Opinion ID: 4185676
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Employment and EEOC Charges in 2007–2009

Text: On appeal from a grant of summary judgment, we accept as true the evidence offered by the non‐moving party and we draw all reasonable inferences in her favor. Zerante v. DeLuca, 555 F.3d 582, 584 (7th Cir. 2009). In February 2005, Regina Baines began working as a pharmacy technician at a Walgreens store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She worked there No. 16-3335 3 until approximately October 2008, when she received authorization to transfer to a Walgreens location in Atlanta, Georgia. When she arrived in Atlanta, however, there was “no work.” Baines filed her first EEOC charge against Walgreens in July 2007 when she was working at a Milwaukee store. Baines is black, and she alleged that Walgreens discriminated against her because of her race. After she filed the charge, several Walgreens managers met with her to discuss the matter. The meeting was tense. Baines testified in her deposition that a pharmacy supervisor said that “what I had done was bigger than me, and that I didn’t know what I had done.” The supervisor said that she had “messed up” and that “this is much bigger” than Baines realized. One manager at the meeting was Michelle Birch, the district manager responsible for the Milwaukee store where Baines worked. Birch supervised approximately twenty or thirty stores for the company, and she generally focused on retail operations, not pharmacy management. During the meeting, Birch asked Baines what she wanted. Baines said she wanted to be promoted to “senior technician” and transferred to a different store in Milwaukee. Baines received neither, and in October 2007 she filed a second EEOC charge, this time alleging retaliation. Baines later sought and received approval to transfer to a Walgreens location in Atlanta, Georgia. When she arrived and found no work, though, Baines filed her third EEOC charge in January 2009, this time with the EEOC in Georgia. She alleged that Walgreens was retaliating against her because of her previous EEOC filings. The record does not explain how any of these EEOC charges were ultimately resolved. Baines later moved back to Wisconsin. 4 No. 16-3335