Opinion ID: 782023
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Disparate Treatment Age Discrimination Claim

Text: 14 The ADEA makes it unlawful for an employer ... to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual [who is at least 40 years old] ... because of such individual's age. 29 U.S.C. § 623(a)(1). To prove age discrimination under a disparate treatment theory, Pottenger must show that his age `actually played a role in [Potlatch's decisionmaking] process and had a determinative influence on the outcome.' Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 141, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000) (quoting Hazen Paper Co. v. Biggins, 507 U.S. 604, 610, 113 S.Ct. 1701, 123 L.Ed.2d 338 (1993)). In evaluating age discrimination claims, we employ the familiar framework developed in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973). See Wallis v. J.R. Simplot Co., 26 F.3d 885, 889 (9th Cir.1994). 15 Pottenger has made out a prima facie case of age discrimination. He was 60 years old; his most recent performance review grade of MR- was not outstanding, but indicated that he was meeting the requirements of the job; he was discharged; and he was replaced by Craig Nelson, then 43 years old, a substantially younger employee with equal or inferior qualifications. See Coleman v. Quaker Oats Co., 232 F.3d 1271, 1281 (9th Cir.2000). Potlatch, in turn, has articulated a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for terminating Pottenger: a lack of confidence that Pottenger could make the hard decisions necessary to turn around the ailing Idaho Pulp and Paperboard Division, which he headed. It is undisputed that IPPD lost over $200 million during 1997, 1998, 1999, and the first quarter of 2000. See Reeves, 530 U.S. at 142, 120 S.Ct. 2097 (holding that the employer's burden is one of production, not persuasion). 16 Pottenger may establish pretext through evidence showing that Potlatch's explanation is unworthy of belief or through evidence showing that discrimination more likely motivated its decision. Pottenger need not rely on only one type of evidence, and he has offered evidence both to cast doubt on Potlatch's credibility and to show a discriminatory motive. Id. at 143, 120 S.Ct. 2097; Chuang v. Univ. of Cal. Davis, Bd. of Trs., 225 F.3d 1115, 1127 (9th Cir.2000). At the summary judgment stage, Pottenger's burden is not high. He must only show that a rational trier of fact could, on all the evidence, find that Potlatch's explanation was pretextual and that therefore its action was taken for impermissibly discriminatory reasons. If he does so, then summary judgment for Potlatch is inappropriate. Wallis, 26 F.3d at 889. 17 Pottenger advances several reasons that, in his view, undermine Potlatch's explanation of his discharge. They include positive comments in his performance review, shifting justifications for his dismissal, the brevity of the meeting at which the president and CEO reached their decision to discharge him, and the procedures followed in his termination. Considering all of Pottenger's evidence together, however, we conclude that he has not created a genuine issue of material fact. Pottenger's performance review did contain some positive comments, but it also contained negative comments specifically singling out concerns with his performance in managing IPPD. Potlatch's proffered explanation does not state that Pottenger was incompetent or a generally bad employee; rather, it states that Potlatch lacked confidence that Pottenger could help turn the company around. Instead of casting doubt on Potlatch's explanation, the statements in the performance review are consistent with it. Moreover, although `fundamentally different justifications for an employer's action ... give rise to a genuine issue of fact with respect to pretext,' Payne v. Norwest Corp., 113 F.3d 1079, 1080 (9th Cir.1997) (quoting Washington v. Garrett, 10 F.3d 1421, 1434 (9th Cir.1993)), Pottenger has pointed to no evidence suggesting that Potlatch has ever offered a reason for his dismissal other than doubt about his commitment to making hard decisions to help the company. 18 Finally, the duration of the meeting between Paulson and Siegel at which they made the termination decision and the manner of Pottenger's discharge do not create a factual issue regarding the company's credibility. The meeting between Paulson and Siegel at which they ultimately made the decision to terminate Pottenger was short, but it obviously came at the end of a much longer process of evaluation and deliberation. There is also little evidence of an established formal or informal company procedure for discharging high-level employees. In fact, when Pottenger himself discharged the then-head of the Idaho Pulp and Paper Division in 1997, he did so in a manner similar to his own discharge. Potlatch's failure to follow some unspecified procedure in its treatment of Pottenger does not cast any doubt on its proffered reason for his termination. 19 To show discriminatory motive, Pottenger states that Paulson made comments referring to an old management team, an old business model, and deadwood. Remarks can constitute evidence of discrimination. The Supreme Court has held that telling an employee he was so old [he] must have come over on the Mayflower and was too damn old to do [his] job constituted evidence of age discrimination. Reeves, 530 U.S. at 151, 120 S.Ct. 2097 (alteration in original). We have found a triable issue of material fact when an employee was told upon applying for an executive position that the board wanted somebody younger for the job, Schnidrig v. Columbia Mach., Inc., 80 F.3d 1406, 1410-11 (9th Cir.1996), and, in a Title VII case, when an employee was told, during the period that he was otherwise eligible for a university position, that two Chinks in the department was more than enough, Chuang, 225 F.3d at 1128. These remarks are clearly sufficient to support an inference that the decisionmaker acted in a discriminatory fashion. In other cases, we have held that some remarks lead to no reasonable inference of discrimination and thus no triable issue of material fact exists. We have found that a supervisor's comment about getting rid of old timers because they would not kiss [his] ass did not sufficiently support an inference of age discrimination, Nidds v. Schindler Elevator Corp., 113 F.3d 912, 918-19 (9th Cir.1996), that a comment that we don't necessarily like grey hair constituted at best weak circumstantial evidence of discriminatory animus, Nesbit v. Pepsico, Inc., 994 F.2d 703, 705 (9th Cir.1993), that the use of the phrase old-boy network is generally considered a colloquialism unrelated to age, Rose v. Wells Fargo & Co., 902 F.2d 1417, 1423 (9th Cir.1990), and that an employer's comment describing a younger employee promoted over an older employee as a bright, intelligent, knowledgeable young man did not create an inference of age discrimination, Merrick v. Farmers Ins. Group, 892 F.2d 1434, 1438-39 (9th Cir.1990). 