Paquin v. Federal Nat. Mortg. Ass'n

• Decision Date: 25 July 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-7197,96-7197
• Parties: 74 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1078, 71 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,936, 326 U.S.App.D.C. 224, 38 Fed.R.Serv.3d 282 Paul PAQUIN, Appellant, v. FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Page 23

119 F.3d 23

74 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1078,

71 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,936, 326 U.S.App.D.C. 224,

38 Fed.R.Serv.3d 282

Paul PAQUIN, Appellant, v. FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION, Appellee.

No. 96-7197.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued May 6, 1997.

Decided July 25, 1997.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 94cv01261).

Christopher G. Mackaronis, Washington, DC, argued the cause for the appellant.

Kenneth I. Juster, Washington, DC, argued the cause for the appellee. Bruce L. Montgomery was on brief.

Before: HENDERSON, ROGERS and TATEL, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge KAREN LeCRAFT HENDERSON.

KAREN LeCRAFT HENDERSON, Circuit Judge:

Paul Paquin alleges that the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621 et seq., and the District of Columbia Human Rights Act (DCHRA), D.C.Code Ann. §§ 1-2501 et seq., by terminating him based on his age and by taking two retaliatory actions against him for engaging in conduct protected by the ADEA and the DCHRA. The district court awarded summary judgment to Fannie Mae on all of Paquin's claims. Paquin challenges the district court's award of summary judgment, its failure to order full discovery relating to performance evaluations of similarly situated employees at Fannie Mae and the magistrate judge's denial of expert fee reimbursement. We reverse the district court's refusal to order further discovery and, on that basis, reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment on Paquin's termination claim. With respect to Paquin's two retaliation claims we affirm the district court on one and reverse on the other. Finally, we affirm the magistrate judge's refusal to award expert fee reimbursement.

I.

Paquin, currently 53 years old, began working for Fannie Mae in 1972 and four years later moved into Fannie Mae's newly formed Investor Relations Department (Department). Within that department he was promoted from manager to vice president to senior vice president, the highest position in the Department. The Department work has both an "external" aspect, involving relations with investors and analysts outside Fannie Mae, and an "internal" aspect, involving communications and strategy development within the company. The record is clear that Paquin performed the external aspects of his job well but, according to Fannie Mae, Paquin was deficient as to internal matters. Fannie Mae also claims that its senior management was disappointed with Paquin's performance on specific projects, such as Fannie Mae's 1993 Investor/Analyst Biennial Conference.

Toward the end of 1993 Fannie Mae decided to terminate Paquin. Paquin was informed of the decision on February 14, 1994. He was offered a severance agreement, valued at approximately $600,000, was informed he should review it with his lawyer and was given until March 8, 1994 to accept the offer. The proposed severance agreement included a waiver of any legal claims. On March 1, 1994 Paquin's lawyer wrote a letter to Fannie Mae stating that Paquin believed his age played a role in Fannie Mae's decision to terminate him and requesting a severance package worth in excess of $4 million. In return Paquin offered to sign a release. Although the parties engaged in negotiations Fannie Mae ultimately refused to alter the terms of the original offer. According to Fannie Mae the deadline for accepting the original offer was extended to March 16, 1994 but Paquin maintains there was no such extension.

On March 17, 1994 Paquin filed a charge of unlawful termination and retaliation with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). That same day Fannie Mae sent a letter to Paquin stating that, because he had not accepted the now-expired offer, Paquin had been terminated effective close of business on March 16th without severance benefits. On June 8, 1994 Paquin filed suit in district court alleging unlawful termination and retaliation under the ADEA and the DCHRA. At the close of discovery Fannie Mae moved for summary judgment on all of Paquin's claims, which motion was granted. Paquin then filed this appeal.

II.

