Opinion ID: 2994825
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Although United did have a formal

Text: zero-tolerance-for-discrimination policy in place and it did educate its employees about that policy, Mr. Bruso introduced evidence at trial that suggested that United’s top management officials disregarded the policy by refusing to remedy Sporer’s harassment even though they knew about it. From the evidence at trial, the jury could have concluded that the IRT investigation into Sporer’s conduct was a sham designed to discredit Mr. Bruso and to protect the managers who should have taken action to correct Sporer’s harassment sooner. If the jury accepted this evidence, which its verdict in Mr. Bruso’s favor suggests it might have, then it could have concluded that United did not make a good faith effort to comply with Title VII despite its formal antidiscrimination policy. See Lowery v. Circuit City Stores, Inc., 206 F.3d 431, 446 (4th Cir. 2000). Because Mr. Bruso presented sufficient evidence to allow a reasonable jury to conclude that United acted in reckless disregard of his federally protected rights within the meaning of sec. 1981a and Kolstad, the district court abused its discretion in granting United’s motion for judgment as a matter of law as to punitive damages. Mr. Bruso should have been allowed to ask the jury for an award of punitive damages, and he is therefore entitled to a new trial on this issue. C. Equitable Relief Mr. Bruso asked the district court for three forms of equitable relief: reinstatement, expungement of his personnel record, and a permanent injunction against further retaliation. The district court denied each of his requests. In addition, the district court determined that Mr. Bruso was not entitled to front pay. We review a court’s decision with respect to equitable relief for an abuse of discretion. See EEOC v. Century Broad. Corp., 957 F.2d 1446, 1462 (7th Cir. 1992). 1. Reinstatement After the jury returned a verdict in his favor on his retaliatory demotion claim, Mr. Bruso asked the district court to reinstate him to his former position as a supervisor. The district court declined to do so, finding that the lingering tension between Bruso and United management makes reinstatement to his former supervisory position particularly infeasible. R.87 at 5. In support of its conclusion, the court explained that, during closing arguments, Mr. Bruso’s attorney accused King of attempting to ’deep six’ his complaints about Sporer and similarly accused Strickland of using the review process to further a cover-up. Also, Bruso’s counsel argued that United, including its president, engaged in a cover-up to protect the company ’at all costs.’ Id. (internal citations omitted). The district court further relied on the fact that Mr. Bruso’s case took aim at much of United’s managerial hierarchy, thereby poisoning any potential working relationship. Lastly, the district court stated that Mr. Bruso did not act as a supervisor should have acted during his initial confrontation with Sporer and during the ensuing investigation. The equitable remedy of reinstatement requires the court to strike a delicate balance. On the one hand, reinstatement is the preferred remedy for victims of discrimination, and the court should award it when doing so is feasible. See McKnight v. General Motors Corp., 973 F.2d 1366, 1370 (7th Cir. 1992) (quoting Coston v. Plitt Theatres, Inc., 831 F.2d 1321, 1330 (7th Cir. 1987), vacated on other grounds, 486 U.S. 1020 (1998)). On the other hand, a court is not required to reinstate a successful plaintiff where the result would be a working relationship fraught with hostility and friction. See Hutchison v. Amateur Elec. Supply, Inc., 42 F.3d 1037, 1045-46 (7th Cir. 1994). Reinstatement in such situations could potentially cause the court to become embroiled in each and every employment dispute that arose between the plaintiff and the employer following the plaintiff’s reinstatement. See id. at 1046. A court must be careful, however, not to allow an employer to use its anger or hostility toward the plaintiff for having filed a lawsuit as an excuse to avoid the plaintiff’s reinstatement. See Century Broad. Corp., 957 F.2d at 1462. The court’s task of identifying the source of the friction between the employer and the plaintiff following the litigation may be straightforward when there is absolutely no evidence that there was friction in the relationship before the plaintiff filed suit. See id. However, reinstatement may become particularly infeasible if the plaintiff would no longer enjoy the confidence and respect of his superiors once reinstated. See Tennes v. Massachusetts Dep’t of Revenue, 944 F.2d 372, 381 (7th Cir. 1991). Reinstatement may also be more problematic when the plaintiff holds a management position, see Avitia, 49 F.3d at 1230, or would be supervised by the same individuals who discriminated against him in the first place, see Price v. Marshall Erdman & Assocs., Inc., 966 F.2d 320, 325 (7th Cir. 1992). In this case, Mr. Bruso is asking to be returned to a management position in which he could be supervised by some of the same individuals who were involved in his retaliatory demotion. The district court was therefore correct to consider the relationship between Mr. Bruso and these individuals following the litigation and whether any hostility still lingering between them would poison the prospect of a future working relationship. We are concerned, however, by the district court’s emphasis on the litigation