Mullenix v. Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children
| Decision Date | 13 November 1996 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 94-10449-PBS. |
| Citation | 965 F.Supp. 120 |
| Parties | Dr. Phyllis MULLENIX, Plaintiff, v. FORSYTH DENTAL INFIRMARY FOR CHILDREN, Forsyth Dental Center, Forsyth Research Institute and Ronald J. Gibbons, Director, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts |
Andrea M. Di Fabio, Rosemary Connolly, Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, Boston, MA, for plaintiff.
Douglas F. Seaver, Laurie C. Buck, Warner & Stackpole, Boston, MA, for defendants.
After hearing, the Court adopts the report and recommendation.
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION RE: DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT (DOCKET ENTRY # 92); PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON COUNTS III AND IV OF THE THIRD AMENDED COMPLAINT (DOCKET ENTRY # 96)
Pending before this court are two motions for partial summary judgment filed in the above styled employment discrimination case. Defendants Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children, Forsyth Dental Center and Forsyth Research Center (collectively: "Forsyth") move for summary judgment on certain claims in Count I of the third amended complaint ("the amended complaint") and on counts III, IV and V of the amended complaint.1 (Docket Entry # 92). Plaintiff Dr. Phyllis Mullenix ("Dr.Mullenix"), a former Forsyth employee, seeks summary judgment on the federal and state equal pay claims in counts III and IV of the amended complaint. (Docket Entry # 96). After conducting a hearing and allowing the parties an opportunity to submit additional documents, this court took the summary judgment motions (Docket Entry # # 92 & 96) under advisement.
The amended complaint alleges that Forsyth discriminated against Dr. Mullenix on the basis of her sex, denied her equal pay and one or more promotions and retaliated against her for seeking legal redress during her employment at Forsyth as a Staff Associate from 1982 to 1994. (Docket Entry # 59). Count I of the amended complaint alleges a violation of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. ("Title VII") and the subsequent 1991 amendment thereto. Forsyth seeks summary judgment on the retaliation and equal pay claims in Count I.2
Count III sets forth a cause of action under the federal Equal Pay Act ("the EPA"), 29 U.S.C. § 206(d), and Title VII based on the disparity in compensation between male and female staff associates at Forsyth. Count IV alleges a violation of the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act ("the MEPA"), Massachusetts General Laws chapter 149, section 105A. Count V relates a hostile work environment claim under Title VII. (Docket Entry # 59). Forsyth moves for summary judgment on the EPA, the Title VII and the MEPA equal or comparable pay claims in counts I, III and IV and the hostile work environment claim in Count V. (Docket Entry # 92). Dr. Mullenix cross moves for summary judgment on the EPA claim in Count III and the MEPA claim in Count IV. (Docket Entry # 96).
Dr. Mullenix holds a doctoral in pharmacology from the University of Kansas Medical Center where she studied a number of drugs used in dentistry. (Docket Entry # # 59 & 84, ¶¶ 1; Docket Entry # 98, Mullenix Deposition). She received post doctoral training at Johns Hopkins University (Docket Entry # 98, Mullenix Deposition). Dr. Mullenix has authored or co-authored at least 23 articles4 and three chapters in various books. (Docket Entry # 97, Ex. 7).
In 1982, prior to working at Forsyth, Dr. Mullenix worked as a research associate at the Children's Hospital Medical Center ("Children's Hospital") in Boston. Children's Hospital had a dental department at the time of Dr. Mullenix' employment. While at Chrildren's Hospital, Dr. Mullenix engaged in research with a number of individuals at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine.
Dr. Mullenix also worked as an instructor in neuropathology and in psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School ("Harvard"). She received a salary and primarily performed research as an instructor at Harvard. (Docket Entry # 98, Mullenix Deposition)
Dr. Mullenix first considered joining Forsyth in 1981 and 1982. (Docket Entry # 98, Mullenix Deposition). Dr. John Hein ("Dr. Hein"), Director of Forsyth Dental Center from 1962 to 1991, initially invited Dr. Mullenix and Dr. Paul Moore ("Dr.Moore"), a pharmacologist at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, to give a seminar. Impressed by Dr. Mullenix' work, Dr. Hein asked Dr. Mullenix if she would be interested in doing full time research at Forsyth rather than the type of research she was performing at Harvard. Prior to hiring Dr. Mullenix, Dr. Hein viewed Dr. Mullenix' academic and work record as excellent. Similarly, Dr. Mullenix was impressed with Dr. Hein before she began working at Forsyth. (Docket Entry # 98, Mullenix Deposition & Hein Deposition).
By letter dated July 29, 1982, Dr. Hein informed Dr. Mullenix of her appointment as a staff associate in the pharmacology department of the Forsyth Dental Center. (Docket Entry # 97, Ex. 10). Dr. Hein believed that the appointment was full time appointment.5 It was also his understanding that Dr. Mullenix' income depended on her receipt of grant funding "just like anybody else." (Docket Entry # 98, Hein Deposition). Likewise, Dr. Mullenix avers that she understood her responsibilities as similar to every other staff member, i.e., to write grant proposals and to obtain external funding. (Docket Entry # 102, Mullenix Affidavit).
