Phelan v. City of Chicago

• Decision Date: 21 October 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-3862.,02-3862.
• Citation: 347 F.3d 679
• Parties: James PHELAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF CHICAGO, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 679

347 F.3d 679

James PHELAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF CHICAGO, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 02-3862.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued September 12, 2003.

Decided October 21, 2003.

Rehearing and Suggestion for Rehearing En Banc Denied November 21, 2003^*.

Kenneth N. Flaxman (argued), Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Meera Werth (argued), Office of the Corporation Counsel, Appeals Division, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before BAUER, KANNE and EVANS, Circuit Judges.

BAUER, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiff James Phelan brought suit after being dismissed from his position of "ward superintendent" by the City of Chicago. Phelan claimed that the City 1) violated the Due Process Clause, 2) breached the Family and Medical Leave Act, and 3) violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The district court granted the City's motion to dismiss Phelan's first two causes of action and disposed of the third on summary judgment. Phelan appeals. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

Phelan was employed in two separate positions by the City of Chicago. In 1992 he was hired by the City as a police officer. In October 1993 the Chicago Police Department granted him a leave of absence. In November 1995, while he was on leave from the Police Department, Phelan was hired by the City's Department of Streets and Sanitation to work as ward superintendent for the 23rd Ward. Phelan worked full time as ward superintendent until July 1997 at which time he took leave because of personal health problems. Phelan exhausted all of his sick days but was still unable to return to work. In September 1997, he applied for and was granted leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA").

In September 1997 Phelan was indicted for mail fraud. Shortly after his indictment, City personnel requested that he resign. When he refused to resign, the City fired him. Phelan's discharge was processed the same day that he officially returned from his FMLA leave. On October 27, 1997, Phelan requested that the City reinstate him to his position as a probationary police officer. The City notified Phelan that he no longer had employment with the Police Department. Phelan then filed suit.

ANALYSIS

This court reviews the district court's granting of motions to dismiss the Due Process and FMLA claims under a de novo standard of review. See Hickey v. O'Bannon, 287 F.3d 656, 657 (7th Cir. 2002). In reviewing the district court's decision, this court must accept all well-pleaded facts alleged in the complaint as true and must draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the non-movant. Lachmund v. ADM Investor Servs., Inc., 191 F.3d 777, 782 (7th Cir.1999). A motion to dismiss will succeed when "it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957).

Similarly, this court reviews the district court's dismissal of the Title VII claim via summary judgment de novo. Grayson v. City of Chicago, 317 F.3d 745, 749 (7th Cir.2003). All facts will be viewed in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, and summary judgment will be upheld if there is no genuine issue of material fact. Id.

A. Due Process Claim.

Phelan claims that the City's termination of his employment violated his Fourteenth Amendment Due Process rights when the departments terminated him from his positions as ward superintendent and police officer without notice or a hearing. The Fourteenth Amendment states that no state shall "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...." U.S. CONST. amend. XIV, § 1. In order to assert a violation of the Due Process clause, a plaintiff must be able to show that 1) he or she had a "property interest" and 2) that he or she was deprived of this interest without due process of law. Bishop v. Wood, 426 U.S. 341, 343, 96 S.Ct. 2074, 48 L.Ed.2d 684 (1976).

In the employment context, a property interest can be created in one of two ways, "1) by an independent source such as state law securing certain benefits; or 2) by a clearly implied promise of continued employment." Shlay v. Montgomery, 802 F.2d 918, 921 (7th Cir.1986) (quoting Munson v. Friske, 754 F.2d 683, 692 (7th Cir.1985)), Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 577, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972). Phelan is unable to state that he has any interest in his employment via the first method for creating a property interest. In his pleadings, Phelan bases his claim to a property interest on sections 2-100-110 and 2-74-060 of the Municipal Code. These sections state the applicable procedures for termination of "career service" employees. Unfortunately for Phelan, his employment in the capacities of a police officer and a ward superintendent are not classified as "career service" positions; rather they are "exempt" and not entitled to any procedures for dismissal. R.74 at Exh. K ¶¶ 3, 5. Specifically, the Municipal Code distinguishes "career service" employees and all other "career service exempt" employees. Municipal Code of Chicago § 2-74-030. Only those employees in career service are afforded procedural protections for their employment. Municipal Code of Chicago § 2-74-060. Hence, Phelan has no property interest in his position that was created by any state or city law; he was an at will employee.