itself as the basis for denying reinstatement. In alleging--and proving to the satisfaction of the jury-- that United’s management had retaliated against him for bringing to its attention the fact that another company supervisor had engaged in proscribed conduct, Mr. Bruso necessarily made accusations against company management personnel that hardly reflected well on their personal integrity or their management skills. We do not believe, however, that the angry reaction of United’s management to Mr. Bruso’s success before the jury can, standing alone, justify denying reinstatement. Nor do we believe that, as the district court suggested, Mr. Bruso’s attorney’s advocacy on behalf of his client can be a proper basis for such a refusal. The district court stated that it believed that the tension between Mr. Bruso and United’s management went beyond the underlying litigation. R.87 at 5. It gave, however, no further elaboration. Because the district court relied on impermissible considerations in its determination that reinstatement was not feasible and gave an inadequate explanation of another factor, we believe that this issue must be reexamined in its entirety by the district court. Accordingly, on remand, the court must reassess whether reinstatement is an appropriate remedy. 2. Front Pay When reinstating a successful Title VII plaintiff is not feasible, front pay is usually available as an alternative remedy. See Williams v. Pharmacia, Inc., 137 F.3d 944, 951 (7th Cir. 1998). Front pay is designed to place the plaintiff in the identical financial position that he would have occupied had he been reinstated. Avitia, 49 F.3d at 1231. A plaintiff who seeks an award of front pay must provide the district court with the essential data necessary to calculate a reasonably certain front pay award. McKnight, 973 F.2d at 1372. Such information includes the amount of the proposed award, the length of time the plaintiff expects to work for the defendant, and the applicable discount rate. Id. If the plaintiff fails to provide this information to the district court, the court will not abuse its discretion if it denies his request for front pay. See id.; see also Barbour v. Merrill, 48 F.3d 1270, 1279 (D.C. Cir. 1995); Brooms v. Regal Tube Co., 881 F.2d 412, 424 n.9 (7th Cir. 1989), overruled on other grounds, Saxton v. American Tel. & Tel. Co., 10 F.3d 526, 533-34 (7th Cir. 1993); Coston v. Plitt Theatres, Inc., 831 F.2d 1321, 1332-35 (7th Cir. 1987), vacated on other grounds, 486 U.S. 1020 (1988). United has argued before this court that Mr. Bruso waived his right to front pay by failing to request such an award from the district court. We are satisfied, however, that Mr. Bruso raised this issue sufficiently in the district court. Although Mr. Bruso’s request for an award of front pay was rather vague, the district court was apparently aware of the issue: the court explicitly stated in its order denying equitable relief that it did not believe front pay was warranted. This treatment of the issue was sufficient to preserve it on appeal. However, we must conclude that Mr. Bruso failed to meet his burden of providing the district court with the data necessary to calculate a reasonable front pay award. We can find no indication in the appellate record that Mr. Bruso suggested the amount of an appropriate award or submitted evidence indicating how long he intended to work for United or how the court should determine the applicable discount rate. In accordance with our prior precedent, we must hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to award Mr. Bruso front pay. In any event, by failing to present any reasoned argument on the issue on appeal, Mr. Bruso has waived the issue in this court. 3. Personnel Record Mr. Bruso also asked the district court to expunge from his personnel record all references to United’s investigation into his reports of Sporer’s sexual harassment and any disciplinary action taken against him as a result of those reports, so that his record will evidence only what it would have if the unlawful employment practice had not occurred. R.69 at 2. Mr. Bruso also lodged a specific request to have his UG 100 form amended so that his record will not contain any reference to his removal from management./9 Stating that it refuse[d] to meddle with United’s personnel matters, the district court denied Mr. Bruso’s request. R.87 at 7. We believe that, in light of the jury’s verdict in favor of Mr. Bruso on his retaliatory demotion claim, the district court abused its discretion in denying Mr. Bruso’s request. A district court is given broad discretion to fashion an equitable remedy that makes whole a plaintiff who has been discriminated against by his employer. See EEOC v. Gurnee Inn Corp., 914 F.2d 815, 817 (7th Cir. 1990). A court may use expungement as a means of removing the stain of the employer’s discriminatory actions from the plaintiff’s permanent work history. See, e.g., Sherkow v. Wisconsin Dep’t of Pub. Instruction, 630 F.2d 498, 504 (7th Cir. 1980) (stating that the district court properly ordered the defendant to expunge from the plaintiff’s personnel file a poor performance evaluation written in retaliation for the plaintiff’s public exercise of her right to be free from gender discrimination); cf. Knapp v. Whitaker, 757 F.2d 827, 846-47 (7th Cir. 1985) (stating that after the jury found that a school unlawfully had terminated a teacher for engaging in constitutionally protected speech, the district court properly ordered that all documents relating to the constitutionally protected speech and the retaliatory termination be expunged from the teacher’s personnel record). By refusing to expunge discriminatory or retaliatory discipline from a successful plaintiff’s personnel file, a court may force the plaintiff to bear the brunt of his employer’s unlawful conduct for the rest of his working career, which certainly contravenes the goal of making a plaintiff whole through equitable remedies. Based on the state of the appellate record in this case, we cannot tell exactly what information Mr. Bruso’s personnel file contains pertaining to his retaliatory demotion. On remand, the district court must examine Mr. Bruso’s personnel record and order the expungement of all reference to the retaliatory demotion. 