Opinion ID: 2997557
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Removal from the Unit Supervisor Position

Text: Cichon argues that the court improperly granted summary judgment to Exelon on his allegation that he was retaliated against when removed from the Unit Supervisor position and asserts that he produced sufficient evidence of discrimination to demonstrate a disputed issue of fact as to whether Exelon’s proffered reason for removing him from the position was pretextual. In order to reach the pretext stage of the McDonnell Douglas analysis, Cichon was initially required to present a prima facie case of retaliation by demonstrating, among other things, that “he was performing his job in a satisfactory manner.” Stone, 281 F.3d at 644. Although the district court assumed that Cichon met this requirement, after review of the record we are forced to disagree and are convinced that Cichon was not performing his job in a satisfactory manner at the time he was terminated from his position at Exelon, and thus failed to clear the initial hurdle of making out a prima facie case of discrimination. Beginning in January of 2000, Cichon’s supervisors started to question his leadership and supervisory skills, and became aware that Cichon had often failed to follow required safety procedures at Exelon’s Byron plant. Indeed, in June 2001, Cichon’s failure to adhere to plant procedures caused a very serious problem when he improperly shut down the reactor’s auxiliary feedwater pump, and caused an undesirable chain of events that ended in Exelon’s filing of a report with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. See supra pp. 2-3. And, perhaps more damaging to Cichon’s case, were the results of the interviews that he participated in as part of Exelon’s department-wide LAP evaluations during September of 2001, where he performed so poorly that the interviewing panel rated him as “developmental,” or No. 03-3724 13 deficient9 in eight of the eleven categories selected by Exelon to evaluate leadership and behavior skills. As a result, the interviewing panel determined that Cichon failed to “possess the leadership abilities that provide a good motivational fit for the [Unit Supervisor] position.” Cichon’s error during the restart of the reactor and Exelon’s poor LAP evaluation of Cichon occurred prior to the company receiving notice of Cichon’s lawsuit and were certainly indicative of Cichon’s inability to perform his job in a satisfactory manner and ipso facto justified Exelon’s decision to remove him as a Unit Supervisor. Accordingly, Cichon’s attempt to rely merely on a “suspicious timing” theory falls far short of creating any logical or reasonable inference that Exelon’s complaints about his unsatisfactory job performance were not based in fact, but instead were trumped-up charges invented by Exelon merely to cloak their clandestine retaliatory motive for removing him as a Unit Supervisor. See Lang v. Ill. Dep’t of Children & Family Servs., 361 F.3d 416, 419-20 (7th Cir. 2004); Sitar v. Ind. Dep’t of Transp., 344 F.3d 720, 728-29 (7th Cir. 2003); Ajayi v. Aramark Bus. Servs., Inc., 336 F.3d 520, 533-34 (7th Cir. 2003). In spite of the fact that Exelon did not inform Cichon of its decision to remove him from the position until after he filed his FLSA suit, the record clearly establishes that Exelon had been “contemplating [Cichon’s removal] before it learned of the suit [and] [e]mployers need not suspend previously planned [employment actions] upon discovering that [an FLSA] suit has been filed, and their proceeding along lines previously contemplated . . . is no evidence 9 As Exelon’s Manager of Employee Relations, Diana Sorfleet explained: “ ‘needs development,’ and too many ‘developmental’ scores means that the employee is so deficient (in Exelon’s opinion) that he is not worth the time, money and effort it would take to properly develop these deficiencies to the point where he is ‘competent’ in fundamental areas.” See supra note 3. 14 No. 03-3724 whatever of causality.” Clark County Sch. Dist. v. Breeden, 532 U.S. 268, 272 (2001). Exelon has every reason to expect that each of its Unit Supervisors possess and exhibit the necessary leadership and supervisory skills, and follow the procedures required to ensure the safe operation of its nuclear power plants. The record demonstrates that Cichon fell far short of meeting Exelon’s expectations as evidenced by his failure to follow the approved reactor start-up and shut-down safety procedures and his poor showing in the LAP interviews, when he was rated “developmental” or deficient10 in all but three out of the eleven categories in which his leadership and behavior skills were rated. Cichon does not argue that Exelon’s expectations were unreasonable or not bona fide. See Robin v. Espo Eng’g Corp., 200 F.3d 1081, 1090 (7th Cir. 2000). Since Cichon has failed to demonstrate that “he was performing his [Unit Supervisor] job in a satisfactory manner” and meeting his employer’s legitimate business expectations that its management-level employees possess and demonstrate the requisite leadership and behavioral skills, he has failed to establish a prima facie case of retaliation in regards to his removal from this position. Stone, 281 F.3d at 644. Even assuming arguendo that Cichon had established a prima facie case of retaliation, his claim would still ultimately fail due to the fact that he has failed to present any evidence that would establish that Exelon’s proffered reasons for removing him were pretextual. In error Cichon asserts that he was the only Unit Supervisor removed as a result of the LAP; a contention which is devoid of any support in the record. To the contrary, at least two other individuals were removed due to poor performance in the LAP evaluations. Furthermore, because Cichon failed to 10 See supra notes 3, 9. No. 03-3724 15 present any evidence that Exelon relied on anything other than his poor work performance and negative LAP evaluations when it removed him, we need not inquire any further into the wisdom of its employment decisions. Appelbaum v. Milwaukee Metro. Sewerage Dist., 340 F.3d 573, 579 (7th Cir. 2003). We conclude that the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Exelon on Cichon’s claim of retaliation in his removal from the Unit Supervisor position was proper.