Logan v. City of Chi., 20-1669

• Decision Date: 14 July 2021
• Docket Number: No. 20-1669,20-1669
• Citation: Logan v. City of Chi., 4 F.4th 529 (7th Cir. 2021)
• Parties: Chris LOGAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF CHICAGO, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

4 F.4th 529

Chris LOGAN, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.CITY OF CHICAGO, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 20-1669

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued April 14, 2021

Decided July 14, 2021

Cass T. Casper, Attorney, Disparti Law Group, P.A., Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Elizabeth Tisher, Attorney, City of Chicago Law Department, Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before Manion, St. Eve, and Kirsch, Circuit Judges.

St. Eve, Circuit Judge.

After plaintiff Chris Logan was denied a promotion, he sued his employer the City of Chicago (the "City") and several of the City's employees. He alleged that the City engaged in unlawful discrimination and retaliation, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e. He further alleged that all defendants violated the Illinois Whistleblower Act (the "Act"), 740 Ill. Comp. Stat. § 174/1. On appeal, Logan challenges the district court's grant of summary judgment for the defendants on all claims. For the reasons stated below, we affirm.

I. Background

Chris Logan, an African American man, worked for the City's Department of Aviation, Security, and Safety Division (the "Department") as an Aviation Security Officer ("ASO"). In 2015, he applied for a promotion to become an Aviation Security Sergeant. He was not selected, but the Department placed him on a "Pre-Qualified Candidates" list ("PQC list") in the event of future vacancies during the following year. The PQC list was set to expire in September 2016, but the Department extended it another 12 months.

In March 2017—while the PQC list was still active—two sergeant positions became available. Logan was second on the list, so he completed the paperwork to fill one of the positions. Two days later, the City informed him that he was ineligible because he did not meet the promotional guidelines. The City had a policy under which internal candidates were ineligible for promotion if they had been suspended more than seven days in the previous 12 months. Because Logan had been suspended for more than seven days in the previous year, he was ineligible for either sergeant position. The City promoted two other candidates, a white man and woman.

The events surrounding Logan's suspensions form the basis of this lawsuit. He does not challenge the City's policy; rather, he alleges that he was wrongfully singled out for discipline and as a result became ineligible for promotion.

A. Conversation with Jeffrey Redding

According to Logan, the problems began when he confronted his new supervisor—defendant Jeffrey Redding—about Redding's actions toward the woman Logan was dating at the time, Audrey Diamond. Redding became Deputy Commissioner of the Department in February 2016. Diamond worked for the United States Customs and Border Protection. Logan, Redding, and Diamond all worked at O'Hare Airport.

Sometime between February and April 2016, Logan testified that Diamond told him that she was having problems with Redding. Redding was coming to her office and flirting with her.¹ Logan went to speak to Redding and told him that he wanted to talk about "a personal matter." Logan told Redding that Diamond was his girlfriend. When Redding asked why Logan was telling him that, he replied that Redding was making her feel uncomfortable and Logan wanted to let Redding know "out of guy code." When asked what he meant by "guy code," Logan testified "[g]uy code is a street lingo that you don't cross a certain line, or if you don't know something let someone know so they won't cross that line." When asked what line Redding crossed, Logan replied "it more or less was informative, letting him know that [Logan] was dating the young lady."

In April 2016, Redding received a text message from defendant Robert May, the Department's Director of Administration. The text stated that May "was in the terminals yesterday ... and overheard an officer talking about how Chris Logan had to let his new boss know to leave his woman alone. [May] fell out laughing." Redding replied that he would call May later about that, and May responded, "Lol okay."²

B. Disciplinary Incidents

In the next several months, Logan was accused of five disciplinary infractions. The first incident occurred on May 24, 2016. Logan went to the Traveler's Aid office in O'Hare Airport and spoke with a staff member about the failure to staff an information desk in the airport. The office complained to Redding about Logan's behavior toward the staff member. On June 8, 2016, the Department served Logan with a notice of a pre-disciplinary hearing for rule violations, including discourteous treatment of a member of the public. The meeting occurred on June 16. Afterward, defendant Anthony Bates—an administrative lieutenant—reviewed the materials with Redding. Bates recommended discipline somewhere between a written reprimand and a three-day suspension. Redding decided that Logan should receive a one-day suspension. Logan was informed of the suspension on July 8, 2016.

