Source: http://medicpdf.com/f/fedsmith.com1.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 01:59:02+00:00

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Defendant concedes that Ms. Beckford’s minimally successful performance appraisal constituted a materially adverse action because “there is some evidence that [the review] temporarily affected her future employment opportunities.” (Def.’s Mot. at 14.) See also Burlington, 548 U.S. at 67-68. It asserts that Ms. Beckford’s negative review was the result of her supervisor’s ongoing dissatisfaction with her work performance, not a consequence of her EEO complaint. (Def.’s Mot. at 16.) Because the Treasury has articulated a non-discriminatory reason for Ms. Beckford’s performance evaluation, the Court must determine whether Ms. Beckford has produced sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to infer retaliation. Brady, 520 The Court finds that Ms. Beckford has not satisfied this standard. The record supports the Treasury’s explanation that Mr. Lutes was disappointed with Ms. Beckford’s work performance many months before she filed her informal EEO complaint on March 15, 2005. On three separate occasions prior to Ms. Beckford’s filing of her EEO complaint, Mr. Lutes communicated his dissatisfaction with her teamwork difficulties and encouraged her to improve her working relationships with executives and staff at the IRS. (ROI at 28, 102-05.) Indeed, on the final such occasion, Mr. Lutes explicitly informed Ms. Beckford that she would be receiving a negative evaluation because of her poor interoffice relationships. In her deposition, Ms. Beckford stated that, prior to her first contact with the EEO office, “Lutes had told [her] that [she] wasn’t . . . going to get a performance appraisal that was complimentary.” (Beckford Dep. at 66.) In the review itself, Mr. Lutes cited Ms. Beckford’s conflicts with individuals inside and outside of the office as the reason for her low ratings. (ROI at 163.) Given the substantial and uncontested evidence of Mr. Lutes’ concerns regarding Ms. Beckford’s work performance and his communication of those concerns—and the fact that they would result in an unsatisfactory appraisal—to Ms. Beckford before she filed her complaint, a jury could not reasonably infer that the negative appraisal was caused by Ms. Beckford’s contact with the EEO office. Ms. Beckford argues that the “close proximity in time between” her EEO complaint and her annual performance review is enough to create an inference of causation. (Pl.’s Opp’n at 20.) Although Ms. Beckford is correct that “mere temporal proximity” can permit an inference sufficient to support a prima facie case of retaliation, evidence of “intent at the prima facie stage does not resolve the question of retaliation vel non,” which is the issue before the Court. Jones, 557 F.3d at 679. Simply put, Ms. Beckford must produce sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find that Mr. Lutes’ dissatisfaction with her professional performance was not the actual reason for the negative review she received. Brady, 520 F.3d at 494. It is undisputed that Mr. Lutes intended to give Ms. Beckford an unfavorable evaluation before she filed her complaint. (Beckford Dep. at 66.) Given the evidence that Mr. Lutes had long been displeased with Ms. Beckford’s work performance, “mere temporal proximity” between the EEO complaint and the review does not satisfy Ms. Beckford’s burden. “[A]n adverse employment action following soon after the employee’s engagement in the protected activity cannot establish causation if the employer contemplated the adverse action before the employee’s protected activity.” Riggiladez v. Harvey, 510 F. Supp. 2d. 106, 110 (D.D.C. 2007); see also Clark County Sch. Dist. v. Breeden, 532 U.S. 268, 272 (2001) (“Employers need not suspend previously planned [actions] upon discovering that a Title VII suit has been filed, and their proceeding along lines previously contemplated, though not yet definitively determined, is no evidence whatever of causality.”) (emphases added). The record reflects that Ms. Beckford’s poor performance review was in progress before her complaint was filed, and thus, the proximity of those events cannot prove Beyond failing to show a causal connection between the protected activity and the challenged action, Ms. Beckford has provided insufficient evidence for a jury to infer that the defendant’s stated reason for Ms. Beckford’s poor review—her failure to establish and maintain positive working relationships with others inside and outside the IRS—is a pretext for retaliation. Specifically, Ms. Beckford has provided no evidence disputing that Mr. Lutes was dissatisfied with Ms. Beckford’s work performance