Piraino v. International Orientation Resources, Inc.

• Decision Date: 21 May 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-2491,95-2491
• Citation: 84 F.3d 270
• Parties: 70 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1739, 68 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,059 Gina PIRAINO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. INTERNATIONAL ORIENTATION RESOURCES, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 270

84 F.3d 270

70 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1739,

68 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,059

Gina PIRAINO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. INTERNATIONAL ORIENTATION RESOURCES, INC., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 95-2491.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Nov. 8, 1995.

Decided May 21, 1996.

Lisa Kane (argued), Kane & Associates, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Samuel G. Levin, Siegel, Lynn & Capitel, Northbrook, IL, Bradley B. Falkof (argued), Amy McKeever Toman, James A. Reiman, Barnes & Thornburg, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before KANNE and DIANE P. WOOD, Circuit Judges, and SKINNER, District Judge. ^*

DIANE P. WOOD, Circuit Judge.

International Orientation Resources, Inc. ("IOR") is a company that provides cross-cultural training to American families and individuals who are relocating overseas and to foreign families and individuals moving to the United States for extended stays. Their human relations expertise, however, did not save them from at least one internal employment problem at the company. Gina Piraino, one of IOR's cross-cultural trainers during the latter part of 1990, claims that she was fired in violation of the Pregnancy Discrimination Amendment to Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k), commonly referred to as the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). Because we conclude that Piraino demonstrated that there were genuine issues of material fact requiring a trial, we reverse the district court's summary judgment for IOR and remand for further proceedings.

I

Piraino initially applied for a position as a cross-cultural trainer at IOR in July 1990. Fran Perlman, the Director of Human Resources, Stephanie Derderian, the Director of Training, and Noel Kreicker, the President, all interviewed her for the position. At the time of the interview, she was four months pregnant, but she neither mentioned this fact nor did any of the IOR representatives learn of it in any other way. IOR offered Piraino the job on August 2, 1990; she promptly accepted and began work on August 6th.

In September 1990, Piraino disclosed her pregnancy to Kreicker, Perlman and Derderian. The initial responses she received were relatively positive. Derderian told her "not to worry," and that "she [Derderian] didn't see that it would be a problem." Kreicker's response was similar, "Well, I'm sure this won't be a problem. We have been through this before." Perlman also said that there shouldn't be a problem, that the company would work it out, and that IOR would put something in writing. None of these officials said anything about any IOR policy (written or unwritten) that was already in existence, even though IOR had a practice of advising applicants about its policies and benefits. In Piraino's case, Perlman had told her about IOR's vacation, sick leave and personal day policies when she offered Piraino the job, and Perlman reviewed the IOR employee handbook with Piraino on her first day of work. In neither conversation did the subject of an unwritten leave of absence or maternity leave policy come up. Instead, when Piraino told Kreicker that she "did not expect [a] paid leave of absence" and asked what the company had in mind, Kreicker said only "Don't worry. We will work it out. There's no problem."

On November 15, 1990, as Perlman had promised, IOR issued its Leave of Absence Policy, effective immediately. The Policy had the following to say on the subjects of unpaid leaves of absence and maternity leave:

Unpaid Leaves of Absence

Under certain circumstances, you may be eligible for a leave of absence. The length and conditions of the leave depends [sic] upon:

1. your length of service with IOR

2. the reason for requesting leave

1. Leaves of absence may be granted to employees who have been with the company for a minimum of one year.

For employees that have been with the company for less than one year, efforts will be made to place the returning employee into the same or similar position if possible. During any period of leave, IOR reserves the right to fill, alter, or eliminate a vacant position if required by business needs. If a position which is vacant due to an approved leave of absence is filled, IOR will make a reasonable effort to offer the employee an equivalent position when he or she is ready to return....

2. Types of Leave

* * * * * *

Maternity Leave

Upon completion of a minimum of one year with the company, employees may request up to six weeks leave for maternity.... Upon completion of four weeks leave, it is the responsibility of the employee to notify the department manager as to the date of return to work or request additional leave. Failure to notify will be considered as giving notice of voluntary resignation. IOR will hold a position open for a period of six weeks. If at four weeks, an extension is requested and granted beyond the original six weeks leave, IOR reserves the right to fill, alter or eliminate a vacant position if required by business needs.

