Juarez v. Ameritech Mobile Communications, Inc.

• Decision Date: 18 February 1992
• Docket Number: No. 90-3230,90-3230
• Parties: 58 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 152, 58 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 41,286, 7 IER Cases 343 Anna M. JUAREZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. AMERITECH MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS, INCORPORATED, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 317

957 F.2d 317

58 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 152,

58 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 41,286, 7 IER Cases 343

Anna M. JUAREZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. AMERITECH MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS, INCORPORATED, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 90-3230.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Sept. 24, 1991.

Decided Feb. 18, 1992.

Walter P. Maksym (argued), Oak Brook, Ill., Richard L. Lucas, Scott T. Ferrill, Addison, Ill., for plaintiff-appellant.

Howard E. Gilbert, Michael E. Gilbert, Gilbert & Associates, Skokie, Ill., James W. Gladden, Jr., David B. Ritter (argued), Barry A. White, Mayer, Brown & Platt, Chicago, Ill., for defendant-appellee.

Before CUDAHY and MANION, Circuit Judges, and ESCHBACH, Senior Circuit Judge.

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Anna M. Juarez brought this action against her former employer, Ameritech Mobile Communications, Inc. ("AMCI"), seeking to hold AMCI liable for the sexual harassment inflicted upon her by another AMCI employee, Peter Shkrutz. The district court granted summary judgment for AMCI on all counts, and Juarez appeals. 746 F.Supp. 798. We affirm.

I.

Anna Juarez was hired by AMCI on May 27, 1986, as administrative assistant to AMCI's treasurer, Richard M. Slavin. Her job duties for Slavin included typing, answering phones, scheduling meetings and preparing expense accounts. She also performed secretarial duties as needed for various other AMCI employees. One of these other employees was Peter Shkrutz, AMCI's assistant treasurer.

Between late June, 1986, and July 9, 1986, Shkrutz subjected Juarez to increasingly offensive acts of sexual harassment, the sordid details of which are irrelevant to this appeal. Juarez did not report the harassment; the only person at AMCI to whom she spoke about Shkrutz's behavior was Sue Martinez, an accounts payable clerk with whom Juarez had become friendly. Martinez kept the information to herself until July 9, when she went to Kimmieth Bettendorf, the accounts payable supervisor, and told her about the sexual harassment.

The next morning, Bettendorf met with Marsha Rybski, a general manager of human resources for AMCI, and informed Rybski that an "unnamed party" at AMCI was being sexually harassed. Rybski told Bettendorf that the unnamed party should file a formal complaint and that the offender would be stopped. She also asked Bettendorf to assure the party that filing a complaint would in no way jeopardize her job. Bettendorf related Rybski's advice to Juarez. In addition, Juarez claims that Bettendorf urged her to report Shkrutz because he was a "pervert," who had "bothered" other employees in the past. Later that day, Juarez met with Rybski and told Rybski about the incidents involving Shkrutz. Juarez refused, however, to file a formal complaint, despite Rybski's assurances that doing so would not affect her continued employment at AMCI.

On Monday, July 14, Juarez met with John McClelland, director of human resources for AMCI, and filed a formal complaint of sexual harassment against Shkrutz. McClelland commenced an investigation of the allegations that afternoon. On July 18, McClelland and Slavin had a meeting with Shkrutz at which Slavin handed Shkrutz a memorandum summarizing the results of the investigation and informed him that he was suspended for one week without pay. Shkrutz denied the allegations and protested the suspension. In December of 1986 he voluntarily terminated his employment with AMCI and moved to New York.

Juarez experienced no further sexual harassment by Shkrutz or any other AMCI employee after the filing of her complaint. Nevertheless, Juarez's work performance failed to live up to expectations. Between July and December a number of different AMCI employees for whom Juarez worked advised Slavin about Juarez's performance deficiencies. Slavin developed specific performance objectives for Juarez in both August and December, which Juarez failed to meet. On January 5, 1987, Juarez was terminated.

Juarez filed this suit almost two years later, on January 3, 1989. ¹ Juarez claimed, first, that AMCI was liable under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for not preventing Shkrutz's sexual harassment. She also alleged that AMCI had violated Title VII because it had terminated her in retaliation for her complaints of sexual harassment. Finally, Juarez claimed that AMCI was liable under state law for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The district court granted summary judgment for AMCI on all counts.

We review de novo the district court's grant of summary judgment. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2513, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Summary judgment is appropriate only if, drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party, we conclude that there exists no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. New Burnham Prairie Homes, Inc. v. Burnham, 910 F.2d 1474, 1477 (7th Cir.1990).

