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Nature of Suit Code: 440
Nature of Suit: Other Civil Rights
Cause of Action: 

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NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION

File Name: 15a0064n.06

No. 14-3512

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

ROSILAND MORRIS,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, Eric K. 

Shinseki, Secretary of Veterans Affairs,

Defendant-Appellee.

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ON APPEAL FROM THE 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT 

COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN 

DISTRICT OF OHIO

BEFORE: SUHRHEINRICH and GRIFFIN, Circuit Judges; and LEITMAN, District Judge.*

GRIFFIN, Circuit Judge. 

Plaintiff Rosiland Morris appeals the district court’s order granting summary judgment in 

favor of defendant Department of Veterans Affairs in this action alleging demotion in retaliation 

for engaging in Equal Employment Opportunity (“EEO”) activity, in violation of Title VII of the 

Civil Rights Act of 1964. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. 

I.

Rosiland Morris is an African-American female who works at the Dayton Veterans 

Affairs Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio (“DVAMC”). She began her employment for the 

DVAMC as a diagnostic imaging technician in April 1993 and has worked there continuously

 

*

The Honorable Matthew F. Leitman, United States District Judge for the Eastern District 

of Michigan, sitting by designation. 

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while holding different positions within the medical center. Morris began working as an MRI 

certified technologist at the DVAMC in 2005 after an MRI machine was first installed. Prior to 

being assigned to this position, Morris went through extensive training and received MRI 

certification. 

The DVAMC maintains a specific policy on “Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) 

Safety” that outlines safety procedures to be adhered to by all MRI personnel. The policy 

specifically notes that “[t]here are risks and safety concerns inherent in an MRI environment due 

to the generation of strong magnetic fields, and that the magnet is always on.” The policy thus 

dictates that it is the responsibility of MRI personnel to “screen all patients, non-MRI staff and 

other individuals, prior to allowing access to Zone III” and that any “[n]on MRI staff and other 

individuals, who are granted access to Zone III . . . are under the direct supervision of MRI 

personnel.” Morris understood these policies and acknowledged that it was her “sole 

responsibility to ensure that each patient is not in any danger when entering the MRI scanner.”

On October 29, 2010, Morris was the only MRI technologist on duty. It was not 

uncommon for her to run the MRI machine by herself; Morris testified that she was competent to 

do so. Upon a request by a nurse in the intensive care unit (“ICU”), Morris agreed to add an ICU 

patient who was on a ventilator to her schedule. Because the MRI machine is a giant magnet that 

attracts any metals in the same room into the bore of the scanner, patients in need of oxygen 

must have an MRI-safe oxygen tank and ventilator in order to enter the MRI scanning room 

(Zone IV). The MRI-safe ventilator is kept in the respiratory therapy unit and is stored on an 

MRI-safe stand. Morris confirmed with the nurse that the respiratory therapist would be 

bringing the MRI-safe ventilator, and she accordingly prepped the MRI scanning room, turning 

on the oxygen source on the wall. 

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The patient was escorted to the MRI suite by an ICU nurse, Kerry Hankins, and a 

respiratory therapist, Patricia Hammond. Hammond had never escorted a patient to MRI before. 

Morris met Hankins and Hammond in the MRI waiting room. She observed the metal oxygen 

tank when the patient arrived and advised Hammond that nothing metal could go beyond the 

waiting area. Morris moved the patient into the scanning room and positioned him on the 

scanning table with the assistance of an x-ray technologist. At some point, Hammond, who also 

had entered the scanning room, walked out while Morris was adjusting the patient. Hammond 

reentered the scanning room with the ventilator stand and attached metal oxygen tank. The MRI 

immediately attracted the oxygen tank, and it flew across the room into the bore of the MRI 

scanner, narrowly missing Morris and the patient. Miraculously, no one in the room was injured, 

but the sole MRI machine at the DVAMC sustained approximately $70,000 worth of damage 

and was out of order for repairs for several days following the incident. 

