Sprenger v. Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines

• Decision Date: 13 April 2001
• Docket Number: No. 00-3079,00-3079
• Citation: 253 F.3d 1106
• Parties: (8th Cir. 2001) WILLIAM J. SPRENGER, APPELLANT, v. FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK OF DES MOINES, APPELLEE. Submitted:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1106

253 F.3d 1106 (8th Cir. 2001)

WILLIAM J. SPRENGER, APPELLANT, v. FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK OF DES MOINES, APPELLEE.

No. 00-3079

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

Submitted: April 13, 2001

Filed: June 15, 2001

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before Bye and Beam, Circuit Judges, and Nangle, ¹ District Judge.

Beam, Circuit Judge.

William Sprenger filed suit against his employer, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines (the "Bank"), alleging age discrimination, disability discrimination, and retaliation. The district court ² granted the Bank's motion for summary judgment on all claims. Sprenger appeals, and we affirm.

I.

We recount the facts in a manner most favorable to Sprenger. In January 1992, the Bank hired Sprenger, then aged fifty-two, to work as vice president of correspondent banking. In 1999, his title changed to vice president/field sales representative, a position he continues in today. Other similarly situated officers hired at the same time ranged in age from forty-one to fifty-six. In his position, Sprenger sells loans to member banks. He receives a base salary, incentive bonuses and commissions. With annual raises his base salary grew from $75,000 in 1992 to $85,791.58 in 1996. His total compensation reached $114,561.24 in 1998.

The Bank's employee handbook stated that raises were not tied to a specific timetable, but rather were to be awarded based on an employee's performance appraisal, the position of an employee's salary within the applicable salary range, and the time elapsed since the employee's last raise. The Bank published a "Proposed Salary Increase Guide" (the "Guide"), plotting these factors against each other and suggesting when a raise might be appropriate. The handbook identified performance appraisals as the key factor in receiving a raise and provided that an appraisal should occur at least once every eighteen months. Each of Sprenger's raises followed a performance review.

A performance review included the completion of a performance appraisal form on which a manager could review an employee across six "Principal Accountabilities" and five "Factors Affecting Performance," and could also assign the employee an overall performance grade. In each area an employee could earn one of four grades: "unsatisfactory;" "acceptable but needs improvement;" "expected;" and "significantly exceeds expectations." The appraisal form presented the possible grades for each category along a bar grid, permitting the reviewer to indicate where within each level the assigned grade fell (i.e., "expected" but close to "significantly exceeding expectations," as opposed to "expected" but close to "acceptable but needs improvement"). The form also provided space for written comments. Sprenger received evaluations each year. During the relevant years, those reviews were completed by two different supervisors, Greg VanGilder and Steve Jordan, and were also signed by Bank President Thurman "Sam" Connell.

In late 1996, Sprenger was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, a degenerative condition that can curtail a person's ability to engage in physical activity. In January 1997, Sprenger disclosed his condition to the Bank's human resources director, Steve Hansen. VanGilder, then Sprenger's supervisor, asked Sprenger what percentage he was disabled, and also whether he had considered disability retirement. VanGilder was concerned, in part, because driving a vehicle was an integral part of Sprenger's job.

VanGilder reviewed Sprenger in February 1997. VanGilder graded him "needs improvement" in three Principal Accountabilities areas: (1) soliciting customers, (2) developing marketing concepts for the Bank, and (3) developing and presenting sales concepts for member Banks. VanGilder also graded Sprenger as "needs improvement" in Administrative Skills and gave him low "expected" ratings for the other Factors Affecting Performance. VanGilder's written comments suggested Sprenger needed to improve presentation-planning and to better use available technology. Nevertheless, VanGilder recommended that Sprenger receive a raise, as suggested by the Guide. Bank President Connell, however, in consultation with Hansen, decided against the raise. In a memo to VanGilder, Hansen suggested that withholding a raise would be an effective tool for getting Sprenger's attention, in light of the performance review. Instead of a raise, Hansen and VanGilder set three performance goals for Sprenger to be reviewed after six months. If Sprenger showed adequate improvement, Hansen wrote he would recommend Sprenger for a raise.