II.

A. Sexual Harassment

Employers are not strictly liable under Title VII for sexual harassment engaged in by their employees. Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 69-70, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 2406-07, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986); Brooms v. Regal Tube Co., 881 F.2d 412, 420 (7th Cir.1989). An employer is liable for such harassment only "if the employer knew or should have known about an employee's acts of harassment and fails to take appropriate remedial action." Regal Tube, 881 F.2d at 421 (citing Meritor Savings Bank ); see also North v. Madison Area Ass'n for Retarded Citizens--Developmental Corp., 844 F.2d 401, 407 (7th Cir.1988). The district court concluded that Juarez could not meet this standard "because there is no genuine dispute that AMCI neither knew nor should have known about Mr. Shkrutz's acts of harassment, and because once informed of his conduct AMCI took remedial action reasonably calculated to prevent further harassment." Memorandum Opinion and Order at 13.

Juarez argues on appeal that AMCI did have knowledge of prior sexual harassment by Shkrutz on which it failed to act. She bases this argument on Bettendorf's deposition testimony that Bettendorf had heard about other female employees of Ameritech being "bothered"--that is, "asked out"--by Peter Shkrutz. (Bettendorf Dep. at 21.) ² This testimony, however, does not establish knowledge on the part of AMCI. Even if we assume that the vague, second-hand information possessed by Bettendorf constituted "knowledge" on her part that Shkrutz had engaged in sexual harassment, that knowledge cannot be imputed to AMCI.

In Meritor Savings Bank, the Supreme Court stated that in determining whether an employer is liable for sexual harassment committed by an employee, the lower courts should "look to agency principles for guidance." 477 U.S. at 72, 106 S.Ct. at 2408. Knowledge of an agent is imputed to her corporate principal only if the agent receives the knowledge while acting within the scope of her authority and the knowledge concerns a matter within the scope of that authority. Evanston Bank v. Conticommodity Services, Inc., 623 F.Supp. 1014, 1034 (N.D.Ill.1985); Restatement (Second) of Agency § 275 and comment a (1958). "Further, for knowledge to be imputed, the agent must have not just a duty in relation to the subject matter, but a duty to speak to his principal about the specific item of knowledge." 623 F.Supp. at 1035 (citing Restatement (Second) of Agency § 275 comment c). In the case at bar, Bettendorf was employed by AMCI as an accounts payable supervisor. Although she was technically in a managerial position, she supervised only one employee (Martinez), and had no involvement with the Human Resources Department, which deals with claims of sexual harassment. Nor did she have any supervisory authority over Shkrutz. And Juarez does not allege that AMCI's sexual harassment policy itself imposed a duty on Bettendorf to report suspected instances of sexual harassment. In short, even if we assume that Bettendorf "knew" that Shkrutz had engaged in possibly harassing behavior, that knowledge did not concern a matter within the scope of her authority as an accounts payable supervisor. Thus, the district court did not err in concluding that AMCI did not have knowledge of any sexual harassment by Shkrutz prior to Juarez's complaint.

B. Retaliatory Discharge

Title VII makes it unlawful for an employer to discharge or otherwise discriminate against an employee because that employee has "made a charge" under Title VII. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a) (1988). In Collins v. Illinois, 830 F.2d 692 (7th Cir.1987), this Court set forth the elements of a prima facie case under this provision:

"To establish a prima facie case of retaliat[ion], the plaintiff must show that (1) she engaged in statutorily protected expression; (2) she suffered an adverse action by her employer; and (3) that [sic] there is a causal link between the protected expression and the adverse action."

Id. at 702 (quoting Jennings v. Tinley Park Community Consolidated District No. 146, 796 F.2d 962, 966-67 (7th Cir.1986)). The district court found that, based on the undisputed facts of this case, Juarez could not prove that she was terminated because of her sexual harassment complaint rather than for poor work performance. Juarez challenges that conclusion, arguing that a genuine dispute exists as to the credibility of AMCI's purported reason for her termination because "[t]he timing of the criticisms [of her work performance], combined with the undisputed fact that many of the purported criticisms were never shown to or brought to [her] attention, renders those criticisms suspect." Appellant's Br. at 27. ³

The timing of the complaints, standing alone, does not create a genuine issue as to a causal connection between the filing of Juarez's sexual harassment complaint and her termination almost six months later. Cooper v. North Olmsted, 795 F.2d 1265, 1272 (6th Cir.1986). Nor does the fact...