Opinion ID: 815390
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Ms. Tabor’s Individual Claims

Text: Ms. Tabor appeals three individual claims for gender discrimination under Title VII. The first two claims, failure to promote and retaliation, charge Hilti with intentional discrimination. The third claim charges Hilti with disparate impact discrimination.
The district court agreed that Mr. Teel’s interview comments were “inappropriate” but nevertheless determined that Hilti’s low ratings of Ms. Tabor’s qualifications were unrelated to her gender. Aplt. Appx. at 2826. The court then concluded that Hilti’s reasons for not promoting Ms. Tabor were non-discriminatory and non-pretextual and therefore dismissed her claim. We reverse.
“Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits, among other things, unlawful employment discrimination on the basis of an individual’s sex.” Horizon/CMS, 220 F.3d at 1190; see 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2. The parties disagree about what legal standard applies to this claim. -11- When a plaintiff offers direct evidence of discrimination in a Title VII claim, her claim may move forward without being subjected to the burden-shifting framework set forth in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973). See Ramsey v. City & Cnty. of Denver, 907 F.2d 1004, 1007-08 (10th Cir. 1990) (“‘[T]he McDonnell Douglas test is inapplicable where the plaintiff presents direct evidence of discrimination.’” (quoting Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Thurston, 469 U.S. 111, 121 (1985)). The classic example of direct evidence of discrimination comes from Trans World Airlines, where the Supreme Court held that an explicit, mandatory age requirement was direct evidence of age discrimination. 469 U.S. at 121. Comments in the workplace that reflect personal bias do not qualify as direct evidence of discrimination unless the plaintiff shows the speaker had decisionmaking authority and acted on his or her discriminatory beliefs. Ramsey, 907 F.2d at 1008. We also have explained that discriminatory statements do not qualify as direct evidence if the context or timing of the statements is not closely linked to the adverse decision. Riggs v. AirTran Airways, Inc., 497 F.3d 1108, 1118 (10th Cir. 2007). Furthermore, if the content and context of a statement allow it to be plausibly interpreted in two different ways—one discriminatory and the other benign—the statement does not qualify as direct evidence. Id. When evidence of discrimination is circumstantial, rather than direct, a plaintiff’s claim is subject to the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework. See Ramsey, 907 F.2d at 1008. Under McDonnell Douglas, a plaintiff carries the initial burden of -12- establishing a prima facie case of discrimination. Id. at 1007. The burden at this stage is “‘not onerous.’” Orr v. City of Albuquerque, 417 F.3d 1144, 1149 (10th Cir. 2005) (quoting Texas Dep’t of Cmty. Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 253 (1981)). To state a prima facie case of discrimination under McDonnell Douglas, a plaintiff must demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that (1) she belongs to a protected class; (2) she applied for an available position for which she was qualified; (3) she “was rejected under circumstances which give rise to an inference of unlawful discrimination.” Burdine, 450 U.S. at 253; see Orr, 417 F.3d at 1149.4 If a plaintiff states a prima facie case, the burden shifts to the employer to proffer “a legitimate non-discriminatory purpose for the adverse employment action.” Orr, 417 F.3d at 1149. If the employer makes this offering, the plaintiff will avoid summary judgment only if she shows her sex “was a determinative factor in the . . . employment decision, or show[s] the [employer’s] explanation for its action was merely pretext.” Horizon/CMS Healthcare, 220 F.3d at 1191 (quotations omitted). 4 We note that the district court evaluated Ms. Tabor’s prima facie case under an older, four-part test from the original McDonnell Douglas. We use a more recent variation of this test, a three-part test articulated by the Supreme Court in Burdine, which the Tenth Circuit expressly prefers. See Sorbo v. United Parcel Serv., 432 F.3d 1169, 1173 (10th Cir. 2005). Similar variations of this test have also been applied in this circuit. E.g., Turner, 563 F.3d 1142 (articulating a slightly different four-part test). Under all of these tests, the prima facie burden is “slight,” and Hilti has not disputed that Ms. Tabor meets it. Orr, 417 F.3d at 1149 (“The female Plaintiffs’ burden in articulating a prima facie case is slight . . . not onerous . . . which is evidenced by the small amount of proof necessary to create an inference of discrimination.” (quotations omitted)). -13- Ms. Tabor argues that Mr. Teel’s comments are direct evidence of discrimination and that McDonnell Douglas therefore does not apply. Hilti disputes that Mr. Teel’s comments are discriminatory at all and insists that McDonnell Douglas does apply. We conclude that Ms. Tabor’s claim survives summary judgment under either standard.
Hilti does not dispute that Mr. Teel made the alleged comments during the interview, but it insists they are “innocuous and non-discriminatory.” Aplee. Br. at 12. Hilti points to our decisions in Ramsey and Heim v. State of Utah, 8 F.3d 1541 (10th Cir. 1993). In these cases, we emphasized that “stray remarks in the workplace” based on sex stereotypes do not constitute direct evidence of discrimination. Heim, 8 F.3d at 1547 (quotations omitted). “The plaintiff must show that the employer actually relied on . . . gender in making its decision.” Id. (quotations omitted). But none of Hilti’s cited cases involve statements by a decisionmaker during an interview expressing discriminatory beliefs about whether members of the plaintiff’s protected class are capable of doing the job at issue. We have previously emphasized the importance of context and temporal proximity in determining whether comments reflecting personal bias qualify as direct evidence of discrimination. Riggs, 497 F.3d at 1118. Here, Mr. Teel explicitly stated a view that women have inferior knowledge of tools and inferior ability to sell tools. These statements spoke directly to central requirements of the job for which Ms. Tabor was interviewing, and he made them during a discussion about her fitness for the position. The content of his statements, the -14- interview context, and the temporal proximity to the adverse employment decision directly link the discriminatory statements to his decision not to promote Ms. Tabor.5 Given these circumstances, Mr. Teel’s remarks may be considered direct evidence of discrimination.
