Kincaid v. City of Omaha

• Citation: 378 F.3d 799
• Decision Date: 09 August 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-3031.,03-3031.
• Parties: Laura KINCAID, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF OMAHA, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)

378 F.3d 799

Laura KINCAID, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF OMAHA, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 03-3031.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: March 8, 2004.

Filed: August 9, 2004.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska, Thomas D. Thalken, United States Magistrate Judge.

Thomas M. White, argued, Omaha, NE, for appellant.

Wendy E. Hahn, argued, Assistant City Attorney, Omaha, NE, for appellee.

Before RILEY, McMILLIAN, and MELLOY, Circuit Judges.

MELLOY, Circuit Judge.

Laura Kincaid ("Kincaid") worked as a Detention Supervisor at the City of Omaha jail. In 2000, she suffered a job-related injury that prevented her from working. While on leave, Kincaid expressed interest in a promotion, which she did not receive. She later returned to work and sustained another injury. After the City of Omaha ("City") again denied her the promotion, Kincaid filed this lawsuit, alleging discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The district court¹ found that Kincaid made out a prima facie case of race and disability discrimination but failed to offer evidence to rebut the City's legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for its employment actions. The district court therefore granted summary judgment in favor of the City. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Kincaid, an African American, began working at the City jail in 1982 as a Detention Technician I. She was promoted to Detention Technician II in 1990 and to Detention Supervisor in 1996. In December 1999, Kincaid suffered a work-related injury to her shoulder and wrist. She informed the City of her injury and sought medical treatment from Dr. Gregory Hansen ("Dr. Hansen"), an orthopedic surgeon.

In January 2000, Dr. Hansen diagnosed Kincaid's injury as "a clear impingement syndrome with [a] possible rotator cuff tear." (App. at 24.) Dr. Hansen scheduled Kincaid for surgery and advised her not to do any work. After Kincaid's surgery on February 2, 2000, Dr. Hansen examined her once in February, twice in March, and once in April. On each occasion, he advised Kincaid not to do any work, not even sedentary tasks involving less than ten pounds of lifting.

On May 19, 2000, Susan Riley ("Riley"), a Workers' Compensation Coordinator for the City, wrote Dr. Hansen a letter inquiring about Kincaid's ability to return to work. Riley stated, "[W]e are able to provide sedentary desk duty in a controlled work environment in which Ms. Kincaid could sit, stand, or walk as needed, and we can accommodate almost any restriction that would be necessary." (App. at 40.) In response, Dr. Hansen advised the City that Kincaid was unable to do any work. Dr. Hansen reached the same conclusion after examining Kincaid on June 2 and 13, 2000. Unable to work, Kincaid applied for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

On June 29, 2000, while still out on leave and before she had received a work release from Dr. Hansen, Kincaid emailed Deputy Chief Barbara Hauptman ("Hauptman") to find out whether there were any jobs available at the jail that did not involve lifting, pulling, or potential confrontations with prisoners. Kincaid specifically inquired about the position of Detention Manager. Unlike the Detention Supervisor position, the Detention Manager position did not involve physical confrontations with prisoners. Instead of dealing directly with prisoners, the Detention Manager oversaw Detention Supervisors and Detention Technicians and was responsible for budgeting and personnel matters. Hauptman informed Kincaid that the current Detention Manager, Rick Powers ("Powers"), planned to resign soon.

Powers resigned on July 8, 2000. Thereafter, Kincaid again expressed an interest in the Detention Manager position to Hauptman. Despite Kincaid's interest, the City appointed Morgan Larson ("Larson") to temporarily fill the position. Larson had five years of experience as a Detention Supervisor at the City jail and previously worked as a lieutenant for the State Department of Corrections.

On July 12, 2000, a Benefits Manager for the City, Paul Murphy ("Murphy"), notified Kincaid that the City approved her June request for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. He also advised Kincaid that she must present a "fitness for duty certificate" before resuming employment with the City.

Kincaid did not receive a doctor's release to return to work until September 12, 2000. At that time, Dr. Hansen restricted Kincaid to light-duty, sedentary positions that did not involve a risk of physical confrontations with prisoners. Within two weeks of her return to work in September 2000, Kincaid sustained another shoulder injury for which surgery was required. She underwent surgery in October 2000 and continued to receive treatment from Dr. Hansen thereafter. Kincaid never returned to work in the jail.

