Jimenez v. Dyncorp Intern., LLC
| Decision Date | 13 July 2009 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 3:08-CV-174-KC. |
| Citation | 635 F.Supp.2d 592 |
| Parties | Elizabeth JIMENEZ, Plaintiff, v. DYNCORP INTERNATIONAL, LLC, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Texas |
John A. Wenke, Attorney at Law, El Paso, TX, for Plaintiff.
Michael D. McQueen, Kemp Smith LLP, El Paso, TX, for Defendant.
On this day, the Court considered Defendant Dyncorp International, LLC's Motion for Summary Judgment ("Motion") (Doc. No. 27); Plaintiff Elizabeth Jimenez's Response to Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment ("Response") (Doc. No. 30); and Defendant's Reply to Plaintiff's Summary Judgment Response ("Reply") (Doc. No. 34).1 For the reasons set forth herein, Defendant's Motion is DENIED.
Plaintiff brings her claims pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. ("Title VII"). Pl.'s First Am. Compl. ¶ 3.
The Court derives the following facts from the parties' pleadings, Defendant's "Proposed Undisputed Facts" ("Defendant's Facts"), appended to Defendant's Motion; Plaintiff's "Statement of Relevant Facts" ("Plaintiff's Facts"), appended to Plaintiff's Response; and from various exhibits attached to the parties submissions. Unless otherwise indicated, these facts are undisputed.
Plaintiff resides in El Paso, Texas, and is a twice-divorced mother of two children. Pl.'s First Am. Compl. ¶ 1; Pl.'s Mot. Ex. A (Jimenez Dep. Dec. 3, 2008) at 7:10-19, 10:6-23.
Defendant is a corporation with its principal office located in Texas. Pl.'s First Am. Compl. ¶ 2. Defendant has contracted with the U.S. Department of State International Narcotics & Law Enforcement Affairs Bureau to run the CIVPOL program, which provides police advisors to countries around the world. See Def.'s Mot. App. (Marr Aff.) ¶ 1; Jimenez Dep. 205:14-16. Candidates for the CIVPOL program must complete initial application forms on Defendant's web site when applying for a position. Marr Aff. ¶ 2; Def.'s Facts ¶¶ 1-2. If Defendant selects a candidate for employment, the candidate must undergo the Police Assessment Selection and Training ("PAST") program. Mar Aff. ¶ 2. The PAST program is conducted over fifteen days in Fredericksburg, Virginia, by Crucible, an independent contractor. Id. ¶ 4(1).2 In addition to various training courses, the PAST program includes three major assessments that candidates must pass before ultimately being hired by Defendant and deployed. Id. ¶ 3. These assessments are a physical fitness and agility test, an oral boards review, and a psychological evaluation. Id. ¶ 4(1). While Defendant is directly involved in the oral boards interviews, Defendant contracted with Crucible to administer the fitness and agility tests. Id. Defendant has further contracted with Mission Critical Psychological Services, LLC ("Mission Critical") to conduct the psychological evaluations and determine a candidate's mental suitability for the mission. Id. ¶¶ 4(1)-(2). Mission Critical employs a group of psychologists called Frontline Psychology ("Frontline"), to perform the psychological evaluations. Def.'s Facts ¶ 14.
In 1997, Plaintiff joined the El Paso Police Department. Jimenez Dep. 16:13-14, 202:11-15. In the summer of 2007, Plaintiff applied for work with Defendant. Def.'s Facts ¶ 1; Jimenez Dep. 37:13-15. After Plaintiff filled out the necessary online applications, Defendant contacted Plaintiff and gave Plaintiff a conditional offer of employment. The position was in the CIVPOL program as an adviser to instructors at an all-female police academy in Kabul, Afghanistan.3 Jimenez Dep 46:19-47:14; 48:6-9, 205:8-11; Def.'s Facts ¶ 8. Defendant's conditional offer of employment advised Plaintiff not to make any permanent decisions concerning her employment or living arrangements until after she had successfully completed the PAST program. Jimenez Dep. 53:6-10. However, the offer also stated that an employee who is hired does not return home before being deployed. Id. at 62:25-63:63:3, 206:7-11. Accordingly, the offer advised Plaintiff to bring everything she would need for the year in Afghanistan, including clothing, a year's worth of medication, extra contacts and eyeglasses, a voltage converter, and a laptop computer. Id. at 206:14-207:21.
