Raniola v. Police Comm'r Bratton

• Decision Date: 01 August 2000
• Docket Number: Docket No. 00-7215
• Citation: 243 F.3d 610
• Parties: (2nd Cir. 2001) PATRICIA A. RANIOLA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. POLICE COMMISSIONER WILLIAM BRATTON; POLICE COMMISSIONER HOWARD SAFIR; NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT; RUDOLPH GIULIANI, Mayor; THE CITY OF NEW YORK; ANTHONY KISSIK, Defendants-Appellees
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 610

243 F.3d 610 (2nd Cir. 2001)

PATRICIA A. RANIOLA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. POLICE COMMISSIONER WILLIAM BRATTON; POLICE COMMISSIONER HOWARD SAFIR; NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT; RUDOLPH GIULIANI, Mayor; THE CITY OF NEW YORK; ANTHONY KISSIK, Defendants-Appellees.

Docket No. 00-7215

August Term, 2000

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

Argued: November 9, 2000

Decided: March 19, 2001

Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Alvin K. Hellerstein, Judge) granting defendants' motion for judgment as a matter of law and dismissing the complaint. We conclude that there was a legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find for the plaintiff on her hostile work environment and retaliation claims.

AFFIRMED in part, VACATED and REMANDED in part.

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] DANIEL B. GAZAN, Jeffrey L. Goldberg, P.C., Elmhurst, NY, for plaintiff-appellant.

GEORGE GUTWIRTH, for Michael D. Hess, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York (Francis F. Caputo, of Counsel), for defendants-appellees.

Before: STRAUB, SOTOMAYOR, Circuit Judges, and AMON, District Judge.^*

SOTOMAYOR, Circuit Judge:

Patricia Raniola was an officer in the New York City Police Department ("NYPD") for thirteen years. After receiving commendations for her early police work, the police department claims that Raniola became a frequent violator of the police disciplinary code--accumulating an extensive record of not following police procedures, failing to appear when needed in court, losing police property, not filing required paperwork, being discourteous, and lateness-which led to her suspension and eventual termination from the police department. Raniola tells a very different story. She claims that she was subjected to years of abuse including derogatory remarks, disproportionately burdensome assignments, sabotage of her work, threats, and false accusations of misconduct, all because she was a woman and had complained of her mistreatment.

Three days into a jury trial on Raniola's civil rights claims, with several witnesses for Raniola still to be called, the district court considered proffers of the remaining testimony and then invited motions for judgment as a matter of law. After oral argument, the court granted defendants' motion and dismissed the complaint. This appeal followed.

We find that Raniola presented enough evidence to reach the jury on her hostile work environment and retaliation claims and therefore vacate the district court's judgment and remand for a new trial on these two claims together with Raniola's pendent state and municipal law claims. We affirm the district court's grant of judgment as a matter of law on all of Raniola's remaining federal claims.¹ Viewed in the light most favorable to Raniola as the party challenging the grant of judgment as a matter of law, the testimony and documents in the record present the following facts.

BACKGROUND

A. Facts

Patricia Raniola joined the NYPD in January 1983. She was assigned to the 52nd precinct and received several police commendations during her first years of service. Raniola was suspended from the NYPD in September 1986 after being charged with not calling a supervisor to the scene of an injury, falsely reporting a line of duty injury, and supplying false information on a witness statement.

In May 1987, Raniola filed complaints against the NYPD with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") alleging sex discrimination² and retaliation, and in federal court alleging violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.³ While suspended, Raniola pled guilty in an internal police proceeding to the unlawful possession of a police parking permit.

In May 1990, Raniola was reinstated to the 52nd precinct after a successful EEOC conciliation. From her reinstatement in 1990 until December 1991, Raniola appears to have encountered no significant problems at work, although a substantial portion of this time, from February to October 1991, Raniola was on maternity leave.

Beginning in December 1991, Raniola again began to experience disciplinary problems. Raniola testified that some of these problems were due to personal and family difficulties. From December 1991 to January 1993, Raniola received at least four "command disciplines" for disciplinary violations. Her 1992 performance evaluation noted that she fell below standards in some areas, mentioning a problem with lateness, 19 minor violations, and a "chronic A" health classification, indicating that she had called in sick four times during the previous year.