Absent an express agreement, an at will employee may still prove a property interest in his or her employment under the second test if there is a "clearly implied promise in their continued employment." Shlay, 802 F.2d at 921, Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593, 92 S.Ct. 2694, 33 L.Ed.2d 570 (1972). In cases regarding at will employees, in order to demonstrate that there is an interest, a plaintiff must show more than a "unilateral expectation" or an "abstract need or desire" for the employment. Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 577, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972). In his amended complaint, Phelan asserts that he was "hardworking, productive, and effective in the position of Ward Superintendent" and that he "received favorable performance evaluations and merit salary raises." Amended Complaint at ¶ 7. This court has made it clear that these contentions are not enough to meet the test for an implied contract. Specifically, in Shlay, we stated that because the Chicago's City Code explicitly defines different categories of employees as "career service" or "career service exempt," other City employees cannot make promises, implied or otherwise, of continued employment that are contrary to the Code. Shlay, 802 F.2d at 921-22 (discussing why a "career service exempt" employee of the City of Chicago did not have a property interest in his continued employment). Additionally, this court found that other factors such as longevity of service, good performance reviews and periodic salary increases are insufficient to show a property interest in continued employment. Id. at 922.

Phelan argues that under the notice pleading standard of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, he need not state facts to show that he has a property interest in his employment. This court has noted that, although pleading standards are relaxed, a plaintiff must still plead "sufficient facts ... to allow the district court to understand the gravamen of the plaintiff's complaint." Kyle v. Morton High School, 144 F.3d 448, 455 (7th Cir. 1998) (quoting Doherty v. City of Chicago, 75 F.3d 318, 326 (7th Cir.1996)). Even under the relaxed standards, Phelan has not met these minimum requirements in light of our earlier holding in Shlay. Based on the pleadings, it is clear that he cannot show any facts to prove that his Due Process rights were violated.

B. FMLA Claim

Phelan's second claim is that his dismissal violates the FMLA. The district court granted the City's motion to dismiss this claim. We affirm the district court's ruling.

Enacted in 1993, the FMLA was designed to allow employees to take periods of leave from their jobs for various health and family related reasons. In furtherance of this goal, the Act allows both for the employee to take leave and to be reinstated when his or her leave is finished. Specifically, the Act allows a worker to take unpaid leave for a period of up to twelve weeks for reasons that include the birth of a child, the illness of an immediate family member, or the serious health condition of the employee himself. 29 U.S.C. § 2612(1). Upon return the employee is guaranteed reinstatement to the employee's original position or an "equivalent position." 29 U.S.C. § 2614(1). The FMLA, however, does not entitle any employee to "any right, benefit, or position of employment other than ... [that] which the employee would have been entitled had the employee not taken leave." 29 U.S.C. § 2614(3).

In the case at hand, Phelan elected to take leave under the FMLA for a period of time from September 12, 1997 to October 16, 1997. When he returned to work in October, he was terminated. The City states that prior to Phelan's absence, the quality of his work had been poor, and during his absence the employee hired to fill in for Phelan was more satisfactory. For these reasons, the City chose to terminate Phelan.

In cases such as this where an employee is terminated while taking FMLA leave, the trial court must determine whether the termination was illegally motivated by the employee's choice to take leave, or whether the termination was motivated by other, valid reasons. Kohls v. Beverly Enterprises Wisconsin, Inc., 259 F.3d 799, 804 (7th Cir.2001). Specifically, we have stated that:

With no absolute right to reinstatement, whether an employer violates the FMLA turns on why the employee was not reinstated. Clearly, an employee may not be fired because she took leave — that would be in direct violation of the statute. However, an employee may be fired for poor performance when she would have been fired for such...