Mayden v. Superior Ambulance Service, Inc., Cause No. 2:07-CV-311 RM.
| Decision Date | 10 July 2009 |
| Docket Number | Cause No. 2:07-CV-311 RM. |
| Citation | 647 F.Supp.2d 1014 |
| Parties | Shelly MAYDEN, Plaintiff v. SUPERIOR AMBULANCE SERVICE, INC., Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana |
Amy F. Debrota, The Debrota Law Firm LLC, Indianapolis, IN, for Plaintiff.
Jeffrey H. Lipe, Jordan D. Shea, Williams Montgomery & John Ltd., Chicago, IL, Summer E. Heil, Elmhurst, IL, for Defendant.
This cause is before the court on the motion of Superior Air-Ground Ambulance Service, Inc. for summary judgment on Shelly Mayden's claims that she was paid less than male co-workers because of her gender in violation of the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 206(d), and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.1 Ms. Mayden filed her response, and Superior its reply. The court heard oral argument on Superior's motion on June 17, 2009. For the reasons that follow, the court grants Superior's motion for summary judgment on all claims other than Ms. Mayden's Equal Pay Act claim with respect to Michael Samelson.
Shelly Mayden became a licensed emergency medical technician (EMT) in 1996 and worked for two years for Consolidated Medical Transport (Co-Med) as an EMT and for two more years as a combination EMT and dispatcher. Superior purchased Co-Med in December 2000 and Ms. Mayden began working for Superior in January 2001. At that time, Superior was based in the Chicago area and didn't have an Indiana facility. Ms. Mayden helped Superior establish a Griffith, Indiana office and ran EMT calls for the company through the spring of 2001, when Superior moved its operations to Highland, Indiana and Ms. Mayden began dispatching ambulances on the midnight shift.
In 2003, Ms. Mayden began working days as a wheelchair van dispatcher and filled in dispatching ambulances on weekends and holidays. Ms. Mayden also became Superior's community relations liaison and took on various projects, which, she says, took very little of her time. Ms. Mayden says she spent 2% of her working time at Superior running EMT calls, 2% of her working time doing community relations work, and the rest of her time working as a dispatcher.
Ms. Mayden contends there are very few distinctions between dispatching ambulances and dispatching wheelchair vans. Ms. Mayden explains that even though wheelchair van pick-ups generally involve pre-scheduled appointments, her days spent dispatching wheelchair vans were "nuts" due to the high volume of runs and the low number of drivers. According to Ms. Mayden, the process for dispatching wheelchair vans and ambulances is the same: when calls come into the center, assessments are made as to whether an ambulance or wheelchair van should be dispatched and what types of additional equipment might be needed; the dispatcher then routes the emergency vehicles and tracks their status and at the end of the shift fills out the proper paperwork. Ms. Mayden says all dispatchers should be familiar with the geographical area where they work, have knowledge of basic medical terminology and conditions, have prior dispatching experience, and have the ability to provide good customer service, multi-task, and handle stress. She says she possessed all those qualities, got good performance reviews, and received compliments and commendations for her extra efforts on special projects. Ms. Mayden was chosen as an employee of the month in 2004.
Ms. Mayden reports that her starting pay with Superior in 2001 was $10.50 per hour. She says she received raises over the years and was earning $13.94 per hour in 2006. Ms. Mayden resigned from Superior in August 2006 because she was being paid less than fellow dispatcher Jonathan Burchett, who was earning $21.36 per hour. Ms. Mayden claims Mr. Burchett received preferential treatment because he was the owner's "golden boy," and Mr. Burchett earned more money than she did because she is a woman. Ms. Mayden believed in 2006 that she should have been paid as much as Joe Salas, as well, but she has withdrawn her claim as to Mr. Salas. See Resp., at 12 (). Instead, Ms. Mayden replaced Mr. Salas with a new comparator in her summary judgment response: she now claims she should have received the same rate of pay as her replacement, Michael Samelson, who, when he replaced Ms. Mayden in 2006, made $22.80 an hour.2
Ms. Mayden filed a complaint with the EEOC in March 2007, alleging that Superior paid male dispatchers more than her "because of [her] sex, female, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, and the Equal Pay Act." She filed suit in this court in September 2007 seeking compensatory, liquidated, and punitive damages, front and back pay, costs, and attorney fees.
