Opinion ID: 615207
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Delayed Approval of Outlook Computer Training

Text: Colón argues that Rodríguez's delayed approval of her request to participate in a computer training workshop constituted an adverse employment action. Colón fails to show how any delay was intentional, material, or causally connected to her request for a parking spot. Colón testified that she submitted her request for the September 11, 2007 training on August 23, 2007, but that she never followed up with Rodríguez as to the status of her request. Although Colón stated that she believed any follow-up with Rodríguez would have been futile because Rodríguez refused to meet with her, we do not see any evidence indicating intentional delay. See Carmona-Rivera, 464 F.3d at 20 (finding that district court properly granted summary judgment on retaliation claim because plaintiff failed to provide any evidence of a retaliatory intent associated with the delay in implementing her requests, or any evidence which shows that the delay was anything beyond that inherent in the workings of [plaintiff's workplace] bureaucracy). Even construing the record in Colón's favor as to intentional delay, her claim still fails. To establish an adverse employment action, Colón must show she suffered material harm due to the delay. See id. The most that Colón alleges is that the lack of computer training would affect[] her progress and evolution as a professional. This conclusory allegation is not sufficient for purposes of establishing a significant, not trivial, harm that rises above mere inconvenience. Id.; Ingram v. Brink's, Inc., 414 F.3d 222, 229 (1st Cir.2005) (stating that summary judgment cannot be defeated by relying on improbable inferences, conclusory allegations, or rank speculation). Additionally, even if we were to determine that Colón showed material harm, she still bears the burden of showing that the alleged adverse action, the approval delay, was taken for the purpose of retaliating. Randlett, 118 F.3d at 862 (emphasis in original). Colón points us to no evidence showing that Rodríguez delayed her September 2007 approval of Colón's participation in the workshop because of Colón's October 2006 request for a parking spot, nearly a year after the contested reasonable accommodation. The alleged approval delay occurred approximately eleven months following Colón's reasonable accommodation request; this is not sufficient to establish causality between the two events. See Clark Cnty. Sch. Dist. v. Breeden, 532 U.S. 268, 273-74, 121 S.Ct. 1508, 149 L.Ed.2d 509 (2001).