As a direct result of the accident, on November 1, 2010, Dr. Neil Katz, Morris’s 

supervisor and Chief of Therapeutic and Diagnostic Imaging at DVAMC, changed Morris’s 

detail from MRI technologist to general radiology. The change in detail was made as a safety 

precaution “pending further investigation” of the incident. Dr. Katz also initiated a fact-finding 

investigation and interviewed all of the people involved. In his initial report, he concluded that 

Morris committed clear violations of DVAMC’s established MRI Safety Policy by failing to 

screen patients and non-MRI staff prior to allowing access to the MRI scanning room and by 

failing to check the patient for an oxygen cylinder before entering the area. Dr. Katz also 

determined that Morris violated the Radiology Policy by failing to verbally explain the risks of 

the magnetized environment to non-MRI trained personnel. Dr. Katz recommended: 

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The MRI technologist [Morris] involved in this incident had been involved in 

another incident resulting in a minor burn to a patient. In both situations, there 

were issues of communication, and she was counseled about this after the first 

incident. Because of the severity of the current incident, which could have 

resulted in severe injury or death of a patient or staff person, the technologist 

involved has been removed from the MRI section. Further assessment will take 

place to determine whether permanent removal from the MRI section is 

warranted. 

Dr. Katz’s findings and conclusions were relayed to DVAMC’s human resources 

department, which worked with Dr. Katz and Morris’s other supervisors to reach a final 

recommendation on Morris’s status. The Medical Center Policy provided a “Range of Penalties 

for Stated Offenses.” The appropriate penalty for a first offense of “[c]areless or negligent 

workmanship resulting in waste or delay” was admonishment and reprimand. When the nature 

of the offense was “[e]ndangering the safety of or causing injury to anyone on VA premises 

through carelessness or negligence,” the Policy called for a minimum penalty of admonishment 

and a maximum penalty of removal. 

On April 12, 2011, Morris sought EEO counseling as a result of her change in detail and 

DVAMC’s denial of her attendance at a software meeting for MRI technologists. She then filed 

a formal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) on 

September 15, 2011. Two claims were at issue: (1) whether Morris was discriminated against 

when she was not invited to the March 2011 software meeting; and (2) whether she was 

discriminated against when her request for reinstatement as an MRI technologist was denied.

On November 4, 2011, Morris made a letter request that Dr. Katz return her to her MRI 

position no later than November 16, 2011. Shortly thereafter, by letter dated November 22, 

2011, Dr. Katz formally requested that disciplinary action be taken against Morris as a result of 

the October 2010 incident. On February 6, 2012, Dr. Katz sent a letter to Morris formally 

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notifying her of the proposed demotion from Diagnostic Radiologic Technologist, GS-647-9 

(MRI Section), to Diagnostic Radiologic Technologist, GS-647-8 (General Radiology), based on 

a charge of careless workmanship in violation of Medical Center Policy 114-10. The demotion 

was approved by DVAMC and became effective on May 20, 2012. 

On June 27, 2012, the EEOC issued a Final Agency Decision finding no discrimination 

as to both claims asserted in Morris’s EEOC complaint. On August 8, 2012, Morris filed an 

EEO Complaint alleging that her demotion was in retaliation for her prior EEO activity. On 

August 21, 2012, she filed the present action in federal district court, alleging that DVAMC 

discriminated against her on the basis of race and retaliated against her for protected EEO 

activity, in violation of Title VII. In February 2013, Morris amended her complaint to add the 

demotion to her retaliation claim. 

Following discovery, DVAMC moved for summary judgment on all claims. In its 

written order issued on May 1, 2014, the district court granted defendant’s motion in its entirety. 

Although the court held that Morris established prima facie cases of retaliation and race 

discrimination, the court concluded that DVAMC had articulated a legitimate, nondiscriminatory 

reason for demoting Morris—the serious safety violation that occurred in October 2010—and 

that Morris then failed to carry her burden of showing by a preponderance of the evidence that 

this reason was a mere pretext for discrimination and retaliation. 

Morris now appeals that portion of the district court’s order granting summary judgment 

on her claim under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a) that she was demoted in retaliation for engaging in 

EEO protected activity. 

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II.

We review de novo the district court’s order granting summary judgment. Laster v. City

of Kalamazoo, 746 F.3d 714, 726 (6th Cir. 2014). “Summary judgment is appropriate when the 

record, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, reveals that there is no 

genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of 

law.” Id. (citing Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c)). “The ultimate question is whether the 

evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is so 

one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law.” Id. (citation and internal quotation 

marks omitted). 

Title VII prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee because the 

employee has engaged in conduct protected by Title VII. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a). In the 

absence of direct evidence of discrimination, a plaintiff must proceed on summary judgment 

pursuant to the familiar burden-shifting framework of McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 

U.S. 792 (1973). Blackmon v. Eaton Corp., ___ F. App’x ___, 2014 WL 5286623, at *6 (6th 

Cir. Oct. 16, 2014). Here, the parties do not dispute the district court’s determinations, using this 

framework, that Morris established a prima facie case of retaliation and that DVAMC fulfilled its 

burden of articulating a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the demotion of Morris—the 

October 29, 2010 MRI safety incident. On appeal, Morris raises one assignment of error, 

arguing that the district court erred in determining that she failed to demonstrate that the reason 

provided by DVAMC for her demotion was a mere pretext for retaliation for her EEO-related 

activities. 