Superior claims entitlement to summary judgment because Ms. Mayden can't demonstrate that the company violated the Equal Pay Act and can't establish a prima facie case of sex discrimination under Title VII. Superior argues, too, that to the extent Ms. Mayden was paid less than the male employees to whom she compares herself, the company's pay scale is based on non-prohibited criteria and so amounts to a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for its actions.
Summary judgment is appropriate when "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 judgment as a matter of law." FED. R. CIV. P. 56(c). In deciding whether a genuine issue of material fact exists, "the evidence of the nonmovant is to be believed, and all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in [its] favor." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). No genuine issue of material fact exists when a rational trier of fact could not find for the nonmoving party even when the record as a whole is viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. O'Neal v. City of Chicago, 392 F.3d 909, 910-911 (7th Cir.2004). A nonmoving party cannot rest on mere allegations or denials to overcome a motion for summary judgment; "instead, the nonmovant must present definite, competent evidence in rebuttal." Butts v. Aurora Health Care, Inc., 387 F.3d 921, 924 (7th Cir.2004). The nonmoving party must point to enough evidence to show the existence of each element of its case on which it will bear the burden at trial. Celotex v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Lawrence v. Kenosha Cty., 391 F.3d 837, 842 (7th Cir.2004).
The Equal Pay Act, an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., forbids employers from paying workers of one sex less than workers of the opposite sex for "equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions, except where the differential is made pursuant to (i) a seniority system; (ii) a merit system; (iii) a system which measures quantity or quality of production; or (iv) a differential based on any factor other than sex." 29 U.S.C. § 206(d)(1). To establish a prima facie case under the Equal Pay Act, Ms. Mayden must show that (1) different wages were paid to employees of the opposite sex, (2) the employees do equal work that requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and (3) the employees have similar working conditions. Wollenburg v. Comtech Mfg. Co., 201 F.3d 973, 975 (7th Cir. 2000). Cullen v. Indiana Univ. Bd. of Trustees, 338 F.3d 693, 698 (7th Cir.2003) (quoting Fallon v. Illinois, 882 F.2d 1206, 1209 (7th Cir.1989)); see also Markel v. Board of Regents of Univ. of Wisconsin Sys., 276 F.3d 906, 913 (7th Cir.2002) ; Lang v. Kohl's Food Stores, Inc., 217 F.3d 919, 923 (7th Cir. 2000) (). "No proof of discriminatory intent is required." Warren v. Solo Cup Co., 516 F.3d 627, 629 (7th Cir.2008).
If Ms. Mayden establishes a prima facie case, Superior may respond with affirmative defenses to show that the pay differential is due to a seniority system, a merit system, a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, or any factor other than sex. Boumehdi v. Plastag Holdings, LLC, 489 F.3d 781, 793-794 (7th Cir.2007). If Superior shows such a reason by a preponderance of the evidence, Ms. Mayden then must show that the stated reason is a pretext for a decision that was based on prohibited criteria. "Proof that the actual reason disserves the employer's interests does not discharge that burden, as long as the employer does not rely on one of the forbidden grounds." Wernsing v. Illinois Dep't of Human Servs., 427 F.3d 466, 469 (7th Cir.2005). The Equal Pay Act doesn't authorize courts Wernsing v. Illinois Dep't of Human Servs., 427...
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...a "common core" of tasks. Fallon v. State of Illinois, 882 F.2d 1206, 1209 (7th Cir. 1988), see also Mayden v. Superior Ambulance Service, Inc., 647 F.Supp.2d 1014, 1019(N.D. Ind. 2009). In assessing whether two jobs require equal skill, effort, and responsibility, the Court looks to duties......