Opinion ID: 1194943
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Beyer's Title VII Claim

Text: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits an employer from discriminating against an individual with respect to her compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of her sex. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1) (2000). A plaintiff seeking relief under Title VII has the burden of making out a prima facie case of discrimination. Collins v. N.Y. City Transit Auth., 305 F.3d 113, 118 (2d Cir.2002). This requires her to show that: (1) she is a member of a protected class; (2) she applied and was qualified for a job for which the employer was seeking applicants; (3) she suffered an adverse employment action; and (4) the circumstances surrounding that action permit an inference of discrimination. Williams v. R.H. Donnelley Corp., 368 F.3d 123, 126 (2d Cir.2004) (citing McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973)). We have characterized this burden as  de minimis:  it is neither onerous, nor intended to be rigid, mechanized or ritualistic. Abdu-Brisson v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 239 F.3d 456, 467 (2d Cir.2001) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). Nonetheless, a plaintiff's case must fail if she cannot carry this preliminary burden. Williams, 368 F.3d at 126. Defendants have not disputed, for the purposes of summary judgment, that Beyer has established the first, second, and fourth prongs of her prima facie case. Indeed, they concede that the facts alleged, if credited, would permit a reasonable trier of fact to conclude that gender bias was the reason that Beyer was repeatedly denied transfers to LFS. Nevertheless, they maintain that no reasonable factfinder could conclude that these denials constituted an adverse employment action. Employment actions that we have deemed sufficiently disadvantageous to constitute an adverse employment action include `a termination of employment, a demotion evidenced by a decrease in wage or salary, a less distinguished title, a material loss of benefits, significantly diminished material responsibilities, or other indices. . . unique to a particular situation.' Williams, 368 F.3d at 128 (quoting Galabya v. N.Y. City Bd. of Educ., 202 F.3d 636, 640 (2d Cir.2000)). A denial of a transfer may also constitute an adverse employment action, but we require a plaintiff to proffer objective indicia of material disadvantage; subjective, personal disappointment[ ] is not enough. Id.
Beyer's first argument on appeal is that the District Court applied the wrong standard of law to evaluate her Title VII claim. She maintains that an adverse employment action occurs whenever an employer denies an employee's request to transfer to a job that is materially and significantly different from the employee's current job. We have never so held. As the District Court correctly observed, we require objective indicia that the transfer denial created a materially significant disadvantage in the working conditions of the aggrieved employee. Williams, 368 F.3d at 128.