Opinion ID: 767661
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Miller's prima facie case.

Text: 38 The district court concluded that Miller did not engage in protected expression during her June 1996 meeting with Knapstein and King. The court noted two occasions when Miller did ostensibly discuss pregnancy discrimination--her January 1995 query to Knapstein and King's alleged comment to her in April 1996. The court concluded these events were not sufficiently connected to her termination; they would not support a reasonable inference that American Family fired her after the June meeting because Knapstein and King knew she was complaining about pregnancy discrimination at that meeting. Before us, Miller points to these two instances, as well as other events (so called background facts), and contends the district court impermissibly made credibility determinations by believing King and Knapstein that they did not know Miller was complaining about pregnancy discrimination at that meeting, while not believing her that they did know. Given these background facts, Miller contends, a jury could reasonably infer that her supervisors really knew that her complaints at that meeting centered around her belief of pregnancy discrimination. 39 An employee, of course, need not use the words pregnancy discrimination to bring her speech within Title VII's retaliation protections. See Drake v. Minnesota Mining & Mfg. Co., 134 F.3d 878, 882, 885 (7th Cir. 1998). But she hasto at least say something to indicate her pregnancy is an issue. An employee can honestly believe she is the object of discrimination, but if she never mentions it, a claim of retaliation is not implicated, for an employer cannot retaliate when it is unaware of any complaints. Cf. Dey, 28 F.3d at 1458 (We agree that there generally can be no causal link between protected activity and an adverse employment action if the employer remained unaware of the protected activity.). 40 Here, the district court did not err in holding that Miller did not engage in protected expression at the June 1996 meeting. She said nothing to indicate that pregnancy discrimination was an issue. Her own copious notes (which she testified are a complete and accurate account of that meeting) plainly show that she did not mention pregnancy or even related topics such as children or maternity leave. Her complaints instead concerned a general displeasure with being paid less than her co-workers given her longer tenure and the fact that she had trained some of them. She also complained that a co- worker who was the subject of dozens of complaints was the highest-paid person in the unit. By complaining about matters other than her pregnancies, Miller, if anything, implied that pregnancy was not a factor in American Family's decisions. 41 Miller's background facts include things like her taking maternity leave in 1989, 1991, 1994, and 1995. That is accurate history but has nothing to do with the June meeting with King and Knapstein. Miller has not produced evidence from which it could reasonably be inferred that [her employer] more likely than not knew she was concerned about pregnancy discrimination. Senner v. Northcentral Technical College, 113 F.3d 750, 758 (7th Cir. 1997) (emphasis in original); see also Dey, 28 F.3d at 1459 n. 12. Indeed, as the district court noted, [i]t is undisputed that [Miller] did not engage in statutorily protected expression at any time before or after January 1995, a year and a half prior to her termination. [And] [f]ollowing her remarks to Knapstein in 1995 she worked for a year and a half in apparent harmony with her supervisors and was given the largest [raise] in her department. 42 In sum, the district court did not invade the jury's province to assess credibility. Rather, it correctly concluded that Miller had failed to produce evidence from which a jury could reasonably and more likely than not infer knowledge on the part of her supervisors. See id. at 758; Dey, 28 F.3d at 1459 n. 12. 9 43