Opinion ID: 746752
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Gonzales as Employer

Text: 42 Title VII prohibits employers from, among other things, discriminat[ing] against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). Title VII defines employer as a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce who has fifteen or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, and any agent of such a person .... 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b) (emphasis added). While the plain language of the above provisions facially appears to provide a basis for rendering agents of an employer personally liable for their discriminatory acts, this circuit has interpreted Title VII's definition of employer as merely importing common law agency principles of respondeat superior liability. See Grant v. Lone Star Co., 21 F.3d 649, 652 (5th Cir.1994) ([T]he purpose of the 'agent' provision in § 2000e(b) was to incorporate respondeat superior liability into title VII.). Thus, the actions of one who constitutes an agent of an employer may be considered the actions of the employer for purposes of imposing Title VII liability on the employer. 43 Pfau contends that Gonzales was the DCAA's agent within the meaning of Title VII, and that his knowledge of his own sexually harassing conduct is imputed to the DCAA, rendering it strictly liable under Title VII. We reject this contention. 44 In Meritor, the Supreme Court rejected the notion that supervisory personnel are agents per se within the meaning of Title VII's definition of employer, and thus rejected the notion that employers are strictly liable for the sexually harassing conduct of their supervisors in all circumstances. See Meritor, 477 U.S. at 72, 106 S.Ct. at 2407-08. The Court decline[d] ... to issue a definitive rule on employer liability for the actions of supervisory personnel, but indicated that common law agency principles may be useful in determining the situations in which a supervisor constitutes an employer's agent for Title VII purposes. See id. at 72, 106 S.Ct. at 2407-08. 45 Pfau contends that Meritor, along with cases in this circuit and others interpreting it, establishes that Gonzales was the DCAA's agent within the meaning of Title VII's definition of employer, and thus that his sexually harassing conduct is directly attributable to the DCAA. 5 We disagree. The summary judgment evidence indicates that, as a first-line supervisor, Gonzales lacked the authority to hire and fire agency employees and could only recommend that employees receive awards or be subject to disciplinary action. Gonzales could also issue assignments to auditors and determine the number of hours allocated to each assignment. The case law in this circuit indicates that this degree of authority is, as a matter of law, insufficient to establish that a supervisor is an agent within the meaning of Title VII. 46 In Garcia v. Elf Atochem N.A., 28 F.3d 446 (5th Cir.1994), this court concluded that immediate supervisors may be agents of employers within the meaning of Title VII's definition of employer when they are  'delegated the employer's traditional rights, such as hiring and firing.'  Id. at 451 (quoting Quijano v. University Fed. Credit Union, 617 F.2d 129, 131 (5th Cir.1980)). While the court acknowledged that the phrase any agent in Title VII's definition of employer was entitled to a liberal construction, it declined to extend the definition to include all supervisory personnel, not just those with the ability to hire and fire. Garcia, 28 F.3d at 451. 47 We recognize that some authority exists for the proposition that a supervisor need not have the authority to hire and fire in order to be considered an agent of the employer for Title VII purposes. See Canutillo Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Leija, 101 F.3d 393, 397 (5th Cir.1996) ([T]he Fourth Circuit has explained, '[The agent] need not have ultimate authority to hire and fire to qualify as an employer, as long as he or she has significant input into such personnel decisions.'  (quoting Paroline v. Unisys Corp., 879 F.2d 100, 104 (4th Cir.1989), vacated in part on other grounds, 900 F.2d 27 (4th Cir.1990) (en banc))), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 2434, 138 L.Ed.2d 195 (1997). However, even courts that take this more liberal approach acknowledge that the supervisor must exercise significant control over the plaintiff's hiring, firing or conditions of employment. Paroline, 879 F.2d at 104. The summary judgment evidence in this case indicates that the minimal authority wielded by Gonzales falls short of such significant control. 6 We therefore conclude that the district court did not err in ruling as a matter of law that Gonzales was not Pfau's employer for purposes of determining the DCAA's liability under Title VII. 7 b. The DCAA's Knowledge and Remedial Action 48 Pfau argues in the alternative that a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether the DCAA knew or should have known of Gonzales's harassment of Pfau and other DCAA employees and failed to take prompt remedial action. She advances two theories in support of this proposition: (1) the DCAA had actual knowledge of Gonzales's harassment of her and failed to take prompt remedial action, and (2) sexual harassment by Gonzales and other officials was so pervasive, open, and obvious that the DCAA had constructive notice of Gonzales's harassment of her and failed to take prompt remedial action. The summary judgment evidence that Pfau has submitted fails to create a genuine issue of material fact as to either of these theories. 