Opinion ID: 407873
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Summary judgment on the discrimination claims.

Text: 25 As a federal employee Nolan was entitled to de novo review in the district court of her Title VII action on the issues that were determined against her during the administrative proceedings. See Chandler v. Roudebush, 425 U.S. 840, 96 S.Ct. 1949, 48 L.Ed.2d 416 (1976). Nolan argued that the district court's grant of Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c) summary judgment deprived her of her right to de novo review. However, in some situations summary judgment may be based on the district court's review of the proceedings and record from the administrative level. See Hackley v. Roudebush, 520 F.2d 108, 156-57 (D.C.Cir.1975). The VA was entitled to judgment as a matter of law if there were no genuine issues as to any material facts based on the evidence presented to the EEO hearing examiner. 26
27 Nolan requested leave without pay pending the outcome of her EEO complaint concerning evaluations of her prior job performance. She stated that acceptance of the AHDT assignment prior to resolution of her complaint might prejudice her rights and the pending investigation. Dr. Chase denied the leave request and the district court decided that such denial was not shown to have been discriminatory. 28 Nolan contended that summary judgment should not have been granted because managerial discretion was involved in Dr. Chase's denial of the request. Such discretion questioned Dr. Chase's motives and intent in his decision. Nolan argued that this state of mind issue coupled with the VA's admitted past discrimination toward Nolan created a genuine issue of material fact that should not have been determined on summary judgment. See Hackley v. Roudebush, supra, at 157. 29 In Hackley, supra, 520 F.2d at 157, the D. C. Circuit reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment in a race discrimination claim involving the promotion of a federal employee. Although the court stated summary judgment may be appropriate based on the administrative record in some situations, it also stated that summary judgment is precluded if the motive underlying a crucial factual issue involved in a discretionary promotion decision is disputed. Id.; see Mabey v. Reagan, 537 F.2d 1036, 1045 (9th Cir. 1976); 6 Moore's Federal Practice P 56.17(41.-1), at 930 (2d ed. 1982). Nolan contended that Dr. Chase's motives were questionable because other VA officials discriminated against her in the past and this pattern of discrimination raised an inference in Nolan's favor that such discrimination also pervaded Dr. Chase's decision to deny her leave request. 30 It is a fundamental proposition that, in reviewing the district court's order of summary judgment in favor of the VA, all permissible inferences properly drawn from the record must be drawn in favor of Nolan, the non-moving party. Ruffin v. County of Los Angeles, 607 F.2d 1276, 1279-80 (9th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 951, 100 S.Ct. 1600, 63 L.Ed.2d 786 (1980). The court in Ruffin set forth the framework for review of a grant of summary judgment: 31 If the movant satisfies his initial burden of demonstrating the absence of a genuine issue of fact, the burden then shifts to the opponent to come forward with specific facts showing that there remains a genuine factual issue for trial. The evidence offered in opposition to the motion for summary judgment must be significantly probative as to any fact claimed to be disputed. Where it is clear from the evidence presented at the hearing on a motion for summary judgment that the movant would be entitled to a directed verdict where (sic) the case to proceed to trial, summary judgment ordinarily should be granted. 32 Id. at 1280 (emphasis in original) (citations omitted). 33 The VA characterized Dr. Chase's decision as an exercise of administrative discretion untainted by any prejudicial motives that may have been involved in prior discriminatory decisions by other VA officials. Nolan attempted to create an inference of discrimination based on the earlier conduct of Battista and Koseluk. Dr. Chase, as Chief Medical Director of the VA at the VA Central Office in Washington, D. C., was the ultimate supervisor of Battista and Koseluk who were located in California. Nolan asserted that these individuals worked closely together, but she did not provide specific factual evidence for her claim that this association supported an inference of discrimination. Koseluk had informed Dr. Chase about Nolan's original 1973 EEOC complaint in the fall of 1974, but there was no evidence that Battista or Koseluk made any recommendation with regard to Nolan's July 1975 leave request or influenced Dr. Chase's decision. 34 Dr. Chase testified that his decision to deny Nolan's leave request was based on legitimate business concerns. He weighed the utility to the VA of granting her request against the possibility that she might not return to VA service if the request was granted. Although Nolan had refused to report to the Palo Alto AHDT assignment, she had not formally requested reassignment to another VA position. In addition, Dr. Chase consulted the FPM regulations which did not provide for leave under Nolan's circumstances. 35 That a decision is in part subjective is not itself evidence of discrimination. Without such evidence, summary judgment is properly granted. Nolan's speculative and conclusory arguments do not constitute the significantly probative evidence required to create a genuine issue of material fact and, therefore, the district court's grant of summary judgment on the leave issue is affirmed. 36
