Opinion ID: 149283
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Changing Hill’s Performance Standards

Text: Hill also argues that he was discriminated against when Frogge changed his performance standards. Once again, however, there are no similarly situated non-protected individuals. During the EEOC hearing, Hill testified that no other supervisor or cook had his or her standards changed. There is no indication, however, that any of these employees were non-minorities. Moreover, at the hearing, Debra Gilliland, a Labor Relations Specialist at the VAMC, testified that Frogge directly supervised only two employees—Hill and Catherine Austin—and would be expected to review only their standards. Hill never contradicted this testimony and has failed to provide any evidence that Austin held a position similar to Hill’s. Finally, Hill cannot compare himself to Soles because Soles retired nearly two-and-a-half years prior to the decision to change the standards. 5. Requiring Hill to Complete His Employee Appraisal in Four Days Hill also argues that he was discriminated against when, on April 21, Frogge told him to complete his employee appraisals in four days when all of the supervisors whom Hill supervised had until May 31 to complete their appraisals. As mentioned previously, however, all of the subordinate supervisors who Hill claims were treated differently were African-American. Furthermore, Hill admits that he did not complete the appraisals in four days, and that Frogge’s only response was to send him to get more training, after which he completed the appraisals by May 31. Therefore, there was no adverse employment decision. 6. Hill’s Loss of His Office Finally, Hill claims that he was discriminated against in August 2003 when Frogge “took [his] office from [him] and gave it to a white non-supervising dietician.” Doc. 33 at 3 (Hill Aff. at 10 No 09-5305 Hill v. Nicholson, et al. ¶ 10). Hill’s complaint, however, failed to state a claim with respect to this incident because his complaint does not allege any facts regarding the loss of his office. A complaint must be sufficient to “give the defendant fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (internal quotation marks omitted) (alterations in original). Here, Hill’s complaint provides a detailed timeline of all the events that occurred up until July 2003 and then stops, failing to provide a single allegation of any events occurring beyond that point. As a result, the complaint gave the VA no notice that Hill’s claim might be premised on his loss of his office. Hill responds by arguing that his response to the VA’s interrogatories put the VA on notice. The “course of proceedings” exception upon which Hill is presumably relying, however, applies only when the complaint is “ambiguous.” Harris v. Bornhorst, 513 F.3d 503, 516 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 128 S. Ct. 2938 (2008). Hill’s complaint is not ambiguous as it does not allege a single fact relating to the loss of his office. Furthermore, although Hill points out that he potentially could have amended his complaint, he never moved to do so. 7. Conclusion Therefore, for the reasons stated above, the district court did not err in granting the VA’s motion for summary judgment with respect to Hill’s claim of discrimination.