When Piraino received this policy, she concluded that she would not be able to return to work for IOR under its terms.

Some time in December, Perlman told Piraino that Piraino was under no obligation to report back to IOR on a particular date after her child was born, and that she could "reapply" for a position with IOR when she was ready to return to work. Piraino's last day of work was December 30, 1990--the same day as the baby was born. On December 31, 1990, she notified Perlman of the birth of the baby, and she called Perlman on the first business day of January 1991 to ask whether she needed to submit any kind of written notice for a leave of absence. Perlman responded, "You don't need to do anything. You have voluntarily quit. If you want, you can reapply." On February 15, 1991, Piraino visited IOR's offices with her new baby. Piraino recalled that she asked Derderian whether a position was available and that Derderian said no; Derderian has no memory of the conversation. Although Piraino did not formally reapply for employment at IOR, she telephoned Derderian in late February or early March 1991 to see if a position had become available during the interim. She was told that one had not.

In the meantime, IOR experienced a downturn in business beginning in the final quarter of 1990 and continuing into the spring of 1991. Although the magnitude of the slowdown is disputed, it is undisputed that IOR reported annual losses for 1990 and 1991. In mid-December 1990, after it was clear that Piraino would be gone for the birth of her baby (and thereafter, pursuant to the November 15 policy), IOR promoted two employees, Linda Hamby and Barbara McDaniel, to the position of part-time trainer. The parties dispute whether Hamby's and McDaniel's prior jobs had been clerical or professional, but it is clear that the two women received additional job responsibilities including some or all of those that Piraino had performed. In April 1991, IOR hired Patrick Coughlin to develop its business programs. Again, although the parties dispute the precise scope of his job, they agree that he conducted the kind of adult training program Piraino had done in addition to performing his marketing tasks.

II

On September 13, 1991, Piraino filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. The Commission issued a right to sue letter, which Piraino received on January 1, 1994. Piraino, in compliance with the statutory time limits, filed a complaint in the district court alleging that IOR violated the PDA. On May 24, 1995, the district court granted IOR's motion for summary judgment. That court concluded that Piraino had to prove her claim of pregnancy discrimination through the use of circumstantial evidence, rather than direct evidence. Before that court, as here, Piraino relied on the timing of IOR's adoption of its unpaid leave of absence policy to show the existence of discrimination. The district court found that IOR had presented "undisputed testimony" that it had "an informal, unwritten leave of absence policy in effect for four years prior to November 1990," and that the November 15, 1990, written policy simply memorialized the prior unwritten policy. The court found in addition that no inference of discriminatory intent was possible even if there had been no earlier policy, because the November 15 policy was non-discriminatory on its face.

The court then considered Piraino's claim under the now-classic burden-shifting method of proof established by McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), and later cases. It found that Piraino had established her prima facie case, noting that IOR conceded the first three elements: she was pregnant, her performance met IOR's expectations, and she lost her job. For purposes of summary judgment, drawing all reasonable inferences in Piraino's favor, the court also found that IOR effectively replaced Piraino, first by assigning training responsibilities to Hamby and McDaniel in December 1990, and then by hiring Coughlin in April 1991. Based on its earlier conclusion about the leave of absence policy, however, the court concluded that IOR had established legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for its actions that Piraino could not refute. The court believed that Piraino "voluntarily resigned" when she took her leave of absence, and that IOR's business needs were insufficient to rehire her in February 1991. It therefore granted IOR's motion for summary judgment.

III

We review the grant of a summary judgment de novo, taking the record in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. Courtney v. Biosound, Inc., 42 F.3d 414, 418 (7th Cir.1994). As we have often noted before, we apply this standard with particular care in employment discrimination cases, where intent and credibility are crucial issues. Id.

The PDA provides that "[w]omen affected by pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions shall be treated the same for all...