Holland v. Jefferson Nat. Life Ins. Co.
| Decision Date | 27 September 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 88-2542,88-2542 |
| Citation | 883 F.2d 1307 |
| Parties | 50 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1215, 51 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 39,286 Carolyn HOLLAND, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. JEFFERSON NATIONAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Raymond J. Hafsten, Jr., Indianapolis, Ind., for plaintiff-appellant.
Daniel C. Emerson, Bose, McKinney & Evans, Indianapolis, Ind., for defendant-appellee.
Before POSNER, EASTERBROOK, and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges.
Carolyn Holland filed this Title VII action against her employer, Jefferson National Life Insurance Company (Jefferson), alleging that she had been subjected to adverse employment decisions in retaliation for complaining about what she perceived to be sexual harassment in her workplace. Such employer conduct is made unlawful by 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-3(a). The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Jefferson. It concluded that Mrs. Holland had failed to establish the existence of any genuine issue of material fact with regard to whether Jefferson's reasons for its employment decisions were merely pretextual. We reverse and remand.
Carolyn Holland was employed continuously by Jefferson as a clerical employee for more than thirteen years, from July 1972 until her termination in January 1986. Mrs. Holland's employment with Jefferson was terminated pursuant to Jefferson's medical leave policy on January 16, 1986, when she was not returned to her former position or some other full-time position with the company at the conclusion of her second maternity leave. Jefferson's policy gives the supervisor of an employee requesting any medical leave the option of holding open the employee's position or seeking a replacement for the employee. If the position is filled with a replacement and the employee is not placed in a similar position within thirty days of being released for work by a physician, or if the employee turns down a comparable position, the employee is terminated.
Mrs. Holland took her first maternity leave in 1981, when she was working in Jefferson's Mortgage Loan Department. At that time, her supervisor held her position open for her during her maternity leave and she returned to her position in that department at the conclusion of her leave.
In March 1982, Mrs. Holland was transferred to Jefferson's Advanced Sales and Pensions Department, and, in August 1984, she was promoted to the position of Technical Administrative Assistant. Her duties in this position extended beyond the usual secretarial functions and were apparently quite demanding. She spent a good deal of her time operating a microcomputer and training other employees in its use, and she began working with a number of different software packages. In addition, in February 1985, Mrs. Holland began to work a good deal with the "InsMark" software package. Working with this software package took up sixty to seventy percent of Mrs. Holland's time.
In August 1984, Darwin Carmichael took charge of the Advanced Sales and Pension Department and therefore became Mrs. Holland's direct superior. Later that year, Mark Schaffer was hired as Director of Advanced Sales. In this position, he reported to Carmichael. Mrs. Holland began doing some work for Schaffer, although she still reported to Carmichael.
Mrs. Holland learned that she was pregnant in late March 1985. She immediately informed Carmichael that she would have to go on maternity leave later in the year and asked him if there "would be any problem with [her] job in his department." Mrs. Holland states that he told her there would be "[n]o problem" and specifically informed her that she would be coming back to her position. Holland Affidavit at 9. Mrs. Holland also states that, in June 1985, just before she was to take leave for a week in order to have surgery performed, Carmichael informed her that other persons in the department would share her workload while she was out. She maintains that he also told her that the other persons would share her work during her maternity leave, and he told her again that she would have her job back when she returned from maternity leave. See id. at 10. Carmichael denies ever having promised Mrs. Holland that he would hold her position open during her maternity leave.
Mrs. Holland went on vacation in late July and returned early in August. Around this time, she was asked to participate in the preparation of a revised job description for her position. Carmichael prepared copies of her old job description and gave one each to Mrs. Holland, Schaffer, Deanna Lousche (who also worked closely with Mrs. Holland), and himself. They were each to use the old job description in preparing updated rough drafts of a new job description. These rough drafts were then collected by Carmichael and given to Mrs. Holland so that she could incorporate them into one revised job description. When Mrs. Holland examined the rough draft prepared by Schaffer, she discovered that, under the caption "Physical Demands," he had scrawled "Big Boobs." Mrs. Holland states that she immediately complained to Carmichael about this comment. She also states that, in response to her complaint, Carmichael laughed and said, "That's just Mark." Holland Affidavit at 11. Mrs. Holland then asked him if he thought the EEOC would consider this a joke, and he replied, "Carolyn, you wouldn't." Id. She then asked him to do something about this problem. She maintains that Carmichael never took any action with regard to her complaint. Carmichael contends that Mrs. Holland never voiced any complaint on this subject at all. 1 A few days later, Mrs. Holland called the EEOC to ascertain its office hours. She wrote the telephone number on a piece of scratch paper labeled "EEOC," and left the paper on top of her desk when she went to lunch.
Mrs. Holland maintains that, approximately one week later, Carmichael informed her that he would not be able to keep her job open for her during her maternity leave. When Mrs. Holland asked why the other office employees could not share her work as they had before, Carmichael responded, "We just can't, Carolyn." Holland Affidavit at 12. Jefferson asserts that Carmichael had made a determination that Mrs. Holland's position was of "such a technical nature and so critical to the operation of the department and her position's workload was so great," that the position would have to be filled during her maternity leave. Appellee's Br. at 5. Mrs. Holland also states that Carmichael gave her the lowest performance rating that she had received in thirteen years with Jefferson after she complained about Schaffer's conduct.
Mrs. Holland began her maternity leave on October 4, 1985. When she received her last paycheck, she also received a check for her annual pay increase. She had elected to take the future merit increase in a lump sum at the start of her leave. She maintains that the personnel office told her she could take her increase in a lump sum since she was coming back after her leave. See Holland Affidavit at 13. However, when Carmichael gave her the check, he told her she was "just going to have to pay it back." Id. at 14. Pursuant to company policy, any lump sum payment of a future merit salary increase must be repaid if an employee on leave does not return to work. See Appellant's Br. at 9-10 n. 3.