Ms. Tabor’s claim also survives summary judgment under McDonnell Douglas. The parties agree that the first two McDonnell Douglas steps are satisfied: 1) Ms. Tabor established a prima facie case, and 2) Hilti responded by asserting a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason for not promoting her—namely, Mr. Teel and Mr. Perkin’s assessment that her knowledge of tools and time management skills were insufficient. We therefore arrive at the third McDonnell Douglas step. To satisfy this step and overcome summary judgment, Ms. Tabor must show that Hilti’s asserted reason “was not the true reason for the employment decision.” Burdine, 450 U.S. at 256. A plaintiff can meet this burden to show pretext in either of two ways: (1) by showing that the proffered reason is factually false or (2) by showing that discrimination was a primary factor in the employer’s decision, which is often accomplished by revealing “weaknesses, 5 Ms. Tabor argues that another of Mr. Teel’s statements also qualifies as direct evidence of discrimination, specifically his suggestion that married women with children either should not hold, or were less likely to succeed in, positions that require travel. At oral argument, Hilti argued that this statement was not discriminatory because Mr. Teel routinely cautions all employees to consider family obligations before committing to a demanding travel schedule. We do not address whether this particular comment qualifies as direct (rather than circumstantial) evidence of discrimination. The other interview comments satisfy the standard. -15- implausibilities, inconsistencies, incoherencies, or contradictions in the employer’s proffered reason[],” such that a reasonable fact finder could deem the employer’s reason “unworthy of credence.” Garrett v. Hewlett-Packard Co., 305 F.3d 1210, 1217 (10th Cir. 2002) (quotations omitted). The district court found that Mr. Teel’s comments manifested a discriminatory belief that “women . . . have inferior natural skill with tools.” Aplt. Appx. at 2824-25. Nevertheless, the court found that the interviewers’ negative ratings of Ms. Tabor’s qualifications raised “specific and practical” concerns that were “unrelated to generalized concerns over gender.” Id. at 2825. We agree with the district court that Mr. Teel’s comments revealed discriminatory views, but we disagree with its conclusion that Ms. Tabor failed to establish an inference that the negative ratings were related to the discriminatory views. Ms. Tabor has raised a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether Hilti’s proffered reasons for rejecting her are “unworthy of credence.” Garrett, 305 F.3d at 1217 (quotations omitted). A reasonable jury could infer that the negative ratings the interviewers assigned Ms. Tabor did not represent objective individualized assessments of her qualifications but rather a reflection of the discriminatory views Mr. Teel expressed during the interview. See id. (“A plaintiff can withstand summary judgment by presenting evidence sufficient to raise a genuine dispute of material fact regarding whether the defendant’s articulated reason for the adverse employment action is pretextual.”); see also Simms v. Dep’t of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Servs., 165 -16- F.3d 1321, 1328 (10th Cir. 1999) (evidence of pretext may include use of subjective criteria). For example, the low rating given to Ms. Tabor on knowledge of the construction business relates closely to Mr. Teel’s expressed belief that women generally have inferior knowledge of tools. Similarly, the low rating in time management relates to Mr. Teel’s expressed concern that she would not be able to handle the workload because she was a wife and mother. As Ms. Tabor argues, a reasonable jury could infer that Mr. Teel’s discriminatory views are “mirrored in his ratings” of Ms. Tabor. Aplt. Br. at 53. Hilti claims that its alleged choice to hire a single mother (Ms. Musso) for the Oklahoma City position proves that it did not discriminate against Ms. Tabor. One problem with this argument is that Ms. Tabor has raised a genuine dispute regarding whether Ms. Musso was actually the person hired for the Oklahoma City Interior Finish position: It is undisputed that Ms. Tabor applied for an Interior Finish Account Manager position in Oklahoma City, and that she did not apply for a position in Tulsa. It is also undisputed that a male candidate, Mr. Kidwell, was hired for an Interior Finish Account Manager position in Oklahoma City and that Ms. Musso was hired for an Account Manager position in Tulsa. Hilti explains that it relocated the Oklahoma City position for which Ms. Tabor applied to Tulsa and offered it to Ms. Musso. Then, in an unrelated decision, it created a -17- new, separate Oklahoma City position that it offered to Mr. Kidwell.6 Under this logic, Hilti insists, Ms. Musso (and not Mr. Kidwell) was selected over Ms. Tabor and thus any inference of gender discrimination is impossible. Perhaps this explanation is true, but that is for a factfinder to determine. A reasonable jury could reject this explanation and infer that Hilti’s proffered reasons for rejecting Ms. Tabor are unworthy of credence and therefore pretextual.