49 Pfau contends that the DCAA had actual notice that Gonzales had harassed her and other DCAA employees prior to December 9, 1992, the date on which she first complained to upper management that Gonzales had sexually harassed her. She contends that, on April 16, 1992, she wrote a letter to Martin Munoz, the former Central Region EEO officer for the DCAA's office in Irving, Texas, complaining of sexual harassment. However, the letter contains no reference to sexual harassment by Gonzales, and only complains of conduct of female co-workers. 50 Pfau also claims that a September 12, 1992 memorandum that she sent to Dale Collins, the DCAA's Director of Personnel, establishes that the DCAA had knowledge of her harassment by Gonzales prior to December of 1992. The memorandum states generally that [t]he responsibility of management to prevent sexual harassment is not being performed. However, it contains no allegations of sexual harassment on the part of Gonzales, and actually urges that Gonzales should be given fair treatment. The memorandum therefore provided the DCAA with no notice that Gonzales had sexually harassed Pfau. 51 Finally, Pfau contends that Gonzales harassed two other DCAA employees--Tonya Scherchyl Martinez and Carolyn Pease--in 1990 and 1991 and that she reported these instances of supposed harassment to management. However, Pfau has offered no deposition testimony or affidavits from these other employees establishing that they experienced sexual harassment. Rather, she simply states in her own affidavit that these other employees told her that Gonzales had harassed them. This portion of Pfau's affidavit is incompetent summary judgment evidence because it consists of inadmissible hearsay. See Barhan v. Ry-Ron Inc., 121 F.3d 198, 202 (5th Cir.1997). 52 The competent summary judgment evidence that speaks directly to the DCAA's knowledge of Gonzales's alleged sexual harassment is limited to the affidavits of Michael Gonzales, the DCAA's Central Region EEO officer in Irving, Texas; James C. Bourne, Regional Audit Manager of the DCAA's Central Division; Harold J. Lamb, the former Branch Manager of the DCAA's Austin, Texas office; and Dennis Low, a supervisory auditor at the DCAA's Austin office. In each affidavit, the affiant states that he had no knowledge of any allegations of sexual harassment by Gonzales prior to Pfau's complaint in December 1992. Thus, no genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether the DCAA had actual knowledge of sexually harassing conduct on the part of Gonzales prior to December 9, 1992. 53 Likewise, no genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether DCAA management should have known of such conduct prior to December 1992 based on the pervasiveness of sexual harassment within the agency. Pfau has not produced summary judgment evidence indicating that Gonzales's alleged sexual harassment was so pervasive that the DCAA should have known about it as it was happening. Pfau's affidavit indicates that much of Gonzales's alleged sexually harassing behavior took place outside the office (e.g., telephone calls at home and visits to her apartment). Pfau alleges that, on many occasions during working hours, Gonzales would stand very near her and that he continuously pressured her during working hours to take him on vacation. Pfau also states in her affidavit that on one occasion Gonzales called her into his office and requested that they have lunch at her apartment, a comment that she interpreted to be a request for sexual relations. Pfau also mentions a few other specific instances of sexually harassing conduct in Gonzales's office. She alleges that, on one occasion, he told her that her blouse was unbuttoned when it was not and that, on another, he told her to turn around so that he could see her backside. She also states that, on another occasion, Gonzales requested that Pfau stand very near him in his office and became angry when she would not move closer. 54 Pfau has also offered the affidavit of Mary Lou Kirschbaum, a former supervisory auditor in the DCAA's Austin office. In her affidavit, Kirschbaum states that on one occasion Gonzales sent a message to her during a business meeting requesting that she call him at his hotel and that on another occasion he requested that she call him at the home of the DCAA's Central Regional Director. She also claims that she accompanied Gonzales to dinner at an expensive restaurant and that he expected her to pay the bill. She indicates that Gonzales brought up this incident in front of Dennis Low, who was then the special assistant to the Branch Manager of the DCAA Austin office, and that she was embarrassed by this. 8 55 Kirschbaum also states that she heard Gonzales make sexual jokes, comments, and innuendos during work hours and that he would make unwelcome sexual contact with her and other female employees. Kirschbaum provides no description of the sexual contact to which she refers, nor any basis for her conclusion that the purported contact with other employees was unwelcome or sexual. 56 The above allegations of specific instances of Gonzales's sexually harassing conduct, while perhaps establishing a fact issue as to whether he created a hostile work environment for Pfau, do not create a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Gonzales's harassment was so open and obvious that the DCAA should be charged with constructive notice of it. 9 This conclusion is bolstered by the fact that much of the alleged conduct took place outside the working environment and the affidavits offered by Pfau contain little indication that any substantial portion of the alleged sexual harassment took place in the presence of other employees. 