20 Paulson's remarks in this case do not sufficiently support an inference of age discrimination so as to create a triable issue of material fact that would defeat summary judgment. In the context of this case, the phrase old business model, does not support an inference of age discrimination. Similar to the language in Rose, the phrase is a colloquialism not generally associated with the target's age. Nor does Paulson's use of the term old management team during the same meeting create a triable issue of fact. Similarly, the management committee's use of the term deadwood does not suggest age discrimination. The Oxford English Dictionary defines deadwood as [a] person or thing regarded as useless or unprofitable; a hindrance or impediment. 4 Oxford English Dictionary 293 (2d ed.1989). 21 Pottenger also contends that the company's June 2000 reduction in force (RIF) disproportionately affected older employees. However, the statistical analysis of the RIF offered by Pottenger is insufficient to raise a triable issue of discrimination. A plaintiff may use statistics to show an intent to discriminate. See, e.g., Coleman, 232 F.3d at 1282-83; Rose, 902 F.2d at 1423. Potlatch, however, objects to the use of statistics from the RIF because Pottenger's dismissal was not formally part of the RIF. Nevertheless, if Pottenger can show that age was a motivating factor in determining who would be terminated under the RIF, that would constitute circumstantial evidence of discrimination in his dismissal. 22 Pottenger's statistical analysis of the RIF takes into account only two variables — the employee's age at the time of the RIF and whether the employee was terminated. The numbers show a statistically significant relationship between these two variables, but this court and others have treated skeptically statistics that fail to account for other relevant variables. See Coleman, 232 F.3d at 1283 (holding that to raise a triable issue of fact regarding pretext based solely on statistics, the statistics must show a stark pattern of discrimination unexplainable on grounds other than age (internal quotation marks omitted)); see also Frank v. United Airlines, Inc., 216 F.3d 845, 856 (9th Cir.2000) (An employer does not violate the ADEA by discriminating based on a factor that is merely empirically correlated with age.); Sheehan v. Daily Racing Form, 104 F.3d 940, 942 (7th Cir.1997) (criticizing a statistical analysis showing a correlation between age and discharge for failing to take account of any other relevant variable and finding the statistics without evidentiary significance); Rea v. Martin Marietta Corp., 29 F.3d 1450, 1456 (10th Cir.1994) ([A] plaintiff's statistical evidence must focus on eliminating nondiscriminatory explanations for the disparate treatment by showing disparate treatment between comparable individuals. (internal quotation marks omitted)). 23 Pottenger's expert had data about other relevant variables besides age and termination status, yet his statistical analysis makes no attempt to take these variables into account. See Coleman, 232 F.3d at 1283; Rose, 902 F.2d at 1425. In addition, Pottenger declined the opportunity to make use of the variable most likely to have offered a legally appropriate explanation of why certain employees were selected for lay-off: job performance. Although job performance may have been an important factor in determining who would be laid off, Pottenger specifically acquiesced in the suggestion that obtaining data about individual employees' performance reviews was unnecessary. If Pottenger had had access to only two variables, we would be presented with a different case. But here, where Pottenger had or had access to additional relevant data and chose not to use it, we conclude that Pottenger's statistical analysis is insufficient to raise a triable issue of fact regarding pretext. 24 Pottenger also argues discriminatory motive may be inferred from the fact that his replacement was only 43 years old and that shortly before his discharge the company moved a younger employee ahead of him on the successor list for CEO. Evidence that forms part of the prima facie case may also be considered to show that a proffered explanation is pretextual. Reeves, 530 U.S. at 147, 120 S.Ct. 2097. Without more, however, the fact that Nelson was younger than Pottenger does not create a triable issue of pretext. Nor does the fact that the company moved a younger employee ahead of Pottenger on the CEO successor list suggest that Potlatch acted with any discriminatory motive, for that employee had held a higher position in the company than Pottenger. 25 We have considered all of Pottenger's evidence of pre-text and conclude that it does not refute Potlatch's basic rationale for Pottenger's termination—that IPPD was losing money and the company lacked faith that Pottenger was the one to turn IPPD around. Potlatch has leeway to make subjective business decisions, even bad ones. See Coleman, 232 F.3d at 1285; Cotton v. City of Alameda, 812 F.2d 1245, 1249 (9th Cir.1987). It may have been unfair (and perhaps unwise) for Potlatch to blame Pottenger for IPPD's losses, but it is not surprising that Pottenger's bosses would try to make a change in leadership in a division that was having such consistent trouble. We hold that Pottenger has not created a genuine factual issue of pretext and the district court properly dismissed his disparate treatment claim on summary judgment. 26