Opinion ID: 200920
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 3 We rehearse the facts in the light most agreeable to the party opposing the entry of summary judgment (here, the plaintiff), drawing all reasonable inferences to her behoof. Garside v. Osco Drug, Inc., 895 F.2d 46, 48 (1st Cir.1990).
4 At the times material hereto, plaintiff-appellant Betsey E. Rathbun worked for defendant-appellee AutoZone, Inc. or its predecessor in interest, Auto Palace. The district court's opinion contains a meticulous account of the appellant's relevant employment history, Rathbun, 253 F.Supp.2d at 229-30, and we offer only a brief sketch. 5 AutoZone operates a chain of retail stores selling automobile parts and accessories, and Auto Palace (now defunct) was in substantially the same business. In 1995, Auto Palace hired the appellant as a part-time cashier and assigned her to its Cranston, Rhode Island location. Her duties included running the cash register, stocking shelves, and assisting customers. Early in 1998, AutoZone purchased the Auto Palace chain and converted the stores to the AutoZone brand. 6 AutoZone organizes its store employees into four job classifications: (i) customer service representative (CSR); (ii) parts sales manager (PSM); (iii) assistant store manager (ASM); and (iv) store manager. At the time of the acquisition, AutoZone made the appellant a part-time CSR at a pay rate of $6.59/hr. In April of 1998, she became full-time at a rate of $6.92/hr. Her duties expanded to encompass the whole range of customer sales. She was not tasked with managerial duties but helped train several new employees in company policies and systems. 7 In the summer of 1998, the appellant began lobbying for a promotion to PSM. When her interest went unrequited, she approached her district manager, Jeff Mello, and voiced a suspicion that gender had played a role in AutoZone's unwillingness to move her up the corporate ladder. Mello pooh-poohed this suggestion and provided the appellant with a list of skills she should master in order to improve her qualifications for a PSM position. 8 The appellant received a promotion to the PSM rank and a raise to $8/hr. in September of 1999. From the time that AutoZone acquired Auto Palace until the date of her ascension, AutoZone filled five PSM vacancies (only two of which were filled after the appellant had applied for a promotion). Every successful candidate was a man. 9 Soon after her promotion to PSM, the appellant expressed an interest in becoming an ASM. She was passed over four times for ASM openings — each time in favor of a man (some of whom were new hires). The appellant remains a PSM.
10 On November 16, 2000, the appellant filed a charge of discrimination with the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights (the Commission). See R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-5-17 (making the filing of an administrative charge a precondition to suit under the Rhode Island Fair Employment Practices Act). Having obtained a right-to-sue letter, the appellant commenced a civil action in a Rhode Island state court. In her complaint, she charged that, due to her gender, AutoZone had unduly delayed her elevation to PSM, denied her a promotion to ASM, and paid her less than similarly situated males. All of her claims were grounded on two state statutes — the RICRA and the Rhode Island Fair Employment Practices Act (FEPA), R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 28-5-1 to 28-5-42. 11 Citing the existence of diversity of citizenship and a controversy in the requisite amount, AutoZone removed the action to the federal district court. 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332(a), 1441. After the completion of pretrial discovery, the district court granted an across-the-board summary judgment in AutoZone's favor. Rathbun, 253 F.Supp.2d at 236. The court applied the one-year FEPA statute of limitations, R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-5-17(a), to all the failure-to-promote claims (including those brought under the RICRA). The court reasoned that it would be anomalous for factually identical claims to be time-barred under the FEPA yet timely under the RICRA, and that, therefore, the state legislature must have intended a one-year limitations period to apply to both statutes. Rathbun, 253 F.Supp.2d at 231-34. 12 Since the appellant had filed her charge of discrimination with the state agency on November 16, 2000, the lower court's limitations decision meant that the court regarded as potentially actionable only those employment decisions that took place between November 16, 1999 and November 16, 2000. From this coign of vantage, the court concluded that the failure-to-promote claims could not successfully run the summary judgment gauntlet. Id. at 235-36. With respect to the unequal pay claim, the court treated the relevant events as constituting a series of related, connected acts within the meaning of the continuing violation doctrine. Id. at 231. On that basis, it deemed potentially actionable events outside the one-year limitations period. Id. Still, it found no evidentiary predicate sufficient to allow the unequal pay claim to proceed to trial. Id. at 235-36. This appeal followed.