Terry v. Gary Cmty. Sch. Corp.
| Decision Date | 14 December 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 18-1270,18-1270 |
| Citation | 910 F.3d 1000 |
| Parties | Gloria D. TERRY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. GARY COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Trent A. McCain, Attorney, MCCAIN LAW OFFICES, P.C., Merrillville, IN, for Plaintiff - Appellant.
Tracy Ann Coleman, Attorney, LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, Gary, IN, for Defendant - Appellee.
Before Flaum, Ripple, and Manion, Circuit Judges.
For thirty-five years, plaintiff-appellant Gloria D. Terry worked as a teacher and an administrator for defendant-appellee Gary Community School Corporation (the "District"). At the end of the 2013–2014 school year, the District closed the elementary school where Terry served as the Principal because of declining enrollment. In turn, the District reassigned her to serve as the Assistant Principal at another elementary school. From Terry’s perspective, this reassignment was a demotion. Additionally, the District also picked a male employee over Terry for a separate promotion, even though Terry had earned the highest ranking of all the applicants from the interviewers.
These events motivated Terry to bring this lawsuit, alleging sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1), and the Fourteenth Amendment via 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ; retaliation in violation of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a) ; unequal pay in violation of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, 29 U.S.C. § 206(d)(1) ; and a violation of the Indiana Open Door Law, Ind. Code § 5-14-1.5-1 et seq . Only Terry’s federal claims are at issue on appeal. The parties consented to referral to a magistrate judge who granted summary judgment in favor of the District on Terry’s federal claims. Terry appeals that decision, and we affirm.
In August 1980, Terry began her career with the District as a teacher. Twenty-two years later, in August 2002, the District promoted Terry to Principal of Brunswick Elementary School. She remained in that position until the end of the 2013–2014 school year, when the District closed the school.
Brunswick Elementary was one of several schools the District closed at the end of the 2013–2014 school year due to declining enrollment. These closings meant the Board of School Trustees (the "Board") had to decide whether to reassign employees from the closed schools to any positions at the schools that remained open. To that end, the Board met on July 22, 2014, and it considered personnel recommendations from the District’s Superintendent, Dr. Cheryl Pruitt. The Board approved Dr. Pruitt’s recommendation that Terry serve as Assistant Principal of Jefferson Elementary School, pending enrollment of at least 575 students; that William Roberts serve as Principal of Watson Boys Academy; and that Marcus Upshaw serve as Assistant Principal of West Side High School. But, the Board did not approve Dr. Pruitt’s recommendation that Gina Ellison serve as Principal of Marquette Elementary School.
Two days after the Board’s meeting, the District advertised an opening for the position of Principal at Marquette Elementary. The posting noted an interview requirement. Several candidates, including Terry, interviewed for the position. Terry earned the highest ranking from the Interview Committee; but, on August 13, 2014, the District notified Terry that it did not select her for the position.
As it turned out, Dr. Pruitt never considered the Interview Committee’s rankings. Instead, she recommended Sheldon Cain to fill the position even though Cain had not interviewed nor applied for the position. What distinguished Cain from the other candidates was his recent experience working at Marquette Elementary. During the 2013–2014 school year, when the Principal of Marquette Elementary had taken time off to recover from an illness, Cain served as the Interim Principal. And before that, Cain was the Assistant Principal of Marquette Elementary.
In October 2014, Terry filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the "EEOC"), stating that she faced employment discrimination on the basis of her sex because she was demoted, passed over for a promotion, and paid less, in violation of Title VII and the Equal Pay Act. The District’s Human Resources Director, Willie Cook, sent a response to the EEOC. The District denied discriminating against Terry and explained that it had to close Brunswick Elementary and four other schools in July 2014 due to declining enrollment. Rather than laying off Terry, the District reassigned her to help the Principal of Jefferson Elementary. Notwithstanding the reassignment, the District did not change Terry’s salary. Finally, the District explained it chose Cain to serve as Principal of Marquette Elementary because he "had served as Assistant Principal there since 2009, Acting Principal for 2012–2013, Interim for 2013–2014, and was familiar with the school’s operation and population."
