Rodriguez v. Smithkline Beecham

• Decision Date: 08 June 2000
• Docket Number: No. 99-2031,99-2031
• Citation: 224 F.3d 1
• Parties: (1st Cir. 2000) HILDA Rodriguez, ET AL.,Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. SMITHKLINE BEECHAM, THEIR AGENTS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES AND SUCCESSORS IN INTEREST, Defendant, Appellee. Heard
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Page 1

224 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2000)

HILDA Rodriguez, ET AL.,Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. SMITHKLINE BEECHAM, THEIR AGENTS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES AND SUCCESSORS IN INTEREST, Defendant, Appellee.

No. 99-2031

United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit

Heard June 8, 2000

Decided August 16, 2000

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO. Hon. Jaime Pieras, Jr., Senior U.S. District Judge.

Jose Enrique Colon-Santana for appellants.

Gregory T. Usera, with whom Mariela Rexach-Rexach and Schuster Usera Aguilo & Santiago were on brief, for appellee.

Before: Torruella, Chief Judge, Campbell, Senior Circuit Judge, and Schwarzer, ^* Senior District Judge.

TORRUELLA, Chief Judge.

Before the Court is an appeal from the district court's entry of summary judgment. The district court held that appellant's sex discrimination claims under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 failed as a matter of law and entered judgment in favor of the appellee. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Appellant's Employment at Smithkline

Appellant Hilda Rodriguez began employment at appellee Smithkline Beecham Pharmaceutical, P.R., Inc. ("Smithkline") in 1979 as an Analytical Chemist, a grade level C position within Smithkline's compensation structure. She was promoted in 1985 to the position of Senior Analyst, with a grade level of E.

In 1986, appellant applied for a lateral transfer to Smithkline's Documentation Department as a Senior Document Monitor; she received the transfer, although initially as a "temporary" assignment. In November of 1986, the Senior Document Monitor position was reevaluated and reclassified as a grade level F position, pursuant to Smithkline's Job Evaluation Program. ¹ Appellant's appointment as Senior Documentation Monitor was made permanent in June of 1987. In March of 1988, the title of that position was changed to Senior Monitor. In February 1989, appellant was promoted to Master Records Specialist, a grade level H position. In January 1991, she was again promoted, to the position of Quality Assurance Administrator in the Process Operations Management System project, with a job grade level of 5E.

B. Alleged Wage Discrimination with Regard to the Document Leader Position

When appellant first joined the Documentation Department in 1986, the position of Documentation Manager was held by Gloria Vales. Vales was compensated at level 7. In September 1989, Vales was transferred to another department and was replaced by Manuel Llivina. Llivina was transferred in from a grade level 7 position in another department as part of Smithkline's Management Development Program, and he maintained his grade level while serving as Documentation Manager. ² In August of 1992, Llivina was transferred out of the Documentation Department, again as part of the Management Development Program, and the Documentation Manager position became vacant.

Meanwhile, in July 1991, a new position called Records Management Leader was created in the Documentation Department, at grade level 6. Rodoberto Feo was transferred to that position from another position within the company, and he maintained his previous grade level of 8 pursuant to Smithkline's Personal to Holder policy. ³

After reassessing departmental needs in 1992, Smithkline decided to eliminate the Documentation Manager and Records Management Leader positions. A new position entitled Documentation Leader was created in January of 1993, and appellant was identified as the candidate to fill the new position. When the new position was evaluated pursuant to the Job Evaluation Program, it was designated a level 6 position. Appellant claims that the difference in grade level (and thus in compensation) compared to that of Llivina and Feo constituted gender-based wage discrimination.

C. Alleged Discriminatory Failure to Hire or Promote

On January 16, 1995, Edwin Lopez was hired as an Analytical Services Leader or Laboratory Manager, with a grade level of 8, to manage and direct the Quality Control section's analytical laboratories (which included all chemistry laboratories at the facility). As required by the job description, Lopez had a masters degree and significant previous work experience managing an analytical laboratory. Appellant claims, however, that appellee's failure to hire or promote her to the position of Analytical Services Leader, instead of Lopez constituted sex discrimination. ⁴ Although she does not hold a masters or doctoral degree, nor had she ever managed an analytical laboratory, appellant claims that her prior experience at Smithkline qualified her for the position.