Morris can establish that DVAMC’s stated justification for the adverse action is 

pretextual in one of three interrelated ways: “(1) that the proffered reasons had no basis in fact, 

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(2) that the proffered reasons did not actually motivate the employer’s action, or (3) that they 

were insufficient to motivate the employer’s action.” Romans v. Mich. Dep’t of Human Servs., 

668 F.3d 826, 839 (6th Cir. 2012). An employer’s legitimate reason for adverse action will not 

be deemed pretext for discrimination until an employee shows that the proffered reason was 

false, and that retaliation was the real reason. Seeger v. Cincinnati Bell Telephone Co., LLC, 681 

F.3d 274, 285 (6th Cir. 2012). “Regardless of which option is used, the plaintiff retains the 

ultimate burden of producing sufficient evidence from which the jury could reasonably reject 

[the defendant’s] explanation and infer that the defendant[] intentionally [retaliated] against 

[her].” Johnson v. Kroger Co., 319 F.3d 858, 866 (6th Cir. 2003) (citation omitted).

In its order, the district court aptly noted that Morris’s “only legitimate argument 

regarding pretext is the contention that the ultimate disciplinary charge asserted against [her], 

i.e., ‘Careless Workmanship,’ was insufficient to support her demotion.” The court opined:

The Court questions whether any reasonable fact finder could conclude that the 

circumstances regarding the MRI incident were insufficient to explain Plaintiff’s 

demotion. Certainly, the “Range of Penalties for Stated Offenses” does state that 

admonishment and reprimand is the appropriate penalty for a first offense of 

“[c]areless or negligent workmanship resulting in waste or delay.” (Doc. 19-3, 

PAGEID 179). However, the “Range of Penalties for State[d] Offenses” also 

specifies the offense of “[e]ndangering the safety of or causing injury to anyone 

on VA premises through carelessness or negligence[,]” which is punishable by 

discipline up to and including “[r]emoval[.]” 

The alleged offense in this case falls within the category of carelessness or 

negligence that endangers the safety of persons. In fact, the notice of proposed 

demotion clearly states in the specification of offense that Plaintiff failed in her 

duty to “maintain a safe environment for both staff and patients” (Doc. 19-11, 

PAGEID 217), an offense that, in the Court’s opinion, certainly endangers “the 

safety of . . . anyone on VA premises[.]” (Doc. 19-12, PAGEID 220). 

Plaintiff herself confirmed the fact that, as an MRI Tech, “it is [her] sole 

responsibility to ensure that each patient is not in danger when entering the MRI 

scanner.” (Doc. 19-4, PAGEID 187). Further, no fact finder could reasonably 

disagree that an oxygen cylinder propelling through the air and into an occupied 

MRI bore poses the risk of death to those in the area, or at the least, the threat of 

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serious physical injury to those persons. Plaintiff herself testified that “the 

oxygen tank “zoom[ed] right by [her] face.” (Doc. 19-2, PAGEID 161). 

Accordingly, while the technical offense Plaintiff was charged with does not 

recommend demotion as a penalty, the Court concludes that any inference of 

pretext arising from an above-guideline penalty, at the most, creates a very weak 

issue of fact insufficient to reasonably doubt the legitimate, non-discriminatory 

reason offered by Defendant for Plaintiff’s demotion. See Abdulnour v. Campbell 

Soup Supply Co., LLC, 502 F.3d 496, 504 (6th Cir. 2007) (stating that “summary 

judgment is appropriate . . . if the plaintiff ‘only created a weak issue of fact as to 

whether the defendant’s reason was untrue’ and there is ample evidence to 

support the employer’s position”) . . . . 

Accordingly, having concluded that Plaintiff presents, at most, a very weak issue 

of fact regarding pretext, and the record otherwise presents absolutely no 

discriminatory animus toward Plaintiff, summary judgment in favor of Defendant 

on Plaintiff’s . . . retaliation claims is proper as a matter of law. 