10 57 We find further support for our conclusion that no genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether the DCAA had constructive notice of Gonzales's harassment of Pfau in the fact that the summary judgment evidence indicates that the DCAA had a structured, accessible grievance procedure that Pfau could (and ultimately did) use to provide the DCAA with actual notice of her harassment. In Meritor, the Supreme Court rejected the defendant employer's argument that the mere existence of a grievance procedure and a policy against discrimination, coupled with the [plaintiff's] failure to invoke the procedure, must insulate [the defendant] from liability. Meritor, 477 U.S. at 72, 106 S.Ct. at 2408. However, the court went on to point out that the defendant's nondiscrimination policy and grievance procedure suffered from two distinct infirmities: (1) the nondiscrimination policy did not address sexual harassment in particular, and thus did not alert employees of their employer's interest in correcting that form of discrimination; and (2) the grievance procedure would have required the plaintiff to report her harassment to her supervisor--the very person who had been sexually harassing her. See id. at 72-73, 106 S.Ct. at 2408-09. The court observed that, in the absence of these infirmities, the defendant's argument that the presence of these policies should insulate it from a finding of constructive notice might be substantially stronger. See id. at 73, 106 S.Ct. at 2408. 58 The summary judgment evidence in this case indicates that (1) the DCAA had a specific policy against sexual harassment and provided sexual harassment training to employees and (2) the DCAA's grievance procedure did not require Pfau to report her harassment to Gonzales. As such, the DCAA's procedures were better calculated to encourage victims of harassment to come forward than the procedures at issue in Meritor. Id. We express no opinion as to whether the DCAA's grievance procedure and sexual harassment policy may of themselves bar a finding of constructive notice. However, the presence of these procedures, coupled with the sparse summary judgment evidence indicating that Gonzales's harassment of DCAA employees was open and pervasive, warrant our conclusion that no genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether the DCAA had constructive notice that Gonzales was harassing Pfau prior to her complaint in December 1992. 59 Pfau likewise has failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to the adequacy of the DCAA's remedial response once it had notice of Gonzales's alleged sexual harassment. In her affidavit, Pfau conclusorily states that the EEO counselors who investigated her formal complaint attempted to whitewash her complaint and that she believed that the investigators and counselors ... had little interest in getting at the truth. Such conclusory and speculative assertions are not competent summary judgment evidence. See Lechuga v. Southern Pac. Transp. Co., 949 F.2d 790, 798 (5th Cir.1992) (Conclusory statements in an affidavit do not provide facts that will counter summary judgment evidence, and testimony based on conjecture alone is insufficient to raise an issue to defeat summary judgment. (footnote omitted)). 60 The summary judgment evidence indicates that upon receiving Pfau's formal complaint, the DCAA's EEO department began a prompt investigation. Paula A. McFarland, an EEO counselor for the DCAA, met with Gonzales. Her report on Pfau's complaint states that she spoke with Gonzales about sexual harassment training and complaint procedure and instructed him not to call Pfau at home. Harold Lamb, the DCAA Austin Branch Manager, states in his affidavit that he met with Gonzales and instructed him not to call DCAA employees after hours. He also states that he reminded [Gonzales] about the DCAA policy prohibiting sexual harassment and admonished him to not engage in any activity which might in any way be considered unwelcome sexual harassment. This remedial response passes muster under Title VII. See Waymire v. Harris County, 86 F.3d 424, 429 (5th Cir.1996) (holding reprimand of employee who had engaged in sexual harassment sufficient as a matter of law where employee had no prior documented offenses); Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 968 F.2d 427, 430 (5th Cir.1992) (Title VII does not require that an employer use the most serious sanction available to punish an offender, particularly where, as here, this was the first documented offense by an individual employee.), aff'd, 511 U.S. 244, 114 S.Ct. 1483, 128 L.Ed.2d 229 (1994). 61 Moreover, Pfau essentially admitted in deposition that Gonzales engaged in no more sexually harassing conduct after she made her formal complaint. 11 McFarland's investigative report states that Ms. Pfau stated that the comments and telephone calls had stopped and that I should just write in the EEO's counselor's report that the problem was resolved. The summary judgment evidence thus indicates that no genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether the DCAA's remedial efforts were sufficient to avoid liability under Title VII. 62 Because no genuine issue of material fact exists with respect to either of the theories advanced by Pfau in support of imposing liability on the DCAA for Gonzales's alleged quid pro quo and hostile environment sexual harassment, the district court properly entered summary judgment in favor of the DCAA on Pfau's sexual harassment claims.