In preparation for her deployment, Plaintiff submitted her resignation to the El Paso Police Department, and she returned her police equipment. Id. at 62:19-65:9. Plaintiff also quit her second job as a security guard at Dillard's department store. Id. at 65:14-15.
Plaintiff then travelled to Fredericksburg, Virginia, for the PAST program. Id. at 69:13-19. Plaintiff was the only female out of forty-two candidates attending the PAST program at that time. Id. at 215:1-9. While at the PAST program, Plaintiff attended several days of training and examinations, including cultural diversity training, sexual harassment training, fitness and agility tests, firearms tests, oral boards, and vaccinations. Id. at 74:5-17, 77:19-24, 78:5-20.
Plaintiff also underwent the psychological evaluation. Id. at 77:19-24. Plaintiff's psychological evaluation was performed by Dr. Frank Andrasik, a Ph.D. psychologist, and employee of Frontline. Def.'s Facts ¶ 10; Def.'s Mot. Ex. D (Andrasik Dep. Feb. 25, 2009) at 9:6-20. Dr. Andrasik initially gave Plaintiff a passing score on the psychological evaluation.4 See Andrasik Dep. Ex. 3 ("Evaluation"); id. at 99:6-7. However, Dr. Andrasik stated that he had concerns about Plaintiff's abilities, and that he subsequently met with the other two psychologists employed by Frontline to discuss his observations.5 Id. at 99:11-16. After discussing his observations, Dr. Andrasik and the two other psychologists at Frontline reached a consensus that Plaintiff was not psychologically suited for the mission to Afghanistan; Dr. Andrasik consequently changed his evaluation score to a failing score. Id. at 99:17-21. Dr. Andrasik later provided Defendant with a report further explaining his decision. See id. at 100:8-101:9.
The following day, Plaintiff and two male candidates were pulled out of class early in the day. Jimenez Dep. 79:2-16. A Crucible employee informed Plaintiff and the other two candidates that they had failed their psychological examinations and were being sent home on the next available flight. Id. at 81:10-12. Plaintiff and the two candidates were further informed that the psychological exam was noncontestable. Id. at 81:24-15. Plaintiff and the two candidates were then taken into another room where one of Defendant's employees confirmed that they had failed the psychological evaluation, that the results were "noncontestable," and that they were going to be on the first flight home. Id. at 82:16-18, 84:5-13. Plaintiff later received a letter from Defendant confirming that she was no longer being considered for a position.6 Id. at 214.
Upon returning to El Paso, Plaintiff rescinded her letter of resignation from the El Paso Police Department and returned to her former duties after a week of desk work. Id. at 215:10-216:3. However, because of the nature of her nonselection at the PAST program, the El Paso Police Department required Plaintiff to undergo an additional psychological evaluation, which Plaintiff subsequently passed. Id. at 216:15-217:5.7
After complying with all administrative prerequisites, Plaintiff filed her Original Petition in the County Court at Law Number Six, El Paso County, Texas on April 18, 2008. See Notice of Removal 6-10. Defendant removed the case to this Court, id. at 1, and on June 27, 2008, Plaintiff filed her First Amended Complaint (Doc. No. 12). In her First Amended Complaint, Plaintiff claimed that she was denied employment with Defendant because Dr. Andrasik gave Plaintiff a failing score in her psychological evaluation based on gender discrimination in violation of Title VII. Pl.'s First Am. Compl. ¶¶ 3, 13. As evidence of this discrimination, Plaintiff alleged that during her psychological evaluation, Dr. Andrasik made several comments about her looks, including comments that she was very pretty and that her looks would cause her problems in her training and mission; he asked how she was handling the fact that she was the only female in a group of forty one men; he asked how she would deal with working with males as a police advisor; and he made several comments about her child-bearing history, including the age of Plaintiff's first child, Plaintiff's young age when she gave birth, and the fact that Plaintiff's first child was born out of wedlock. Id. ¶ 10.
Defendant has failed to file an Answer to Plaintiff's Amended Complaint.
On May 11, 2009, Defendant filed the instant Motion. Plaintiff filed her Response on May 26, 2009, and Defendant filed its Reply on June 10, 2009.
Summary judgment is required "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." FED. R.CIV.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Warfield v. Byron, 436 F.3d 551, 557 (5th Cir.2006). The substantive law identifies which facts are material. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202,(1986); Ellison v. Software Spectrum, Inc., 85 F.3d 187, 189 (5th Cir. 1996). A dispute about a material fact is genuine only "if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505; Ellison, 85 F.3d at 189.
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