We agree with the district court that Morris has failed to present sufficient evidence for 

summary judgment purposes that DVAMC’s real reason for demoting her was because of her 

EEO-protected actions. Certainly, as the district court properly concluded, because Morris’s 

carelessness endangered the lives of the patient, herself, and all other parties involved, the 

disciplinary penalty levied against her was not unduly excessive under the circumstances or 

suggestive of retaliation in the absence of additional evidence of retaliatory animus. See Chen v. 

Dow Chem. Co., 580 F.3d 394, 400 n.4 (6th Cir. 2009) (“‘[A]n employer would be entitled to 

judgment as a matter of law if the record conclusively revealed some other, nondiscriminatory 

reason for the employer’s decision, or if the plaintiff created only a weak issue of fact as to 

whether the employer’s reason was untrue and there was abundant and uncontroverted 

independent evidence that no discrimination had occurred.’”) (quoting Reeves v. Sanderson

Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 148 (2000)). 

Morris points to several other factors that were allegedly ignored by the district court and 

that purportedly would cause a jury to reasonably doubt DVAMC’s justification: the close 

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temporal proximity between Dr. Katz learning of Morris’s EEO activity and his decision to 

demote her; the DVAMC’s handling of Morris’s disciplinary action in a manner inconsistent 

with other disciplinary actions; conflicting reasons as to why Morris was disciplined; and the fact 

that, contemporaneous with the decision to demote Morris, DVAMC tendered an abeyance 

agreement that would hold the demotion in abeyance for two years and thereafter rescind it, but 

would require Morris’s completion of additional training and education and the relinquishment 

of her pending EEO claim. 

However, none of these facts, when examined closely, suffices to create the requisite

showing of pretext. The simple fact that the investigation was prolonged and may have taken 

longer than normal is not evidence of pretext. Morris fails to cite any DVAMC policies and 

procedures requiring investigations to be completed within a certain time period. This court does 

not require that the employer’s process be optimal, but instead requires that the employer 

“[make] a reasonably informed and considered decision before taking the complained-of action.” 

Tingle v. Arbors at Hilliard, 692 F.3d 523, 530 (6th Cir. 2012) (citation omitted). In this case, 

Dr. Katz did just that, regardless of the amount of time it took him to reach his informed 

decision. 

Moreover, while it is true that Morris was not officially demoted until February 2012, 

which was after Dr. Katz became aware of Morris’s EEO complaint, the record shows that the 

process of demotion was set in action well before Dr. Katz knew of Morris’s EEO activity. Dr. 

Katz learned of the EEO complaint “a few weeks” before January 12, 2012. It was 

approximately two months earlier, on November 22, 2011, that Dr. Katz first submitted a letter 

to the human resources department proposing Morris’s demotion. Therefore, in this case, the 

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“temporal proximity, standing alone, is insufficient to establish a causal connection for a 

retaliation claim.” Tuttle v. Metro. Gov’t of Nashville, 474 F.3d 307, 321 (6th Cir. 2007). 

Morris contends that the abeyance agreement offered at the time of her demotion was “a 

ploy to coerce [her] to dismiss her pending EEO claims.” However, Glenn Costie, the CEO and 

Medical Center Director for DVAMC, testified that abeyance agreements were a standard 

practice of DVAMC, used to find a mutual ground on which the employer and employee could

meet in order to maintain good relations and retain good employees. Costie testified that 

abeyance agreements were commonly used as a way “to help the employee understand . . . what 

they’ve done and why it’s against policy and regulation[]”; he considered such agreements as a 

way to productively discipline employees and noted that abeyance agreements were often given 

as a way to provide the employee with a second chance. His testimony—that the final 

requirement in Morris’s abeyance agreement requiring her to waive any appeals is a standard 

condition included in most abeyance agreements and was not a scheme to induce Morris to drop 

her specific charges—was not contested. In any event, the decision to demote Morris preceded

any discussion about providing her with an abeyance agreement. Morris has presented no 

evidence that the abeyance agreement and her refusal to sign it, thereby waiving her right to 

appeal, caused her demotion, other than the temporal proximity between her refusal to sign the 

agreement and the enforcement of her demotion. This does not suffice to establish a genuine 

issue of material fact on the issue of pretext. 

Finally, contrary to Morris’s contention, our review of the record does not reveal a 

conflicting understanding among DVAMC personnel as to the reasons for the disciplinary action 

against Morris. It is clear from the record and the statements made by all DVAMC 

representatives involved in the decision-making process that Morris was being disciplined for the 

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incident that took place on October 29, 2010, and the associated safety implications. There is no 

evidence of retaliatory animus to be gleaned from these statements. 

Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of 

DVAMC on Morris’s Title VII retaliation claim. 

III.

The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

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