Opinion ID: 154699
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: From January 1991 to May 1993, Roberts was employed by the University of Central Oklahoma (the “University”) as a nontenure-track lecturer in the Department of Funeral Service Education (the “Department”). The University is a state institution of higher education governed by the Board of Regents of Oklahoma Colleges. Both the Board of Regents and the State of Oklahoma are co-appellees with the University (all appellees are collectively referred to as the “University”). Roberts’ claim arises out of the University’s failure to hire her as a full-time instructor in the Department, a unit of the College of Mathematics and -2- Sciences (the “College”). She has no complaint about the terms and conditions of her employment or her treatment as an employee. In the late fall of 1992, the University began recruiting for a faculty position in the Department for the 1993-94 academic year. The University posted an announcement soliciting applications for a full-time instructor of Funeral Service. The announcement indicated that applicants must have a “funeral director/embalmer” license, a master’s degree in a related area, and a minimum of three years as a practicing “funeral director/ embalmer.” Previous teaching experience was preferred. Roberts applied for the position in January 1993. A three-person faculty selection committee, composed of Dr. Kenneth Curl, Chairperson of the Department, Dr. Gary Sokoll, and Dr. Thomas Grzybowski, both on the University faculty, screened the four applications received, including Roberts’, and selected finalists for interviews. The committee then conducted interviews and made recommendations for employment to G. Kay Powers, the Dean of the College. The committee did not interview Roberts. Chris H. Burkey was recommended to fill the position; Roberts was not. When she was not offered the job, Roberts complained to Powers about the fairness of the screening process. In order to assuage Roberts’ concerns and to generate a larger applicant pool, the University posted a second announcement for -3- the position. This second announcement generally reiterated the information and requirements from the first. Roberts reapplied for the position in May 1993. Again, a three-person committee screened the applications and selected finalists for interviews. This second committee consisted of Dr. Sokoll, Dr. Grzybowski, and Ronnie Redinger of the Redinger Funeral Home. All four of the previous applicants reapplied; of the eight applications received this second time, seven were from men. The committee screened the eight applications and interviewed three candidates. The committee recommended to Dr. Curl the interviewees in order of preference as follows: (1) Chris H. Burkey; (2) Thomas Shaw; and (3) David Hess. Neither Shaw nor Hess had been in the first applicant pool. Again, Roberts was not recommended. Moreover, the second committee did not interview the other two repeat applicants from the first round, Gus Embry, Jr., and Larry Wilmeth. Dr. Curl agreed with the second committee’s recommendations and forwarded the list to Powers. The University eventually appointed Burkey to the instructor position. Roberts brought suit in Oklahoma state court alleging that the University failed to hire her for the position of instructor on the basis of her gender. Roberts alleged that the failure to hire her violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e to 2000e-17, and Oklahoma public policy. The University removed the suit to federal court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1441(b). The -4- United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma exercised jurisdiction over the Title VII claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1) and 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and the state-law claim pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367. The district court granted summary judgment against Roberts on her Title VII claim, holding that she failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination. Specifically, the district court held that Roberts failed to establish she was qualified for the instructor position because her own deposition testimony indicated that she lacked the posted work experience requirements. The announcements for the instructor position specified the requirement of at least three years’ experience as a “funeral director/embalmer.” Although Roberts’ résumé stated that she had over ten years’ experience in this capacity, her deposition testimony indicated she had far less than her résumé indicated. 1 1 On her submitted résumé, Roberts stated she had “over 10 years of professional experience in funeral service [and other] capacities.” In addition to her related experience as an adjunct lecturer at the University since 1991, Roberts recounted in her résumé experience in funeral services and embalming from two other sources: (1) Guardian Funeral Homes (the “Loewen Group”) from 1990-92; and (2) Wilson Funeral Service (“Wilson”) from 1982-85. Furthermore, a letter of recommendation from Frank Bernard, the former manager of Wilson, which was submitted with Roberts’s application materials, stated that Roberts “directed hundreds of funerals and embalmed hundreds of bodies.” Roberts’ deposition testimony, however, provided a different account of her own work experience. She admitted that her résumé generally overstated her work experience and that she could not have worked at Wilson after the date it burned down. Fire Department records indicate that Wilson burned down on March 11, 1983. Furthermore, in opposing summary judgment, Roberts attempted to establish her work experience by affidavit. She averred additional work -5- In the alternative, the district court held that even if Roberts had been qualified for the position, the University had advanced legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for hiring Burkey instead of Roberts. The district court found that Burkey was at least as qualified as, if not more qualified than, Roberts. Because Roberts could not produce sufficient evidence that the University chose Burkey on a basis other than his qualifications, the district court reasoned that Roberts did not meet her burden of demonstrating the existence of a genuine issue of material fact regarding discrimination. Finally, as to Roberts’ state-law claim, the district court held that Oklahoma does not recognize a public policy tort in the failure-to-hire context. As a result, it dismissed this claim. Roberts appeals. On appeal, Roberts asserts the district court erred as follows: (1) granting summary judgment when there existed genuine issues of material fact; (2) disregarding her affidavit; (3) considering after-acquired evidence to conclude experience not evident from her résumé and application. She further attempted to explain her confusion at the deposition to account for disparities between her deposition testimony and her affidavit. The district court, however, noted that Roberts’ affidavit was in conflict with both her deposition testimony and her résumé. The court further noted that while she attempted to explain the differences between her deposition and affidavit, she made no attempt to rectify the inconsistencies between her affidavit and résumé. It then concluded this was an attempt to create a sham material issue of fact and disregarded the portions of the affidavit relating to her work experience. As a result, the district court concluded that Roberts could not establish the qualifications element of her gender discrimination claim. -6- Roberts was not qualified; (4) considering facts not specified in the statement of uncontroverted facts; (5) applying the wrong standard regarding pretext; (6) failing to allow full and complete discovery; and (7) dismissing the state-law claim rather than remanding it to state court.