In February 1993, Raniola was "administratively" transferred to the 50th precinct after another disciplinary incident in which Raniola was accused of being discourteous to a nonuniformed member of the NYPD. Raniola's treatment at the 50th precinct provides the basis for her hostile work environment and retaliation claims. The 50th precinct was commanded by Captain Anthony Kissik. Raniola was the target of sex-based derogatory remarks by Capt. Kissik and other comments written on a notice advertising a police event. Kissik once threatened Raniola with physical harm. A desired shift and the opportunity to work back-to-back shifts that were denied to Raniola were granted to male officers. Raniola and her female partner were given the most burdensome work assignments in the precinct. A commendation available to male officers was not available to Raniola and her female partner. Raniola was subjected to workplace sabotage resulting in her being disciplined for incidents beyond her control. During her two and a half years at the 50th precinct, Raniola received six "command disciplines." Soon after Raniola filed an EEOC complaint to redress her alleged mistreatment, Capt. Kissik took several adverse actions against her and announced to officers assembled after roll call, when Raniola was the only female officer in the room, "listen up everybody, we have a problem. There... is a rat here in the precinct. Until I get rid of her, we are all in this together." Raniola proffered testimony that would have established that Kissik had singled out Raniola for discipline, heavier workloads, and unfavorable assignments in an effort to force Raniola to resign from the NYPD, and that Raniola's name was on a police "hit list" indicating she should be terminated if at all possible. Captain Kissik transferred Raniola to the 112th precinct in July 1995.

Upon her arrival at the 112th precinct, Raniola's disciplinary problems generally ceased, and, at the end of her first year there, she was given a favorable evaluation. While at the 112th precinct, however, Raniola was prosecuted for disciplinary charges involving her prior conduct at the 50th precinct, charges that resulted in her suspension and placement on termination-probation. In September 1996, Raniola was terminated from the NYPD for a remark she allegedly made while off duty.

The incident that resulted in her termination occurred on June 17, 1996, at the home of a former co-worker at the 50th precinct, Gloria Gonzalez. Raniola had parked in front of Gonzalez's home and shouted up to her asking whether she wanted to go out to eat. According to Raniola's testimony at trial, Gonzalez responded that officers from the Internal Affairs Bureau of the NYPD were in Gonzalez's apartment and that Gonzalez would meet Raniola later. Raniola claims that at this point she told Gonzalez, "[i]f they are harassing you,... make a complaint," and left. According to a subsequent police disciplinary report, however, Raniola said to Gonzalez, "[w]hy are those assholes harassing you, fuck you guys from I-A-B, take my plate, I don't care." The NYPD determined that this comment constituted "conduct prejudicial to the good order, efficiency and discipline of the Department," indicated "a refusal to conform with the standards required for continued employment with the New York City Police Department," violated Raniola's probation, and warranted Raniola's termination.

Prior to her termination in September 1996, Raniola had filed an internal police department complaint in April or May 1995 and an EEOC complaint in July 1995 seeking redress for her alleged mistreatment at the 50th precinct. The EEOC issued a right to sue letter on March 19, 1996, and Raniola filed her civil rights complaint in federal court on June 17, 1996.⁴

On appeal, Raniola challenges the judgment as a matter of law granted as to her claims that: (1) she experienced a hostile work environment because she was a woman; and (2) she was suspended, put on probation, and terminated in retaliation for having complained of her harassment.

B. The District Court's Ruling on Defendants' Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law

Addressing Raniola's hostile work environment claim, the district court characterized Raniola's treatment as typical of "the camaraderie of a precinct house," which lacks "[s]ome of the niceties of expression that one would expect" in many other workplaces. The court found that there was "no evidence that plaintiff herself felt that the use of barnyard street expletives directed to her or directed to others made her work environment offensive," or "that plaintiff was intimidated in terms of her work or suffered[,] because of any expletives[,] any inability or difficulty in performing her work."

Regarding Raniola's treatment by other officers at the 50th precinct, the district court acknowledged that the "[t]he evidence... suggests that the plaintiff... was the object of treatment that was very difficult for her," but concluded that

there is no evidence that those who reacted to that history [of disciplinary problems] were focusing on gender rather than the person. They were focusing on the plaintiff, Patricia Raniola, because they disliked her intensely and made life difficult for her, at least that's what the testimony suggests and that's what a jury...