Dr. Hein either could not recall or did not believe that he recommended that Dr. Mullenix receive a salary supplement during his tenure as Director. He intimated that the salary sheets would not reflect a salary supplement either because Forsyth had not received full funding in her research area or because she was not performing a special service for Forsyth such as a chairman of the animal house committee. (Docket Entry 98, Hein Deposition). Dr. Mullenix, however, eventually served on the Animal Care and Safety Committee during her employment at Forsyth. (Docket Entry # # 59 & 84, ¶¶ 11; Docket Entry # 98, Gibbons Deposition).
In a separate letter dated July 29, 1982, Dr. Hein advised Dr. Mullenix that, at a July 29, 1982 meeting of senior members of the staff ("senior staff members"),6 the senior staff members were significantly impressed with the behavioral toxicology research she was performing with Dr. Moore. Dr. Mullenix' research at the time involved examining the impact of low levels of exposure of chemical agents on the brain. The second July 29, 1982 letter additionally apprised Dr. Mullenix, however, that the senior staff members were uneasy about making a longterm commitment to Dr. Mullenix due to the novelty of research in behavioral toxicology and its long term application to the dental area. (Docket Entry # 94, A-69; Docket Entry # 98, Hein Deposition).
In 1982 a full time appointment as a staff associate at Forsyth Dental Center was ordinarily for a 12 month time period. According to Dr. Hein, Forsyth Dental Center guaranteed the annual salary of a staff associate if the individual had a 12 month appointment. (Docket Entry # 98, Hein Deposition). Under Forsyth Dental Center's written procedures for appointment in effect from 1982 to April 1993, the designation of an appointment as full time applied where an individual spent at least 80% of his professional time at Forsyth Dental Center and received at least 50% of his salary from Forsyth's general resources. (Docket Entry # 97, Ex. 6; Docket Entry # 94, A-81).
Dr. Ronald Gibbons ("Dr.Gibbons"), Director of Forsyth Dental Center beginning in 1991 and a senior staff member prior to 1991, described the staff associate position as "a catch-all type of position" comprised of individuals whose salary depended completely on external grant funding as well as individuals whose salary Forsyth Dental Center supported with internal resources. (Docket Entry # 94, A-19). The above noted written procedures for appointment included part time and full time appointments for a staff associate position. (Docket Entry # 97, Ex. 6). In April 1993, when Forsyth Dental Center revised its written appointment procedures (Docket Entry # 94, A-81), it categorized the staff associate position as a nontenure track, part time appointment.7 Forsyth Dental Center essentially gave staff associates the opportunity to develop an institutional research program, according to Dr. Gibbons. (Docket Entry # 98, Gibbons Deposition).
Dr. Anne Tanner ("Dr.Tanner"), a longtime Forsyth employee who became a senior staff member in 1989, testified that the duties of a staff associate in 1994 consisted of researching, writing manuscripts, obtaining independent funding and attending seminars. (Docket Entry # 98, Tanner Deposition). In deciding whether to reappoint an individual to a staff associate position, Dr. J. Max Goodson ("Dr.Goodson"), a senior staff member since 1981, noted that a staff associate was expected to make scientific contributions and to have his research funded. (Docket Entry # 98, Goodson Deposition). Dr. Hein testified that the requirements for a staff associate varied but that Forsyth Dental Center generally expected the individual to have an advanced degree and, once hired, to develop an area of research and possibly a department. (Docket Entry # 98, Hein Deposition). Consequently, although the nature of the research may have differed between the various staff associates at Forsyth Dental Center, they had the common duties of acquiring external research funding, performing research and possibly establishing a department.8
Forsyth9 is a nonprofit, Massachusetts corporation with a principal place of business in Boston. It employs more than 20 employees and engages in...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Ruiz-Justiniano v. U.S. Postal Serv.
...the position, and a proven ability to generate higher revenue for the employer's business." (citing Mullenix v. Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children, 965 F.Supp. 120, 140 (D.Mass. 1996); Dubowsky v. Stern, Lavinthal, Norgaard & Daly, 922 F.Supp. 985, 990 (D.N.J. 1996))); see also Byrd v. R......
-
Montalvo-Figueroa v. DNA Auto Corp.
...975 F.2d 1518, 1527 (11th Cir. 1992) ; Ososky v. Wick, 704 F.2d 1264, 1265 (D.C. Cir. 1983) ; Mullenix v. Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children, 965 F. Supp. 120, 143 n.42 (D. Mass. 1996). Indeed, defendants' motion nowhere discusses in any detail Montalvo's claims pursuant to the Equal Pay......
-
Tourangeau v. Nappi Distribs.
... ... conversation centered around children and ... maternity. [ 151 ] DSMF ¶ 70; PRDSMF ¶ 70 ... Jan. 19, 2012) ... (quoting Mullenix v. Forsyth Dental Infirmary for ... Children , 965 ... ...
-
Lemke v. International Total Services, Inc.
...than male employees at ITS in positions requiring equal skill, effort and responsibility and with similar working conditions. See Mullenix, 965 F.Supp. at 139; see also 29 U.S.C. § 206(d). Although all of the persons at issue here were titled "district managers," it is clear that the inquir......