Mereish v. Walker

• Citation: 359 F.3d 330
• Decision Date: 20 February 2004
• Docket Number: No. 02-2367.,No. 02-2366.,No. 02-2369.,02-2366.,02-2367.,02-2369.
• Parties: Kulthoum A. MEREISH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Robert M. WALKER, Acting Secretary of the Army, Defendant-Appellee. Ayaad Assaad, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Louis Caldera, Secretary of the Army, Defendant-Appellee. Richard D. Crosland, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Louis Caldera, Secretary of the Army, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)

359 F.3d 330

Kulthoum A. MEREISH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Robert M. WALKER, Acting Secretary of the Army, Defendant-Appellee.

Ayaad Assaad, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Louis Caldera, Secretary of the Army, Defendant-Appellee.

Richard D. Crosland, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Louis Caldera, Secretary of the Army, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 02-2366.

No. 02-2367.

No. 02-2369.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued: December 3, 2003.

Decided: February 20, 2004.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Rosemary Agnes McDermott, Attorney at Law Rosemary A. McDermott, Thurmont, Maryland, for Appellants.

Thomas Frank Corcoran, Assistant United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee.

Thomas M. DiBiagio, United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee.

Before WILKINSON and NIEMEYER, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge.

OPINION

WILKINSON, Circuit Judge.

Appellants Kulthoum A. Mereish, Ayaad Assaad, and Richard D. Crosland were scientists employed with the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases ("USAMRIID"). On May 9, 1997, they were laid off as part of a reduction in force ("RIF"). In separate suits, they alleged, inter alia, that they were terminated on the basis of their age in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA). See 29 U.S.C. § 623(a) (1999). The district court granted summary judgment to the defendant, Robert M. Walker, Acting Secretary of the Army, and we affirm its judgment. The evidence conclusively establishes that the Commander of the USAMRIID, when implementing the RIF, acted upon his skills-based assessment that appellants' positions had become less critical to the agency's mission. Such an exercise of managerial discretion is entirely legitimate under the ADEA.

I.

The district court granted summary judgment to Walker, and we accordingly construe the evidence in the light most favorable to appellants. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The USAMRIID, a research arm of the U.S. Army, is charged with developing defenses against biological agents that may be used in battle. The USAMRIID employs a variety of scientists who work in different areas, depending upon the precise responsibilities that the agency is assigned. Between 1994 and 1996, the USAMRIID employed 265 people.

Since the early 1990s, the USAMRIID has faced significant budgetary pressures as the Army has downsized. These pressures resulted in numerous personnel cuts, where the Commander of the USAMRIID was ordered to make a certain number of "authorizations," or reductions in personnel, per year. Indeed, between 1990 and 1998, the agency was forced to reduce the number of its civilian positions by over twenty-five percent.

Colonel David R. Franz, then-Commander of the USAMRIID, was responsible for implementing the reductions. Until 1995, Franz had achieved the cuts mostly through a variety of voluntary retirement programs. However, he found these programs to be unsatisfactory for two reasons. First, an insufficient number of employees were willing to retire. More importantly, Franz found that voluntary attrition was allowing scientists critical to the agency's mission to leave. As Franz stated, "you just can't run an organization, a good organization by attrition." By using attrition, Franz was unable to manage the mix of personnel skills necessary to fulfill the agency's goals.

In order to make the required personnel cuts without losing control over the composition of the agency's workforce, Franz decided to utilize RIFs. He instituted three separate RIFs in 1995, 1996, and 1997. Throughout this time period, however, Franz raised objections with his superiors over the level of reductions. For example, in a 1995 memorandum, Franz requested that the required personnel cuts for fiscal year 1997 be reduced from sixteen employees to five. He outlined the USAMRIID's expanding responsibilities, the damage to the agency caused by previous cuts, and the need to protect scientists working in particular areas. Franz wrote a similar memorandum to his superiors in 1996, after receiving word that he would have to make eleven more reductions in personnel in fiscal year 1998. He noted that the USAMRIID had been forced to eliminate a total of seventy-seven positions during the previous four years, and he again stressed the toll that more cuts would take on the morale and efficiency of the USAMRIID.

