Pfau v. Reed
| Decision Date | 27 October 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 96-50916,96-50916 |
| Citation | 125 F.3d 927 |
| Parties | 75 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1237, 73 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,385 Marie PFAU, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. William REED, In His Official Capacity as Director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Bruce A. Coane, Jon Allan Haslett, Coane & Associates, Houston, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Ernest Carlos Garcia, Austin, TX, for Defendant-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Before KING, DUHE and WIENER, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff-appellant Marie Pfau appeals the district court's dismissal of her claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress and grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant-appellee William Reed in his official capacity as Director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency on her claims of sexual harassment. We affirm.
This case arises out of the alleged sexual harassment of plaintiff-appellant Marie Pfau while an employee of the Defense Contract Audit Agency ("DCAA") by Pete Gonzales, Pfau's first-line supervisor during a portion of her tenure with the DCAA. We are called upon to evaluate the propriety of the district court's dismissal of Pfau's claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress and grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant-appellee William Reed in his official capacity as director of the DCAA as to her claims of sexual harassment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e to 2000e-17.
Pfau worked for the DCAA for ten years prior to her involuntary termination on November 9, 1993. In October of 1992, she transferred into the DCAA audit team supervised by Gonzales. Pfau alleges that Gonzales immediately began making "lewd and suggestive comments" to her and "request[ing] sexually provocative behavior from" her. Pfau alleges that Gonzales requested that she take him on a trip with her and made sexual advances that she rejected. Pfau contends that, upon discovering her vacation plans for December 1992, Gonzales began asking Pfau to allow him to accompany her on her trip and to pay his way. Pfau also alleges that Gonzales asked her for money on several other occasions.
Pfau claims that, during her first month in Gonzales's audit group, Gonzales called and insisted on visiting Pfau at her apartment. According to Pfau, he came to her apartment and insisted that they become involved. Pfau avers that she refused to comply with Gonzales's demands.
Pfau filed charges of sexual harassment and discrimination against Gonzales, along with retaliation and reprisal charges. Pfau contends that Gonzales engaged in acts of retaliation for her filing sexual harassment charges against him, including "sabotaged work assignments to prevent completion, hindering performance, withdrawing assignments, invalidating [Pfau's] audit findings, inappropriately discussing audit findings with contractor personnel, and subjecting her to harsh, inordinate, and unwarranted criticism of work assignments." Pfau alleges that Gonzales denied her the training necessary to successfully advance to higher level assignments. She also contends that Gonzales began to assign her to auditing projects that did not comport with her level of experience, placed her on a performance improvement plan, and ultimately terminated her for filing sexual harassment charges against him. Pfau further claims that Gonzales denied her request for sick leave on April 15, 1993.
Pfau avers that, during the investigation of her sexual harassment charges against Gonzales, DCAA counselors pressured her to withdraw the charges that she filed against Gonzales "in return for a transfer or promises that her impending termination would be halted." Pfau declined to withdraw her complaint. Pfau also alleges that DCAA counselors failed to document her complaints and only acknowledged them after she complained to DCAA management on numerous occasions. Pfau contends that she was ultimately compelled to contact the DCAA's central office equal employment opportunity personnel in order to procure proper documentation of her claims. She claims that the DCAA never conducted an impartial evaluation of her job performance and charges of sexual harassment prior to her termination.
On March 7, 1995, Pfau filed her original complaint, naming as defendants Reed in his official capacity as Director of the DCAA, the United States Department of Defense, William J. Perry in his official capacity as Secretary of the Defense, and Pete Gonzales, both in his individual and official capacities (collectively "defendants"). The complaint alleged causes of action for sexual harassment under Title VII and the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress. On June 19, 1995, Pfau filed her first amended complaint.
On July 24, 1995, the defendants filed a motion seeking dismissal of all claims against all defendants except the Secretary of Defense and dismissal of Pfau's claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress. The court initially denied the motion, but upon a motion for reconsideration, reversed its earlier ruling in an October 24, 1995 order. It dismissed Pfau's claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress with prejudice and held that the Director of the DCAA was the only proper party defendant with respect to Pfau's Title VII claims.
On October 27, 1995, Pfau filed her second amended complaint, which added the United States as a party defendant and asserted a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress against it under the Federal Tort Claims Act ("FTCA"), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2671-2680. Pfau's second amended complaint also retained her cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress against Gonzales in his individual and official capacities.
The DCAA filed a motion to correct the caption of the case and to dismiss Pfau's second amended complaint. The court granted the motion and ordered Pfau to correct her complaint so that it complied with the court's October 24, 1994 order. Accordingly, on January 18, 1996, Pfau filed her third amended complaint, which named only the Director of the DCAA in his official capacity as a defendant and dropped her claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress.
On April 19, 1996, the DCAA filed a motion for dismissal of Pfau's sexual harassment claims or, in the alternative, partial summary judgment. On August 16, 1996, the district court rendered summary judgment in favor of the DCAA on Pfau's sexual harassment claims. Pfau filed a timely notice of appeal.
Pfau argues that the district court erred in (1) dismissing her claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress against the DCAA and Gonzales in his individual capacity and (2) granting summary judgment in favor of the DCAA on Pfau's sexual harassment claims. We analyze the propriety of the court's order of dismissal and grant of summary judgment in turn.
We review a dismissal on the pleadings de novo, applying the same standard as the district court. See Truman v. United States, 26 F.3d 592, 593 (5th Cir.1994). "Accordingly, we accept the well-pleaded allegations in the complaint as true, and we construe those allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiff." Id. at 594. We will therefore uphold the dismissal of Pfau's intentional infliction of emotional distress claims "only if it appears that no relief could be granted under any set of facts that could be proven consistent with the allegations." Rubinstein v. Collins, 20 F.3d 160, 166 (5th Cir.1994) (internal quotation marks omitted).
The district court dismissed Pfau's intentional infliction of emotional distress claims on the ground that they are preempted by the Civil Service Reform Act ("CSRA"), Pub.L. No. 95-454, 92 Stat. 1111 (1978) (), and Title VII. We do not address the preemptory effect of the CSRA because we conclude that Pfau's claims are preempted by Title VII.
Pfau acknowledges that Title VII provides the "exclusive, pre-emptive administrative and judicial scheme for the redress of federal employment discrimination." Brown v. General Servs. Admin., 425 U.S. 820, 829, 96 S.Ct. 1961, 1966, 48 L.Ed.2d 402 (1976). We have interpreted the Supreme Court's mandate in Brown to mean that, when a complainant against a federal employer relies on the same facts to establish a Title VII claim and a non-Title VII claim, the non-Title VII claim is "not sufficiently distinct to avoid" preemption. Rowe v. Sullivan, 967 F.2d 186, 189 (5th Cir.1992); see also Jackson v. Widnall, 99 F.3d 710, 716 (5th Cir.1996).
Pfau advances four arguments as to why her claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress are nonetheless not preempted by Title VII. First, Pfau argues that the elements that a plaintiff must prove in order to establish a claim of quid pro quo or hostile environment sexual harassment under Title VII are different from the elements necessary to establish a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress. Second, Pfau urges that the purposes served by Title VII and the cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress are distinct; the former serves to "strike at the entire spectrum of disparate treatment of men and women in employment," Meritor Sav. Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 64, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 2404, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986) (internal quotation marks omitted), whereas the latter serves to protect individuals from injuries to their psyches. See Twyman v. Twyman, 855 S.W.2d 619, 621-22 (Tex.1993). Third, Pfau contends that she has advanced types and instances of conduct in support of her intentional infliction of emotional distress claims different from those she has advanced in support of her Title VII clai...
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