The next three incidents are all related to Logan allegedly misrepresenting the time he worked or leaving his post. As an ASO, Logan was responsible for securing and controlling access to secure areas at O'Hare. ASOs are assigned to fixed posts and are not allowed to leave their posts until another officer relieves them. They are required to record their work hours by swiping in and out. In the event the swiping system malfunctions or there is another reason their time was not recorded, ASOs must provide documentation of the time they worked, referred to as edit sheets. Defendant David Schmidt is a lieutenant who regularly reviews time records for the ASOs to avoid payroll issues. In the event of a swipe failure, Schmidt usually refers to the times an officer swiped his or her badge at the secure doors at O'Hare. If that is unsuccessful, as a last resort, Schmidt reviews video footage.

On July 7, 2016—one day before Logan was notified of his one-day suspension—Schmidt noticed that Logan did not have swipe times for the previous day. When reviewing his badge swipes at the secure doors, Schmidt discovered that Logan had swiped at the Department's offices at 9:07 p.m., about an hour before his shift ended. In reviewing video footage, Schmidt saw that Logan entered the Department offices at 9:07 p.m. dressed in shorts and flip-flops. He left through the building's backdoor at 9:25 p.m. On July 8, 2016, Logan signed an edit sheet representing that he had worked until the end of his shift at 10 p.m. on July 6.

Schmidt notified Redding of the discrepancy, and Redding asked Schmidt to review the records of his entire watch to determine if there were any other officers engaged in similar conduct. Schmidt testified that no other ASOs had a similar number of swipe problems during the relevant time. Redding also asked defendant Jorge Rodriguez—a sergeant—to review camera footage for certain days when Logan was assigned to particular posts. In doing so, Schmidt and Rodriguez discovered two other discrepancies. On June 17, 2016, Logan was assigned to one post but swiped out at a different post at 9:53 p.m., a 10–15-minute drive from his assigned post. On June 18, video footage showed Logan entering the Department offices at 7:50 p.m. and leaving while dressed in civilian clothes, two hours before his shift ended. According to Logan, he obtained permission from a supervisor to leave work early. He signed a sheet representing that he had worked until 10 p.m. the evening of June 18.

The fifth incident occurred on July 12, 2016. Logan called an Airserv Transportation employee, attempting to recover the lost cellphone of an airline employee. The next day, Redding received a complaint from Airserv about Logan's conduct. Logan allegedly repeatedly threatened to deactivate the Airserv employee's security badge if Airserv did not quickly return the cell phone.

On July 18, 2016, Logan was served with a notice of a pre-disciplinary meeting regarding the Airserv incident and the three swipe-related incidents. The meeting occurred on July 21, 2016. Afterward, Schmidt assembled the documentation and forwarded the materials to Bates. Bates gave them to Redding, who reviewed the report and submitted it to May. On September 9, 2016, May recommended to Redding that Logan receive a 10–15 day suspension. Redding decided to suspend Logan for 14 days, which he served between September 21 and October 5, 2016.

C. Internal Complaints and Grievances

When Logan returned to work, he informed the Department's Labor Relations Supervisor, Argentene Hrysikos, that he was being bullied at work. Hrysikos provided Logan with forms and referred him to the City's Equal Employment Opportunity ("EEO") office. Logan sent an email to the EEO office, alleging that he had begun having problems at work after he had discussed a "personal matter" with Redding. Logan acknowledged his complaint was not an EEO matter, and the EEO office advised Hrysikos that Logan's complaint did not fall under the City's EEO policy because it was not based on any protected category.

In December 2016, Logan requested a meeting with the Department's Human Resources Division "to report discrimination against black officers." Logan then cancelled the meeting. Logan also called the City's Office of the Inspector General and lodged a complaint that the Department disciplined ASOs in a discriminatory manner.

In March 2017, after May informed Logan that he was ineligible for promotion due to his suspensions, Logan amended his workplace bullying complaint to include a loss of promotion. A few months later, in May 2017, he filed a charge of discrimination with the EEO Commission alleging that the City unlawfully discriminated against him on the basis of his race, sex, and age, and also retaliated against him.

Logan grieved both suspensions, and arbitration hearings took place in August and September 2017. In November 2017, the arbitrator found that the City had failed to prove that Logan had...