However, after failing to gain relief from the required cuts, Franz elected to utilize RIFs. In the 1995 RIF, Franz was able to meet the authorization levels by eliminating mostly support staff positions. In the 1996 RIF, Franz terminated a statistician, two physiologists, and two laboratory technicians. Finally, in the 1997 RIF, Franz eliminated the only pharmacologist position and the three remaining physiologist positions at the USAMRIID, and he discharged a secretary, an information specialist, and a computer assistant. The elimination of the pharmacologist and physiologist positions resulted in appellants' terminations on May 9, 1997. At the time, Dr. Crosland, a physiologist, was fifty years old; Dr. Assaad, a physiologist, was forty-eight; and Dr. Mereish, a pharmacologist, was forty-three.

Following their discharges, appellants brought separate suits. Dr. Crosland alleged that he was terminated on the basis of his age; Dr. Assaad alleged that he was terminated on the basis of his age, race, and national origin; and Dr. Mereish alleged that she was terminated on the basis of her age and national origin. After the close of discovery, the district court granted summary judgment to Walker on all of the claims.

On October 13, 2000, a panel of this Court upheld the district court's decision as to the claims based on race and national origin. See Crosland v. Caldera, No. 00-1325, 2000 WL 1520597, at *1 (4th Cir. Oct.13, 2000) (per curiam). However, the panel vacated and remanded the case for reconsideration of the age discrimination claims in light of Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000). See Crosland, 2000 WL 1520597, at *1-2. After further discovery, on September 30, 2002, the district court again granted summary judgment to Walker on the ADEA claims. Appellants now challenge that decision.

II.

We review a grant of summary judgment de novo. See Higgins v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., 863 F.2d 1162, 1167 (4th Cir.1988). Summary judgment is appropriate where there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 56(c). If the evidence will reasonably support only one conclusion, summary judgment is proper. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 250-51, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Hawkins v. PepsiCo, Inc., 203 F.3d 274, 279 (4th Cir.2000) (citation omitted).

The ADEA makes it "unlawful for an employer ... to discharge any individual... because of such individual's age." 29 U.S.C. § 623(a)(1) (1999). The plaintiff in an ADEA case bears the burden of proving that age was a determining factor in the relevant employment decision. See Mitchell v. Data Gen. Corp., 12 F.3d 1310, 1314 (4th Cir.1993). We have recognized two ways in which a plaintiff can establish an ADEA claim: first, through evidence showing that age bias motivated the employment decision under the so-called "mixed-motive" method; and second, through circumstantial evidence of discrimination under the "pretext" method established in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802-05, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), and its progeny. See Hill v. Lockheed Martin Logistics Mgmt., Inc., 354 F.3d 277, 285 (4th Cir. 2004) (en banc). Appellants attempt here to prove their ADEA claims using both frameworks.

III.

Appellants have primarily advanced their age discrimination claims under the burden-shifting scheme of proof established in McDonnell Douglas and subsequent decisions. See Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 142, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000) (assuming, but not deciding, that the McDonnell Douglas framework applies to ADEA claims). Pursuant to this framework, appellants must first establish a prima facie case of discrimination by a preponderance of the evidence. See McDonnell Douglas, 411 U.S. at 802; Texas Dep't of Cmty. Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 252-53, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981). The burden of production then shifts to Walker to articulate a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for appellants' termination. See id. at 253. If Walker satisfies this burden, the presumption of discrimination created by the prima facie case disappears from the case. See id. at 255, 101 S.Ct. 1089. Appellants must then prove that Walker's proffered justification is pretextual. See id. at 253, 101 S.Ct. 1089. This final burden on appellants "merges with the ultimate burden of persuading the court that [they] ha[ve] been the victim[s] of intentional discrimination." Id. at 256, 101 S.Ct. 1089. Indeed, at all times, the burden of proving age discrimination rests with appellants. See id.

We are willing to assume arguendo that appellants have established a prima facie case of age discrimination, as the district court did below. We therefore consider Walker's proffered reason for the terminations and appellants' evidence of pretext.

A.

To meet his production burden under the McDonnell Douglas framework, Walker is not required to persuade us that the proffered reason was the actual motivation for Franz's decision. See Burdine, 450 U.S. at 254, 101 S.Ct. 1089. He must merely articulate a justification that is "legally sufficient to justify a judgment" in his favor. See id. at 255, 101 S.Ct. 1089.

Simply put, Walker claims that Colonel Franz based his decision to terminate appellants on the needs of the USAMRIID. Franz asserted that, in determining which...