before she filed her EEO complaint. Ms. Beckford contends that Mr. Lutes was “generally complementary [sic]” of Ms. Beckford’s performance and cites the November 2004 memorandum Mr. Lutes sent to Ms. Beckford regarding her mid- year review. (Pl.’s Opp’n at 33.) Yet, Mr. Lutes states in that memorandum that his “primary area of concern” with Ms. Beckford is “in the arena of teamwork.” (ROI at 105.) He stated that he had “become aware of how broad and deep the relationship issue were [sic]” and that when he had followed up with other staff members, he “found that there were major issues there also.” (Id.) Far from complimenting Ms. Beckford, this memorandum suggests that Mr. Lutes was aware that Ms. Beckford was having difficulties performing critical aspects of her job. Indeed, the very next month, Mr. Lutes met with Ms. Beckford again and informed her that he “was not pleased with the progress on the teamwork front.” (Id. at 103.) He also noted that there “continue to be oversights on [Ms. Beckford’s] part that detract from [her] overall job performance.” (Id.) Nowhere does Ms. Beckford suggest that these reviews, which are consistent with Ms. Beckford’s annual appraisal, are a pretext for retaliation—indeed, she cannot reasonably make such a suggestion, as Mr. Lutes authored these memoranda months before Ms. Ms. Beckford also points to praise she received from others and the fact that one of her other supervisors, Kathy Jantzen, stated that she had no work issues with Ms. Beckford as evidence that the Treasury’s stated reason for Ms. Beckford’s appraisal is a pretext. (Pl.’s Opp’n at 33-34.) However, the question before the Court is not whether the negative evaluation of Ms. 3 Ms. Beckford argues that at the very least, a jury could infer that retaliation “was among the motivating factors which led to the [negative appraisal],” even if retaliation was not “the only motive or even . . . the determinative motive.” (Pl.’s Opp’n at 35.) However, it is generally established that the “mixed-motive” theory is not available to prove a retaliation claim. See, e.g., Pennington v. City of Huntsville, 261 F.3d 1262 (11th Cir. 2001); Speedy v. Rexnord Corp., 243 F.3d 397 (7th Cir. 2001); Matima v. Celli, 228 F.3d 68 (2d Cir. 2000); Norbeck v. Basin Elec. Power Coop., 215 F.3d 848 (8th Cir. 2000); Kubicko v. Ogden Logistics Servs., 181 F.3d 544 (4th Cir. 1999); Woodson v. Scott Paper Co., 109 F.3d 913 (3d Cir. 1997); Tanca v. Nordberg, 98 F.3d 680 (1st Cir. 1996). The issue remains an open question in this Circuit. See Borgo v. Goldin, 204 F.3d 251, 256 n.6 (D.C. Cir. 2000). Yet, the reasoning of the Supreme Court in Gross v. FBL Fin. Servs., Inc., 129 S. Ct. 2343 (2009), finding that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act does not authorize mixed-motive claims on the ground that the statute only prohibits discrimination “because of” an individual’s age, appears applicable to the anti-retaliation provision of Title VII, which also prohibits discrimination only “because” the employee has engaged in a protected act. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3. As such, the suggestion that retaliation was “among” the factors motivating Ms. Beckford’s review is insufficient as a matter of law to defeat summary judgment. Beckford was justified or fair, but rather whether her employer believed it to be a result of her poor work performance. Fischbach v. Dist. of Columbia Dep’t of Corr., 86 F.3d 1180, 1183 (D.C. Cir. 1996) (“Once the employer has articulated a non-discriminatory explanation for its action . . . the issue is not ‘the correctness or desirability of the reasons offered . . . but whether the employer honestly believes in the reasons it offers.’”) (quoting McCoy v. WGN Cont’l Broad. Co., 957 F.2d 368, 373 (7th Cir. 1992)). The Court cannot “second-guess an employer’s personnel decision absent demonstrably discriminatory motive.” Id. (quoting Milton v. Weinberger, 696 F.2d 94, 100 (D.C. Cir. 1982)). Even if other individuals at the IRS felt that Ms. Beckford’s work performance was excellent, there is substantial evidence showing that the individual responsible for writing her annual review, Mr. Lutes, did not agree and reviewed her Finally, Ms. Beckford cites a handful of phrases from two paragraphs of an eleven-page declaration by Mr. Lutes written six months after Ms. Beckford’s appraisal as evidence that Mr. Lutes “harbored discriminatory animus” toward Ms. Beckford and accordingly reviewed her as he did because of her EEO complaint. (Pl.’s Sur-Reply at 4.) She argues that Mr. Lutes’ comments in his declaration would allow a reasonable jury to “conclude that the minimally satisfactory review was given in retaliation for Ms. Beckford’s protected activity.” (Id.) The