37 The district court decided that as a matter of law Nolan's resignation was not involuntary or a constructive discharge and thus that she had waived her claims of unlawful discrimination by the VA. Nolan contended that there were genuine issues of material fact concerning whether her resignation was justified by acts of unlawful discrimination against her on a constructive discharge theory, which would entitle her to challenge the unlawful discrimination. 38 Although the district court stated that there is no clear standard for constructive discharge in a Title VII case, it relied on an approach that considers the totality of the circumstances and examines whether an employee was subjected to intolerable employment conditions or coerced to resign. See Young v. Southwestern Savings and Loan Association, 509 F.2d 140, 144 (5th Cir. 1975). In Young, the court stated: 39 The general rule is that if the employer deliberately makes an employee's working conditions so intolerable that the employee is forced into an involuntary resignation, then the employer has encompassed a constructive discharge and is as liable for any illegal conduct involved therein as if it had formally discharged the aggrieved employee. 40 Id. 41 Subsequent to the district court's decision in the instant case, the Fifth Circuit clarified the Young standard in Bourque v. Powell Electrical Manufacturing Co., 617 F.2d 61 (5th Cir. 1980). The Fifth Circuit adopted an objective standard stating that a constructive discharge exists when working conditions would have been so difficult or unpleasant that a reasonable person in the employee's shoes would have felt compelled to resign. Id. at 65, quoting Alicia Rosado v. Garcia Santiago, 562 F.2d 114, 119 (1st Cir. 1977); see Meyer v. Brown & Root Construction Co., 661 F.2d 369, 372 (5th Cir. 1981); Welch v. University of Texas, 659 F.2d 531, 533 (5th Cir. 1981). In addition to setting forth such a reasonable man standard, the court in Bourque rejected arguments that an employee has to prove it was the employer's intent to force the employee to resign. Bourque, 617 F.2d at 65. 16 Nevertheless, the Bourque court stated that unlawful discrimination alone was insufficient for a constructive discharge finding. A single isolated instance of discrimination, such as unequal pay for equal work in Bourque, did not constitute an aggravated situation that would force a reasonable person to resign. Id. at 66. The court noted that continuing discrimination, see Calcote v. Texas Educational Foundation, 578 F.2d 95 (5th Cir. 1978), would provide such an aggravated situation. Finally, the court directed Title VII plaintiffs to remain on the job to mitigate damages from employment discrimination and resolve their complaints through existing employment relationships, unless such job presents such an aggravated situation that a reasonable employee would be forced to resign. Bourque, 617 F.2d at 66. 42 The recent D. C. Circuit decision of Clark v. Marsh, 665 F.2d 1168 (D.C.Cir.1981), utilized this aggravated situation criteria and it provides helpful insight on the law of constructive discharge as it applies to Nolan's circumstances. In Clark, a continuous pattern of discriminatory treatment over a period of years constituted a sufficient aggravated situation for a constructive discharge finding. The D. C. Circuit agreed with Bourque, supra, that the mere fact of discrimination without some aggravating factors, see Pittman v. Hattiesburg Municipal Separate School, 644 F.2d 1071 (5th Cir. 1981), could not sustain a constructive discharge. Historic discrimination over a number of years provided the necessary aggravating factor in Clark to justify a constructive discharge and this factor was also present in Nolan's situation. 43 Nolan's VA career was punctuated with numerous adjudicated instances of discrimination which culminated in her departure from the VA. The first instance of discrimination was in June 1973 and initially deprived her from participating in the GEP. In February 1975, a senior VA official discriminatorily refused to provide her with necessary evaluations for VA assignments even though he was qualified to do so. Another VA official provided an inaccurate evaluation in February 1975 that was discriminatorily motivated. Finally, Nolan was assigned to a VA position in June 1975 that she had not requested and ordinarily was only assigned to applicants who had expressed a preference for such an assignment. This assignment was found to have been made for discriminatory-retaliatory purposes. 44 It is our opinion that this history of unlawful discrimination provides sufficient aggravating factors that may have made Nolan's position intolerable and raises a genuine issue of material fact that a reasonable person would have felt compelled to resign under such circumstances. Therefore, we reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment on the resignation issue. 17 45