The Bank reviewed Sprenger again in December 1997. This review graded him as borderline between "needs improvement" and "expected" on the areas highlighted in the February review. The evaluation did note some improvement and rated him "expected" overall. VanGilder drafted a memo to Sprenger's file concluding Sprenger had met two of the three performance goals set for him, but noted the need for continued improvement in call-planning and organization. After this evaluation, the Bank again declined to award Sprenger a raise. Following the December evaluation, VanGilder retired and Steve Jordan became Sprenger's manager.

In a letter to Connell, dated February 27, 1998, Sprenger expressed dissatisfaction with the review process, accused management of bad faith, and stated that he had been singled out for non-performance related issues. Connell responded in a memorandum addressing Sprenger's concerns. In March, Sprenger's counsel demanded that Connell cease all discrimination and retaliation against Sprenger. Sprenger then filed discrimination charges with the Missouri Commission on Human Rights in June 1998, with the EEOC in July 1998, and with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission in November 1998.

In September 1998, Jordan reviewed Sprenger's performance. Jordan rated him as "needs improvement" in developing marketing concepts for the Bank, and in working with co-workers to develop, price and implement new products and services. Jordan gave him this same rating for Job Knowledge, Administrative Skills and Other Job Related Activities. Jordan rated Sprenger overall as "needs improvement." Jordan's written comments suggested Sprenger was not adequately utilizing planning software and other technical applications. After this evaluation, the Bank again failed to give Sprenger a raise.

Jordan and Sprenger met in September to go over the evaluation. Sprenger disputed Jordan's assessment of his abilities. Jordan agreed to go over it again, and commented: "There are some attitudes that need to be changed in Des Moines." In a telephone conversation a few days later, Jordan told Sprenger, with regard to his pending evaluation, to "play the game." In October, the Bank asked Sprenger to report to Des Moines where he was asked to undergo an assessment of his computer skills. Sprenger characterizes this as an "ambush test." Sprenger took the assessment and passed with flying colors. Two months later, Sprenger received a revised appraisal in which Jordan rated him overall as "expected," and gave him "expected" ratings in every area except one in which he received a grade of "significantly exceeds expectations." After this evaluation, Sprenger received a 4.2% pay raise.

Sprenger filed this action in January 1999. He accused the Bank of denying him three raises in a row, which he characterized as "unprecedented." He alleged that in doing so, the Bank discriminated against him on the basis of age, in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and on the basis of disability, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Sprenger also accused the Bank of retaliation, and raised various state law claims. The district court found Sprenger adequately raised a prima facie case of age discrimination, but that he failed to create a genuine question of material fact as to whether the Bank's rationale for its conduct was pretextual or whether the Bank actually engaged in age discrimination. The district court also found that Sprenger failed to prove a prima facie case of either disability discrimination or retaliation. ³ Based on these findings, the district court awarded the Bank summary judgment on all claims.

II.

We review the district court's award of summary judgment de novo. Lang v. Star Herald, 107 F.3d 1308, 1311 (8th Cir. 1997). Such is appropriate only when the evidence indicates no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). As the non-moving party, Sprenger is entitled to all reasonable inferences-those that "can be drawn from the evidence without resort to speculation." Kincade v. U.S. Elec. Motors, Inc., 219 F.3d 800, 801 (8th Cir. 2000). "The mere existence of a scintilla of evidence in support of the plaintiff's position will be insufficient; there must be evidence on which the jury could reasonably find for the plaintiff." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252 (1986). As regards the pretext inquiry specifically, "to survive summary judgment, [the plaintiff] must adduce enough admissible evidence to raise genuine doubt as to the legitimacy of a defendant's motive, even if that evidence does not directly contradict or disprove a defendant's articulated reasons for its actions." Buettner v. Arch Coal Sales Co., Inc., 216 F.3d 707, 717 (8th Cir. 2000), cert. denied, ___U.S.___, 121 S. Ct. 775 (2001).

Sprenger's claims are all subject to the well-worn burden-shifting mechanism of McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973). See Tatom v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., 228 F.3d 926, 931 (8th Cir. 2000) (age discrimination); Allen v. Interior Constr. Serv., Ltd., 214 F.3d 978, 981 (8th Cir. 2000) (disability discrimination); Scott v. County of Ramsey, 180 F.3d 913, 917 (8th Cir. 1999) (retaliation). Under this...