Court finds this argument unpersuasive. Mr. Lutes repeatedly states in the document from which plaintiff quotes that he reviewed Ms. Beckford as he did because of her poor work performance. (See, e.g., ROI at 89-91.) And the paragraphs from which plaintiff quotes in her opposition are consistent with the defendant’s position that Ms. Beckford’s inability to work well with others 4 In his declaration at the investigation stage, Mr. Lutes stated: I would only add that the Complainant is clearly a very disturbed woman. She was never a person who was pleasant to be around and as time went on, a number of employees developed a fear of her. One thing that came out in the TIGTA employment background investigation was that there were some people outside of IRS who viewed her the same way. Looking back, I was far too patient with her, thinking that with counseling the attitude, behavior and work performance would get better. They only got progressively worse. They got so bad, based upon what I observed and complaints from ALL other employees in the office, that I did reassign her to temporary positions outside the office. It was temporary because of the rules around the RIF which blocked a permanent reassignment during FY 2005. As I committed to her at the time, here in 2006 we will make a permanent reassignment. Once the TIGTA investigation began and other employees were interviewed, these employees became more explicit to me about their treatment by her. I must admit that when I heard the full stories, I, as a manager and executive, was embarrassed that I had allowed multiple employees working for me to be treated that badly by another employee. But by this point, false accusations had also been leveled at me so I could, in reality, do nothing about it or it would certainly appear to be reprisal. When she made up, and I had suspected this to be the case from the beginning, stories about other employees, I assumed that something had happened that the Complainant had for some reason translated very differently than the other party. I [sic] LR and EEO cases over the years, I have observed this numerous times. It took totally fabricated stories against me personally before I fully understood, or accepted, the degree of the problem with the Complainant. And let me say clearly that, I myself, others in the office that have been subjected to her complaints, and even the TIGTA investigator, believe that she actually believes these events happen. Again, this is a very disturbed woman but as her manager of record, and one of the accused, I would put myself at risk to address it. I have never felt so powerless in my 35 years in government. Somehow this needs to be addressed or other managers/executives will be subjected to this same situation again in the future. This language is not of the sort that courts have “previously considered probative of establishing discriminatory [or retaliatory] animus,” such as “crude, derogatory, and highly offensive remarks” and “statements directly connected to [an] employer’s desire to terminate” an employee. Holcomb v. Powell, 433 F.3d 889, 901 (D.C. Cir. 2006). Ms. Beckford contends that Mr. Lutes’ comments demonstrate that “it took a sexual harassment complaint from Ms. Beckford for Mr. Lutes to decide that she had teamwork issues that affected her job performance” (Pl.s Sur-Reply at 4), but as discussed, four months before Ms. Beckford filed her EEO complaint, Mr. Lutes told Ms. Beckford unequivocally that his “primary area of concern [with her work] is in the arena of teamwork.” (ROI at 105.) Ms. Beckford surmises that Mr. Lutes’ statement that he did not understand “the degree of the problem with the Complainant” until she filed “fabricated stories” against him indicates that he gave her a poor performance review as a result of the complaint (Pl.’s Sur-Reply at 4), but she offers no support for this conjecture. Given the wealth of undisputed evidence as to the reasons behind Ms. Beckford’s performance review and the fact that it was planned and communicated to plaintiff even before she filed her complaint, one cannot conclude that Mr. Lutes’ statements in these paragraphs demonstrate retaliatory animus and that such animus motivated his appraisal of Ms. Beckford without “go[ing] far beyond reasonable inference . . . into the realm of unfettered speculation.” Holcomb, 433 F.3d at 901. As such, the Court finds that summary judgment is appropriate with respect to Ms. Beckford’s claim concerning her performance evaluation.
For the foregoing reasons, defendant’s motion for summary judgment is granted, and the complaint in the above-captioned action is dismissed with prejudice. A separate order SO ORDERED.

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