Maldonado v. U.S. Bank

• Decision Date: 09 July 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-3837,98-3837
• Citation: 186 F.3d 759
• Parties: (7th Cir. 1999) JESSICA MALDONADO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. U.S. BANK and MANUFACTURERS BANK, Defendants-Appellees
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 759

186 F.3d 759 (7th Cir. 1999)

JESSICA MALDONADO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. U.S. BANK and MANUFACTURERS BANK, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 98-3837

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit

Argued April 20, 1999

Decided July 9, 1999

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 97 C 3372--Charles R. Norgle, Sr., Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before CUDAHY, DIANE P. WOOD and EVANS, Circuit Judges.

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge.

From what we can tell, this case goes to the core of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), 42 U.S.C. sec. 2000e(k): an employer cannot discriminate against a pregnant employee simply because it believes pregnancy might prevent the employee from doing her job. U.S. Bank fired Jessica Maldonado the day after she announced to her supervisor, Amalia Gonzalez, that she was pregnant. Maldonado sued, alleging sex discrimination in violation of the PDA. The district court granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment. Maldonado now appeals that decision, as well as the district court's denial of her motion to strike a supplemental affidavit filed by the bank in support of its motion. For the reasons which follow, we reverse the district court's order granting summary judgment in favor of the bank and affirm its denial of Maldonado's motion to strike.

I.

Maldonado primarily challenges the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the bank. The district court noted that a PDA plaintiff can pursue either a direct case (under Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228 (1989)) or an indirect case (using the McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973) burden- shifting method). See Dis. Ct. Op. and Order, at 9. Maldonado, the court surmised, was attempting to make an indirect case, but had produced no evidence that similarly situated non-pregnant employees were treated differently; she therefore failed to make out a prima facie case. See id. at 9-10. The district court also held that, even if Maldonado had succeeded in shifting the burden to the bank, the bank had articulated a non- discriminatory reason for terminating Maldonado (namely, her inability to meet the job requirement that she be able to substitute for full-time tellers) and that Maldonado had not shown this reason to be pretextual. See id. at 10-12. Maldonado now argues that the district court improperly assumed that she was pursuing an indirect case against the bank when in fact she was advancing a direct case. She claims that she has direct evidence--in the form of an admission- -that the bank fired her because she was pregnant.

After examining Maldonado's filings below (particularly her brief in opposition to the bank's motion for summary judgment), we cannot fault the district court for approaching this case using an indirect evidence framework; Maldonado's mixing-and-matching of legal elements and framing of the evidentiary issues appears to be an attempt to shift the burden to the bank in classic McDonnell Douglas fashion. But some of the evidence and some of her language also suggest that she thought she was making out a direct case. In any event, it is clear that confusion reigned, and so we take this opportunity to restate this Circuit's position on pregnancy discrimination.¹

Title VII makes it "an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's . . . sex . . . ." 42 U.S.C. sec. 2000e-2(a). Congress amended Title VII in 1978 to explicitly extend protection to pregnant women: "[w]omen affected by pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions shall be treated the same for all employment-related purposes . . . as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work . . . ." 42 U.S.C. sec. 2000e(k). It designed the PDA specifically to address the stereotype that "women are less desirable employees because they are liable to become pregnant," Sheehan v. Donlen Corp., 173 F.3d 1039, 1044-45 (7th Cir.1999), and to insure that the decision whether to work while pregnant "was reserved for each individual woman to make for herself." International Union, United Auto. Workers v. Johnson Controls, Inc., 499 U.S. 187, 206 (1991); see also 29 C.F.R. sec.sec. 1604.10(b) and 1604 App. (Intro.). Nonetheless, under the PDA, employers are not required to give pregnant women special treatment; they must only treat them the same as all other employees. See, e.g., Kennedy v. Schoenberg, Fisher & Newman, Ltd., 140 F.3d 716, 722 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 119 S.Ct. 167 (1998); Troupe v. May Dept. Stores, Co., 20 F.3d 734, 738 (7th Cir. 1994) ("Employers can treat pregnant women as badly as they treat similarly affected but nonpregnant employees, even to the point of conditioning the availability of an employment benefit on an employee's decision to return to work after the end of the medical disability that pregnancy causes.") (internal quotation and citation omitted); see also 29 C.F.R. sec. 1604 App. (Questions and Answers, No. 5).