On January 17, 2001, Kincaid applied for a Service Connected Disability Pension. At her hearing before the pension board, Kincaid stated that Dr. Hansen had not yet released her to perform even limited-duty jobs. Approximately one week later, Kincaid obtained a letter from Dr. Hansen, in which Dr. Hansen stated that Kincaid was not to return to work in the jail due to the risk of physical confrontations and further injury. Shortly thereafter, the board granted Kincaid a disability pension.

Three days after Kincaid applied for her disability pension, the City hired retired police Lieutenant Charles Benak ("Benak") to replace Larson as the Detention Manager. Like Kincaid, Benak is disabled and receives a disability pension.

In March 2002, Kincaid filed the present lawsuit, claiming that the City failed to promote her to the Detention Manager position because of her disability or race, in violation of the ADA, 42 U.S.C § 1981, and Title VII. The City moved for summary judgment on all counts. It challenged whether Kincaid had a qualifying disability under the ADA, and it denied that its employment actions were motivated by any discriminatory animus.

The City offered several non-discriminatory reasons for its employment actions. Omaha Police Chief Donald Carey ("Carey") and Hauptman testified that the City jail was in the process of being merged with the county jail when the Detention Manager position first became available in July 2000. The City anticipated the merger to take two to four years, and after its completion, the City planned to eliminate the Detention Manager position. Due to the temporary nature of the position, Carey and Hauptman did not believe a full-scale employee search was warranted.

The City also maintained that Kincaid was not considered for the Detention Manager position in July 2000 or January 2001 because she had not presented a doctor's release when those positions were available. According to the City, standard operating procedures required an injured employee to present a doctor's release before returning to work. The City's Administrative Manual, which outlines the standard operating procedures at the jail, provides that "[e]mployees who have a doctor's release for light duty ... may be assigned to a limited duty position within the department." (App. at 200.) The City further noted that Benefits Manager Murphy advised Kincaid that she must present a "fitness for duty certificate" prior to being restored to employment. Carey and Hauptman both testified that they did not consider Kincaid for the Detention Manager position because she failed to submit a doctor's release. Hauptman noted that at the time the City hired Benak, Kincaid was seeking a disability pension from the City and had represented that she was unable to do any work.

Finally, Carey testified that he selected Benak because Benak was well suited for the job. Carey believed that as a retired police lieutenant, Benak possessed a unique combination of experience, ability, and knowledge of police operations that would enable him to effectively manage the jail. Carey also thought Benak would facilitate the merger of the City and county jails.

Kincaid did not dispute that the City and county jails were undergoing a merger. Nevertheless, she maintained that the City's proffered legitimate reasons for hiring Larson and Benak were pretexts for unlawful discrimination. Kincaid claimed she was qualified for the Detention Manager position because she had previously performed that position on a temporary basis. Kincaid noted that Deputy Chief Brenda Smith testified that she (Kincaid) was a good employee, that Hauptman testified she should have been given an opportunity to interview for the Detention Manager position, and that some key decision-makers provided no reasons why she was not considered for the job. Kincaid further claimed that the decision to hire Benak had nothing to do with whether Kincaid had presented the City with a doctor's release. According to Kincaid, Police Captain Anthony Infantino ("Infantino") announced the hiring of Benak in September 2000 — after Kincaid had been released to work and before her second injury.

The district court found that Kincaid made out prima facie cases of disability and race discrimination, but held that she failed to show that the City's proffered legitimate reasons for its employment decisions were pretextual. It therefore granted summary judgment in favor of the City on each count. Kincaid then filed a motion for reconsideration, claiming that discovery conducted after the City filed its motion for summary judgment created a triable issue on the question of pretext. In her motion to reconsider, Kincaid moved to supplement the record with this additional evidence. The district court found that Kincaid's motion to supplement the record should be denied but nevertheless proceeded to analyze Kincaid's discrimination claims in light of the newly offered evidence. The district court denied Kincaid's motion to reconsider, again finding that...