Opinion ID: 775734
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Discriminatory Denial of Promotion

Text: 27 In addition to her claim that the promotion to foreman was in retaliation for her exercise of Title VII rights, Bergene contends that SRP denied her the promotion on account of her sex and that this denial was therefore independently in violation of Title VII. The parties agree that Bergene has established a prima facie case of discrimination and has therefore shifted the burden to SRP, which must produce evidence that Bergene was denied the promotion for a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason. See Burdine, 450 U.S. at 253-54. As we have noted, SRP claims that it chose a male, DeGraff, rather than Bergene because DeGraff was better-qualified for the foreman position, as evidenced by the higher ratings that Pratt awarded DeGraff on all but two of the ten factors upon which Pratt based his decision. 28 At this stage, the question before us is whether Bergene has produced sufficient evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the reason proffered by SRP for denying her the promotion was a pretext for discrimination. Bergene has presented at least three pieces of circumstantial evidence which, we conclude, constitute specific and substantial evidence that SRP's purported reason for choosing DeGraff was merely a pretext for discrimination on the basis of sex. 29 First, Bergene cites two changes that Pratt made to the selection criteria. When the foreman position was first posted, it was open only to journeyman electricians. Bergene was a journeyman electrician, and DeGraff was not. Pratt decided to open the position to candidates who were not journeyman electricians, a change which allowed DeGraff to qualify and eliminated Bergene's competitive advantage. 30 Pratt also evaluated candidates on their supervisory experience, a criterion that had not appeared in the initial job posting. DeGraff had seventeen years of experience as an assistant shift supervisor, whereas Bergene's supervisory experience was limited to several months as acting foreman. Pratt's decision to accord weight to the candidates' supervisory experience served to disadvantage Bergene. 31 Second, Bergene submitted evidence that she was referred to as Mommy in the workplace. This evidence indicates that while Bergene was employed by SRP, she was singled out on the basis of her sex. If the comments came from her fellow employees, they would suggest a reason why management promoted a male, who could not be the subject of such disruptive remarks. If the remarks came from management, they are even stronger circumstantial evidence of discrimination. 32 Finally, there were no women supervisors at the Coronado Generating Station during Bergene's tenure at SRP, apart from human resources personnel. See Silverman v. Progressive Broad., Inc., 964 P.2d 61, 68 (N.M. Ct. App. 1998) (absence of women managers may be considered as evidence of pretext). That there are no federal published decisions considering such a situation indicates that the situation is unusual. It does not mean that other federal courts have considered and rejected similar evidence, although that is what the dissent seems to assume. 33 We conclude that this evidence, viewed in the aggregate, constitutes specific and substantial evidence that SRP's decision to promote DeGraff rather than Bergene was motivated by discriminatory animus, rather than by SRP's belief that DeGraff was better-qualified for the position. See Godwin, 150 F.3d at 1222. We hold that Bergene has raised a genuine issue of material fact as to the pretextual nature of SRP's proffered reason for denying Bergene the promotion. Accordingly, we reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment for SRP on Bergene's discrimination claim.