Opinion ID: 1989516
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Age and Race Discrimination

Text: Joyner asserts that there are genuine issues of material fact regarding her discrimination claim. We disagree. Analysis of discrimination claims is a three-step process: First, the employee must make a prima facie showing of discrimination by a preponderance of the evidence. Once that has been done, a rebuttable presumption arises that the employer's conduct amounted to unlawful discrimination. The burden then shifts to the employer to rebut this presumption by articulating some legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the employment action at issue. Finally, if the employer has articulated some legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the disputed conduct, the burden shifts back to the employee to prove, again by a preponderance of the evidence, that the employer's stated justification for its action was not its true reason but was in fact merely a pretext to disguise a discriminatory practice. Arthur Young & Co. v. Sutherland, 631 A.2d 354, 361 (D.C.1993) (internal punctuation, citations, and footnotes omitted). We will begin our analysis with an examination of the second and third prongs of this test, because we assume without deciding, as did the trial court, that Joyner established a prima facie case of discrimination, thus shifting the burden to appellees to articulate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory purpose for the employment actions. We are satisfied that appellees successfully did so, because, was the trial court observed, Joyner failed to overcome [the] legitimate nondiscriminatory reasons for the actions or to offer evidence of pretext. The six incidents that formed the basis of the discrimination claim were: (1) the December 9 verbal reprimand for failing to respond properly to a request for medical records; (2) the December 30 performance evaluation, which required Joyner to increase proficiency in her computer skills; (3) the January 9 admonition for leaving medical files unattended; (4) the January 27 verbal reprimand for disobeying the directive prohibiting punching in early on the time clock; (5) the February 3 written reprimand for violating two hospital policies; and (6) the alleged assault and battery in Stanton's office on February 7, 1997. We discuss each in turn. It is not disputed that the verbal reprimand that Joyner received from Stanton on December 9, 1996, was based on a report that someone had complained that Joyner did not respond in a timely fashion to a request for medical records. The trial court concluded, and we agree, that this constitutes a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the employment action. Although Joyner contends that the complaint was unfounded, and in fact tendered her account of the events in her response to the reprimand, she offered no evidence evincing pretext to disguise a discriminatory purpose; she simply suggested that Stanton should have investigated more thoroughly. However, as the trial court observed, Joyner never presented facts rebutting the key concerns that precipitated the warning, and that even crediting Joyner's account for the factual discrepancies she attempts to establish, th[e] [verbal reprimand] demonstrates no more than classic miscommunication, not discrimination. Further, despite the fact that Joyner claimed that the reprimand was inconsistent with Sibley's progressive discipline policy, and that it was unduly harsh and aggressive, she concedes that it did not demonstrate[] a hostile workplace []or a discriminatory bias. With respect to the December 30, 1996 performance evaluation, we agree with the trial court that the employer supplied a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for ensuring that clerk typists be proficient in the use of word processing software. Here, as with her first verbal reprimand, Joyner offers no evidence that this was pretextual. Instead, she simply asserts, without support, that this legitimate proficiency requirement was applied to her retroactively, that she had no notice of the requirement, and that her working knowledge of computers was better than that imputed to her by her performance evaluation. Despite this assertion, the record contains uncontroverted evidence to the contrary: her job description required that she be able to type, and she had been put on notice of her computer deficiencies in the prior year's evaluation, which was not contested, [not] alleged to be discriminating, [n]or drafted by Stanton. With respect to the admonition of January 9, 1997 for leaving medical files unattended, it is undisputed that Stanton received a report that the files were left unattended, [8] and that ensuring the integrity of the chain of custody of confidential medical records is a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for employee discipline. Again, Joyner offered no evidence to rebut the legitimate reasons presented or to show that the reason given was pretextual. Similarly, Joyner failed to rebut the explanation offered by appellees with respect to the January 27, 1997 verbal reprimand that she received for reporting to work too early. That reprimand was based on the fact that she did not follow a directive issued by Stanton on January 3, 1997 (a directive issued to all employees under Stanton) that employees not clock in more than a few minutes before their scheduled start times. Joyner counters that she was reporting early, but not at the department of which Stanton was supervisor. That explanation, however, does not contradict the fact that (1) there was a published hospital policy on the matter prohibiting punching in early (one that was a facially neutral directive issued to all employees) and (2) that Joyner violated the policy. Joyner's explanation is therefore insufficient to rebut appellees' legitimate reasons for the reprimand. We are also satisfied that the trial court's ruling on the February 3, 1997 written reprimand was correct. This reprimand was predicated upon Stanton's determination, based upon Joyner's written response to the December 9, 1996 verbal reprimand, that Joyner had violated two hospital policies: the prohibition against the unauthorized release of confidential medical records, and the ban against soliciting commendation letters from patients or their families. [9] Whether or not Joyner actually solicited the commendation letter is not a material fact. The operative material fact is whether or not Stanton had a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason to discipline Joyner. Evidence of violation of hospital policynamely, the existence of the commendation letteris sufficient to establish such a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason. The fact that Joyner had the letter is not in dispute. Moreover, it is also quite clear that Joyner released confidential medical records without written consent of the patient, a point not addressed, much less challenged, by Joyner. It is therefore uncontroverted that Stanton had legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for issuing the written reprimand. The record thus reveals that any action she took to reprimand or discipline Joyner was legitimately related to business concerns and hospital policy, not grounded in discrimination. Finally, when we consider the February 7 meeting at which the alleged assault and battery took place, we are faced with three discrete issues: the purpose for the meeting itself, the suspension that arose from both Joyner's attempt to depart and her actual departure (neither the attempt to depart nor the departure is disputed), and the assault and battery and false imprisonment that allegedly occurred. Although the trial court made findings of fact, which it should not have done, with respect to the latter issue, those findings do not affect the determination that there were no genuine issues of material fact. In analyzing this issue, we note that it is undisputed that the reason for the meeting was to discuss the allegations of wrongdoing leveled against Joyner in the February 3, 1997 memorandum. The memorandum stated that Joyner had violated hospital policy by soliciting a letter of commendation from the family member of a patient and by releasing confidential medical records without the required written authorization. We agree with the trial court, which observed: Thus, the supervisory meeting called for on February 7, 1997, and the February 3, 1997 memorandum that was to be given [Joyner] at the meeting were founded on legitimate business concerns rather than on discrimination. [Joyner], therefore, was without legal right to decline to listen to [Stanton] or to leave the meeting and, accordingly, acted insubordinately. As a result, the March 4, 1997 suspension [for insubordination] was also founded upon nondiscriminatory, legitimate business concerns. [Joyner] has failed to provide sufficient evidence that these legitimate business concerns were pretextual. As to the alleged assault and battery at the February 7 meeting, [10] the trial court found that there was no evidence that such an event occurred, and concluded that there is no evidence to support the allegation that the harassment [in the form of the alleged assault and battery], if it occurred at all, was based on plaintiff's status [as a member of a protected class]. The trial court's determination that the assault and battery did not occur was another finding that it was not permitted to make. Nonetheless, whether or not the assault and battery actually occurred is not a genuine issue of material fact. Again, a material fact is one that has direct and uncontestable bearing on the outcome of the case. Hill, supra note 8, 589 A.2d at 921 n. 9 (citing Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505). Here, the trial court concluded, as a matter of law, that there is nothing in the record to establish that the assault and battery, if it did occur, was the product of discrimination. We agree. Therefore, whether or not the assault and battery occurred is not material and does not have a direct and uncontestable bearing on the determination of liability. What does have a direct and uncontestable bearing on the question of liability, however, is whether or not, assuming the assault and battery did occur, the assailant had a discriminatory intent. Having offered no evidence to establish such intent, we conclude that the trial court's finding that the assault and battery did not occur has no bearing on the ultimate resolution of this issue. Therefore, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Joyner, and assuming that the assault and battery took place, Joyner failed to establish pretext. In sum, appellees had the burden of articulating nondiscriminatory reasons for their actions, a burden that they satisfied. That articulation by appellees shifted the burden to Joyner to demonstrate that their actions were mere pretext to disguise a discriminatory practice. We are satisfied that she failed to offer any evidence upon which a reasonable jury could have found in her favor. [11] We, therefore, hold that the trial court correctly granted summary judgment on the discrimination count (Count VII).