To prevail on a pregnancy discrimination claim, a plaintiff "must show that she was treated differently because of her pregnancy." Geier v. Medtronic, Inc., 99 F.3d 238, 241 (7th Cir. 1996); see also Marshall v. American Hosp. Ass'n, 157 F.3d 520, 525 (7th Cir. 1998) (on summary judgment, the court "must determine whether [the employee] presented a question of fact as to whether [the employer] treated her less favorably because of her pregnancy.") Put another way, "[a]n unlawful employment practice occurs whenever pregnancy is a motivating factor for an adverse employment decision." Hunt-Golliday v. Metropolitan Water Reclamation Dist. of Greater Chicago, 104 F.3d 1004, 1010 (7th Cir. 1997). Such a practice can be shown in two ways.

First, a PDA plaintiff "may present enough evidence to demonstrate that her discharge was a result of intentional discrimination." Kennedy, 140 F.3d at 722. Evidence of intentional discrimination can be either direct--"evidence that can be interpreted as an acknowledgment of discriminatory intent by the defendant," Troupe, 20 F.3d at 736; see also Indurante v. Local 705, Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters, AFL-CIO, 160 F.3d 364, 366 (7th Cir. 1998) (direct proof is "the sort of evidence of discrimination that in itself entitles [a plaintiff] to take [her] case to a jury without disproving [the defendant's] stated rationale for firing [her]")--or circumstantial-- for example, ambiguous statements or suspicious timing, see Troupe, 20 F.3d at 736. A plaintiff may use a combination of direct and circumstantial evidence to make her case. "Once a plaintiff shows that an employment decision was motivated in part by her pregnancy, the defendant may avoid a finding of liability by proving that it would have made the same decision had the plaintiff not been pregnant." Geier, 99 F.3d at 241 (citing Price Waterhouse, 490 U.S. at 245). If, for example, the employer based the employment action on a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ), it will not be liable under Title VII. See 42 U.S.C. sec. 2000e-2(e)(1); Johnson Controls, 499 U.S. at 201; Price Waterhouse, 490 U.S. at 244-45. This method of proof is generally called a direct case.

Alternatively, a plaintiff can use the ubiquitous McDonnell Douglas approach to frame her case. If she establishes a prima facie case of discrimination, the employer can then offer a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the plaintiff's treatment, which shifts the burden back to the plaintiff to show that the proffered explanation is pretextual. See, e.g., Geier, 99 F.3d at 241-42. This method of proof is generally called an indirect case.

A PDA plaintiff, such as Maldonado, can pursue either a direct case or an indirect case, or can try both methods at once. See, e.g., Kennedy, 140 F.3d at 723. "If a plaintiff merely emphasizes one method of proof, but the proper result is clear under the other method, we need not rely on procedural niceties and ignore the obvious." Indurante, 160 F.3d at 366-67. In any case, the bottom line is the same: a plaintiff must show a discriminatory motive either with some evidence that is incriminating in itself or by ruling out other plausible motives for the adverse employment action. "Simply put, the question is whether the plaintiff has established a logical reason to believe that the decision to terminate her rests on a legally forbidden ground." Venters, 123 F.3d at 972 (internal quotations and citations omitted).

The bank claims that "[t]his Court will search the record in vein [sic] for any" such evidence. Appellee's Br. at 31. Because we are reviewing a summary judgment, we must accept the bank's invitation. We review the record de novo, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Maldonado and using the same standards as the district court. See, e.g., Marshall, 157 F.3d at 524. Summary judgment is appropriate only when no genuine issue of material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). "We apply the summary judgment standard with particular care in employment discrimination cases, which often turn on issues of intent and credibility." Kennedy, 140 F.3d at 722.

The broader factual framework is not in dispute. Sometime in late January or early February 1997, Maldonado filled out a job application at the bank. Gonzalez later contacted Maldonado and arranged to interview her for a part-time teller position. On February 10, Gonzalez interviewed Maldonado and told her that part-time tellers had the same duties as full- time tellers (helping customers, counting money, etc.) and were required to be available six days a week to substitute for absent full-time tellers. Maldonado understood that Gonzalez had a particular...