On November 15, 1985, three weeks before she was expected to be able to return to work, Mrs. Holland notified Jefferson's personnel office that it should begin to look for a position for her. She was told that there was a service representative position available in the Policyowner's Service Department, headed by Jack Dickey. Personnel told Mrs. Holland that she was qualified for the job, and she told them that she would take it. However, on December 6, Mrs. Holland was informed that the job had been filled by an outside hire because the opening had to be filled immediately and Mrs. Holland was not yet available to return to work. However, the person chosen to fill the job did not begin working until December 30, 1985, two weeks after Mrs. Holland's physician authorized her to return to work. Dickey had informed the personnel department that Mrs. Holland's job performance was not of the quality that he was seeking for the position. Although Carmichael had never informed Mrs. Holland that she was a poor employee, he told Dickey, just before Mrs. Holland was to begin her maternity leave, that she was not one of the company's better performers. In contrast, Carmichael recommended to personnel that Mrs. Holland be reemployed after her leave in a similar position at a similar grade.
Mrs. Holland visited Jefferson's office in mid-December 1985 to have her new baby's picture taken for the company newsletter. In early January, however, when she asked when the picture would be appearing, she was told that the picture had been thrown away and would not appear because Mrs. Holland would not be returning to Jefferson. Mrs. Holland received this information before January 16, 1986, when the Jefferson leave policy's thirty-day grace period had expired and she was terminated.
Mrs. Holland contends that both Carmichael's August 1985 decision not to keep her job open during her maternity leave and Dickey's December 1985 decision not to hire her for the service representative position were made in retaliation for her complaints about Schaffer's conduct.
The district court granted Jefferson's motion for summary judgment. Although it recognized that Mrs. Holland understandably may have been "insulted and highly offended" by Schaffer's comments, the court noted that the "isolated incidents" that Mrs. Holland complained of were not "sufficiently severe and pervasive" to constitute actionable sexual harassment. See Holland v. Jefferson Nat'l Life Ins. Co., No....
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Carl v. Parmely
...v. Ameritech Mobile Comm., Inc., 957 F.2d 317, 321 (7th Cir. 1992) (six months insufficient); compare Holland v. Jefferson Nat'l Life Ins. Co., 883 F.2d 1307, 1314-15 (7th Cir.1989) (one week sufficient); Johnson v. Sullivan, 945 F.2d 976, 980 (7th Cir.1991) (one day Carl reported Parmely's......
-
Carney v. White
...v. Zazove, 959 F.2d 1395, 1398 (7th Cir.1992)); Lohorn v. Michal, 913 F.2d 327, 331 (7th Cir.1990); Holland v. Jefferson National Life Insurance Co., 883 F.2d 1307, 1312 (7th Cir.1989). As noted above, defendants have filed three summary judgment motions. In their first motion, filed May 27......
-
Ruffino v. State Street Bank and Trust Co., Civ. A. No. 93-10188-NG.
...to have some foundation, that employee has satisfied the first element of the prima facie case. Holland v. Jefferson National Life Ins. Co., 883 F.2d 1307, 1314 (7th Cir.1989) (where complainant reasonably believes that employer's conduct is discriminatory, a report of sexual harassment is ......
-
Vandeventer v. Wabash Nat. Corp.
...as to such contradictory affidavits. Babrocky v. Jewel Food Co., 773 F.2d 857, 861 (7th Cir.1985); Holland v. Jefferson Nat'l Life Ins. Co., 883 F.2d 1307, 1315 (7th Cir. 1989); Darnell v. Target Stores, 16 F.3d 174 (7th Cir.1994); Essick v. Yellow Freight Systems, Inc., 965 F.2d 334 (7th A......
-
Theories of liability
...her a poor evaluation so as to preclude her from obtaining another job in the company. Holland v. Jeৼerson National Life Insurance Co , 883 F.2d 1307 (7th Cir. 1989). Failed to hire plainti൵. Ruggles v. California Polytechnic State University , 797 F.2d 782 (9th Cir. 1986). THEORIES OF LI......
-
An Inevitable Progression in the Scope of Title VII's Anti-Retaliation Provision: Third-Party Retaliation Claims
...and they therefore recognize third-party retaliation claims. 63 58 Id. at 273–74. 59 See Holland v. Jefferson Nat’l Life Ins. Co., 883 F.2d 1307, 1314–15 & n.3 (7th Cir. 1989) (finding that a one-week period between a complaint and an adverse employment decision was sufficient to create a f......
-
Mixed-motive Cases in Employment Discrimination Law Revisited: a Brief Updated View of the Swamp - Robert Belton
...742 (3d Cir. 1989); Gagne v. Northwestern Nat'l Ins. Co., 881 F.2d 309, 315 (6th Cir. 1989); Holland v. Jefferson Nat'l Life Ins. Co., 883 F.2d 1307, 1313 & n.2 (7th Cir. 1989). See generally Steven M. Tindall, Note, Do As She Does, Not As She Says: The Shortcomings of Justice O'Connor's Di......
-
Finding the appropriate standard for employer liability in Title VII retaliation cases: an examination of the applicability of sexual harassment paradigms.
...F.3d 450, 459 (4th Cir. 1994); Bigge v. Albertsons, Inc., 894 F.2d 1497, 1501 (11th Cir. 1990); Holland v. Jefferson Nat'l Life Ins. Co., 883 F.2d 1307, 1313 (7th Cir. 1989); Wrenn v. Gould, 808 F.2d 493, 500 (6th Cir. 1987); McKenna v. Weinberger, 729 F.2d 783, 790 (D.C. Cir. 1984); Burrus......