D. Alleged Wage Discrimination with Regard to Compliance Process Improver Position

As Analytical Services Leader, Lopez's responsibilities included (1) managerial and supervisory responsibility for all of Quality Control's ⁵ analytical laboratory operations; (2) monitoring of all analytical data for submission to regulatory agencies; (3) approval of all analytical reports, Annual Product Review reports, and Water Systems reports; (4) improvement, validation, and automation of current methodology and technology; (5) provision of analytical and technical support for complaints, internal investigations, product development activities, and product transfer areas; (6) development of new and improved analytical methodology, including review of pertinent literature and formulation of recommendations; and (7) extensive budgetary responsibilities for the analytical laboratories. Approximately sixty-two employees were under Lopez's supervision as Analytical Services Leader.

In 1995, Smithkline began to implement a new organic structure in the Compliance Department, as part of a facility-wide restructuring. During implementation of the new structure, Lopez was informed that his title would eventually change to that of Compliance Process Improver for the Quality Control section, although his duties would not be affected. ⁶ The Compliance Process Improver position was reviewed under the Job Evaluation Program and designated a level 6 position. Before the transition was complete, however, Smithkline reassessed its needs and determined that Lopez should retain his duties as head of the laboratories under the title of Compliance Laboratory Strategist. Because this position entailed most of the functions of the Analytical Services Leader position, plus some aspects of the Compliance Process Improver job, the Laboratory Strategist position was designated a level 8 position.⁷

During the implementation of the new organic structure, appellant was also informed that her title would change to Compliance Process Improver, in her case for the Quality Assurance section. Throughout the transitional period, appellant continued to perform her duties as Documentation Leader. On January 1, 1997, appellant's change in position became effective, and she assumed her duties as Compliance Process Improver. ⁸ As such, appellant's duties included primarily the identification of potential improvement areas and the formulation and implementation of projects to make such improvements. She does not currently have, nor has she ever had, managerial responsibility for any of the laboratories, nor does she supervise any employees or control any budgetary decisions.

E. Procedural History

On October 1, 1996, appellant sent a letter to Smithkline complaining of discriminatory treatment. She filed a discrimination charge with the Antidiscrimination Unit of the Puerto Rico Department of Labor and Human Resources on June 13, 1997. Appellant received her notice of right to sue from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on March 25, 1998, and she subsequently filed this action in the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, stating claims under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

On July 8, 1999, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of Smithkline, rejecting all of appellant's claims. See Rodriguez v. Smithkline Beecham Pharmaceutical, Puerto Rico, Inc., 62 F. Supp. 2d 374 (D.P.R. 1999). ⁹ The court first rejected appellant's failure to hire or promote claim as untimely. See id. at 379. The court then proceeded to examine the Title VII wage discrimination claims. Following the majority of federal courts of appeals to have addressed the interplay of the Equal Pay Act ("EPA") and Title VII, the district court held that the Bennett Amendment to Title VII incorporated the EPA statutory defenses to wage discrimination claims but did not otherwise alter the Title VII analysis, including the burden-shifting aspects. See id. at 381-82. Applying existing First Circuit law, the court determined that appellant had failed to make out a prima facie case of discrimination, see id. at 383-84, and further that appellant had not shown Smithkline's proffered reasons to be pretextual, see id. at 384. Finally, the district court rejected appellant's EPA claims, concluding as a matter of law that appellant's job was not substantially similar to that of Lopez nor to that of Llivina or Feo. See id.

This appeal followed. In addition to claiming that the district court erred in entering summary judgment against her on all claims, appellant also argues that the court erred in denying her motion to add an expert to her witness list.

II. LAW AND APPLICATION

A. Standard of Review

We review orders granting summary judgment de novo, construing the record in the light most favorable to the nonmovant and resolving all reasonable inferences in her favor. SeeGE Supply v. C & G Enters., Inc., 212 F.3d 14, 17 (1st Cir. 2000). We are not limited to accepting or rejecting the district court's rationale; rather, we may affirm the entry of summary judgment on any sufficient ground revealed by the record. See id.

The district court's exclusion of expert testimony is reviewed under an "abuse of discretion" standard. See General Elec. Co. v. Joiner, 522...