A. Termination Claim

In ADEA cases we apply the familiar three-step burdenshifting framework announced in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), for Title VII cases. See Koger v. Reno, 98 F.3d 631, 633 (D.C.Cir.1996). ¹ Under the first step of McDonnell Douglas the complainant must establish a prima facie case of discrimination. 411 U.S. at 802, 93 S.Ct. at 1824. In the ADEA context a complainant makes his required prima facie showing if he (i) belongs to the protected age group, (ii) was qualified for the position, (iii) was terminated and (iv) was replaced by a younger person. See Coburn v. Pan Am. World Airways, Inc., 711 F.2d 339, 342 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 994, 104 S.Ct. 488, 78 L.Ed.2d 683 (1983). If the complainant succeeds in establishing a prima facie case, the second step of the McDonnell Douglas framework shifts the burden to the defendant employer to articulate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for its adverse employment action. 411 U.S. at 802, 93 S.Ct. at 1824. If the defendant does so, then under the third step of McDonnell Douglas the complainant must produce evidence showing that the defendant's proffered reason is but a pretext for discrimination. Id. at 804, 93 S.Ct. at 1825.

We agree with the district court that Paquin established a prima facie case. Paquin was fifty years old at the time of his termination and therefore a member of the age class (at least 40 years old) protected by the ADEA. 29 U.S.C. § 631(a). Like the district court, we believe that Paquin's twenty-year tenure at Fannie Mae and his series of promotions within the Department suffice to show that he was qualified for his position. Finally, there is no dispute that Paquin was terminated and replaced by a younger person.

Turning to the second step of the McDonnell Douglas framework, we conclude that Fannie Mae met its burden in articulating a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for its termination of Paquin. Fannie Mae claims that Paquin's termination resulted from substandard performance, as evidenced primarily by annual performance evaluations for the years 1991-1993. The evaluations indicated areas in which Paquin needed improvement. For example, the 1991 evaluation, while praising Paquin's performance in external matters, stated "Paul must devote considerably more effort to raising the level of his and his staff's 'internal' performance." JA 348. The 1991 evaluation concluded "Paul's challenge next year will be to bring his internal management performance up to a level approaching the exceptional performance he continues to post in the external arena with investors and analysts." JA 349. The 1992 evaluation stated that the year had been "a mixture of positives and negatives." JA 350. The positive aspects "were concentrated in the area of external investor relations, where Paul and his staff continue to get extremely high marks." Id. The negative aspect was that "Paul has not made as much progress as [the reviewer] had hoped for in what last year [the reviewer] had termed his 'internal' performance--departmental administration, attention to detail, planning and executing tasks in a timely fashion, and presentation design and speech writing." Id. The evaluation set out three specific areas targeted for improvement--elimination of "repeated or blatant errors" in the Department's work, increased creativity and greater insight into investor preferences and valuation processes. JA 350-51. In each of the three areas the evaluation included a specific instance during the past year that, according to the reviewer, manifested Paquin's inadequate performance. The 1993 evaluation indicated that Paquin had failed to make much progress in two of the three areas and that in the third the reviewer postponed making a decision for another month. The evaluation was peppered with some strong criticisms. For example, a speech from Paquin's Department was described as "unsophisticated, unfocused, and ... contain[ing] not only overstatements and simplications [sic] but also outright inaccuracies." JA 352. The reviewer concluded with the statements "I believe you must take a much more disciplined approach to your job" and "I look forward to your doing substantially better in 1994." JA 353. Each annual evaluation also gave Paquin a numerical evaluation on a five point scale. In 1991 he received a 4, putting 14 of 21 senior vice presidents ahead of him. In 1992 he again received a 4, putting 14 of 23 senior vice presidents ahead of him. In 1993 he received a 3+, putting 22 of 25 senior vice presidents ahead of him.

In short the evaluations distinguished sharply between Paquin's performance in external and internal matters: Paquin appeared to excel in the former but was consistently deficient with respect to the latter. His numerical scores over the three years show him slipping from the middle to the bottom of executives at the senior vice president level. Paquin's performance deficiencies with respect to internal matters, as memorialized in the three year-end performance evaluations, suffice to meet Fannie Mae's burden of articulating a non-discriminatory reason for Paquin's termination.

Under the third step of McDonnell Douglas, Paquin must prove that Fannie Mae's proffered reason was a pretext for discrimination. 411 U.S. at 804, 93 S.Ct. at 1825. At this stage, if Paquin is unable to adduce evidence that could allow a reasonable trier of fact to conclude that Fannie Mae's proffered reason was a pretext for discrimination, summary judgment must be entered against Paquin. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) ("[T]he plain...