For two weeks in January 2015, Terry served as the Assistant Principal of Jefferson Elementary until the District reassigned her to serve as the Assistant Principal of Marquette Elementary. She remained in that role until she retired at the end of the 2014–2015 school year.
Although Terry’s responsibilities changed between her role as Principal of Brunswick Elementary and her roles as Assistant Principal of Jefferson Elementary and then as Assistant Principal of Marquette Elementary, throughout her time serving in those three roles, she earned the same salary ($84,308) and she received the same benefits. Nevertheless, Terry took issue with the fact that two male principals, Cain and Roberts, received higher salaries than she did. Cain and Roberts each received $85,986 during the 2013–2014 school year. Terry did not file anything with the Board requesting an increase in salary; however, she discussed her concerns with Cook.
Terry learned from Human Resources that for several years, the District had been operating under a salary freeze, meaning the District could not increase the salary for a given position. In his deposition, Cook explained that the salary for the Principal of Marquette Elementary was frozen at $85,986; so if Terry had been selected for that role, she would have received that salary.
Dr. Pruitt sent Terry a letter, dated February 25, 2015, advising Terry that the Board voted the day before not to renew her contract as an administrator for the District for the 2015–2016 school year. This prompted Terry to retire because "if [she] didn’t retire then, [she] would lose all the benefits of an administrator." Accordingly, on April 2, 2015, Terry sent a resignation letter to inform the Board and the District that her last day of work would be June 30, 2015.
After receiving the EEOC’s right-to-sue letter, Terry filed her initial complaint in this action on April 2, 2015. Soon thereafter, she filed an amended complaint and moved for partial summary judgment on her Indiana state-law claim. The district court granted Terry’s motion. Approximately one month later, on August 17, 2015, Terry filed a second amended complaint, which is the operative complaint. Then, the parties consented to the exercise of jurisdiction by a magistrate judge for all further proceedings pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c). The District moved for summary judgment on Terry’s remaining federal claims. On January 8, 2018, the magistrate judge granted the motion. This appeal followed.
We review the grant of summary judgment de novo. Barbera v. Pearson Educ., Inc. , 906 F.3d 621, 628 (7th Cir. 2018). Summary judgment is appropriate "if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). We draw all reasonable inferences for the nonmoving party, and we view the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Barbera , 906 F.3d at 628. We may affirm the grant of summary judgment on any ground supported in the record, so long as the parties adequately presented the issue in the district court and the nonmoving party had an opportunity to contest it. O’Brien v. Caterpillar Inc. , 900 F.3d 923, 928 (7th Cir. 2018).
Title VII makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against any employee on the basis of sex. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1) ; Abrego v. Wilkie , 907 F.3d 1004, 1012 (7th Cir. 2018). The critical question on summary judgment is whether Terry presented evidence that would permit a reasonable fact-finder to conclude that the District took a materially adverse employment action against Terry because of her sex. See Barbera , 906 F.3d at 629. Although the oft-cited burden shifting framework from McDonnell Douglas Corporation v. Green , 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), provides "a means of organizing, presenting, and assessing circumstantial evidence," David v. Bd. of Trs. of Cmty. Coll. Dist. No. 508 , 846 F.3d 216, 224 (7th Cir. 2017), we must consider the evidence as a whole in deciding whether to grant summary judgment, see Ortiz v. Werner Enters., Inc. , 834 F.3d 760, 765 (7th Cir. 2016).
Terry argues the District engaged in sex discrimination both by demoting her from Principal of Brunswick Elementary to Assistant Principal of Jefferson Elementary and by promoting Cain instead of her to serve as Principal of Marquette Elementary. If Terry can show that the District demoted or failed to promote her because of her sex, the burden shifts to the District to present a legitimate and nondiscriminatory reason for the adverse action, and if the District can make that showing, the burden shifts back to Terry to create a triable issue of fact that the proffered reason was pretextual. Barbera , 906 F.3d at 629.
Terry insists that the demotion from Principal of Brunswick Elementary to Assistant Principal of Jefferson Elementary constitutes an adverse action...
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