 3).

The parties dispute whether the Executive...