Opinion ID: 1446555
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: McCoy's Retaliation Claims

Text: McCoy contends that, by retrieving her gun and badge and placing her on administrative leave, SPD took actions that might well dissuade a reasonable officer from filing a charge of discrimination. McCoy characterizes those actions as the functional equivalent of a discharge, because they remove the essence of being a Police Officer. The City, on the other hand, contends that SPD's actions, when viewed in context, do not meet the standard set forth in Burlington Northern. Specifically, the City points out that McCoy (1) voluntarily requested leave, (2) made troubling statements that raised legitimate safety concerns, and (3) was paid throughout her leave. As such, insists the City, actions like SPD's should not dissuade a reasonable police officer in McCoy's situation from making a discrimination complaint. In Burlington Northern, the Court recognized that arguably adverse employment actions must be viewed in context. [27] In this case, the record makes clear that McCoy did ask to leave work to see her doctor andpresumably acting on her doctor's advicenever attempted to return to work. There is no evidence that SPD would have placed her on administrative leave had she been able to continue working, or that SPD would have refused to reinstate her had she sought to return to work after her leave. The record also makes clear, however, that McCoy did not volunteer to surrender her gun and badge and did not designate her own leave as administrative: SPD made those decisions and took those actions on its own. As McCoy contends that those actions (and not her leave generally) constitute the adverse employment action in this case, we do not regard her initial voluntary request for leave as foreclosing her retaliation claim. We are satisfied that McCoy's troubling statements have no bearing on whether SPD's actions constitute an adverse employment action. In the next step of the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework, such statements could affect our assessment of SPD's motive for its actions, but they are irrelevant to our consideration whether McCoy's being placed on administrative leave meets the Burlington Northern standard for an adverse employment action. Similarly, the mere fact that McCoy was placed on paid administrative leave does not necessarily mean that she did not suffer an adverse employment action. Police officers are typically placed on administrative leave, frequently with pay, when they are under investigation or as discipline for wrongdoing. In such cases, the officers are indefinitely relieved of all duties and have little, if any, control over their reinstatement. Consequently, placement on administrative leave may carry with it both the stigma of the suspicion of wrongdoing and possibly significant emotional distress. Instances of administrative leave can also negatively affect an officer's chances for future advancement. Accordingly, we recognize that it is at least a close question whether SPD's placing McCoy on paid administrative leave constituted an adverse employment action under the Burlington Northern standard. We need not answer this question today, however, because even if McCoy could make the necessary prima facie case of discriminatory retaliation under Title VII, she cannot prove that the City's proffered legitimate, non-retaliatory reasons for collecting her gun and badge and placing her on administrative leave are pretextual. [28]