4. Injunctive Relief Because Mr. Bruso is still working at United, he asked the district court to enjoin United from any further retaliation against him or any other United employee. The district court denied this request because it found no evidence that United discourages it[s] employees from complaining about unlawful discrimination or that it engages in systematic retaliation. R.87 at 6. The court found it persuasive that United has internal mechanisms in place to address complaints of harassment, and found it of no moment that those mechanisms may not be 100% effective. Id. at 7. We previously have stated that a successful discrimination plaintiff need not demonstrate that his employer engages in a pattern or practice of discrimination in order to receive injunctive relief. See EEOC v. Ilona of Hungary, Inc., 108 F.3d 1569, 1578 (7th Cir. 1997). In fact, a plaintiff need not produce any evidence beyond that going to his particular case before becoming eligible for injunctive relief. See id.; see also EEOC v. Harris Chernin, Inc., 10 F.3d 1286, 1292 (7th Cir. 1993) (citing EEOC v. Goodyear Aerospace Corp., 813 F.2d 1539, 1544 (9th Cir. 1987), for the proposition that the EEOC may not need to produce evidence beyond that pertaining to the individual on whose behalf it sued in order to receive an injunction). The relevant inquiry, then, is whether the employer’s discriminatory conduct could possibly persist in the future. See Ilona of Hungary, 108 F.3d at 1578-79; see also Dombeck v. Milwaukee Valve Co., 40 F.3d 230, 238 (7th Cir. 1994) (stating that the district court would not abuse its discretion by entering an injunction when the employer would be free to assign the harasser and the victim to the same working area in the future); Gurnee Inn, 914 F.2d at 817 (holding that the district court properly awarded an injunction when it was possible that the sexual harassment complained of might persist in the future because the manager who was aware of the harassment, but did nothing to prevent it, was still employed by the defendant); cf. Williams v. General Foods Corp., 492 F.2d 399, 407 (7th Cir. 1974) (stating that injunctive relief is inappropriate when there is little likelihood that the discriminatory practice will recur). Mr. Bruso succeeded in persuading the jury that he was the victim of a retaliatory demotion. United offered no evidence to indicate that it was unlikely to retaliate further against Mr. Bruso in the future. To the contrary, the circumstances indicate that it is possible that United could retaliate in the future. Mr. Bruso is still working for United at O’Hare. Sporer is no longer employed at O’Hare, but King and Strickland, the two individuals who were most influential in Mr. Bruso’s demotion, are still employed there. Although United may have formal policies for reporting and addressing harassment, the jury concluded that King, Strickland, Gordon, and potentially others ignored those policies altogether when they chose to demote Mr. Bruso. Contrary to what the district court thought, it is of every moment that United’s reporting policies are not 100% effective: if United’s upper echelon of management felt free to ignore United’s policies in the past, there is no reason to believe that those same members of management will abide by them in the future. Thus, an injunction prohibiting further retaliation could provide Mr. Bruso with the legal protection to which the jury’s verdict entitles him. Therefore, we conclude that the district court abused its discretion in refusing to award any injunctive relief in light of the jury’s verdict in favor of Mr. Bruso on his retaliation claim. We remand this issue in order to allow the district court to enter an appropriate injunction. D. Attorneys’ Fees After the jury returned a verdict in favor of Mr. Bruso, Mr. Bruso moved as a prevailing party for an award of attorneys’ fees. The lodestar figure Mr. Bruso submitted, and the amount the district court awarded him, was $393,418.75. United now argues that this amount was exorbitant in relation to the $10,000 award Mr. Bruso received and the $1.05 million award he requested from the jury. A prevailing party in a Title VII suit is entitled to a reasonable award of attorneys’ fees. See 42 U.S.C. sec. 2000e-5(k). The degree of a party’s success can bear on the propriety of the amount of the fee award. See Farrar v. Hobby, 506 U.S. 103, 114 (1992). Because we have concluded that the district court erred in not submitting the issue of punitive damages to the jury and in failing to provide Mr. Bruso with any form of equitable relief, we cannot determine the true degree of Mr. Bruso’s success in this litigation at this point in time. Therefore, we express no opinion on the propriety of the district court’s fee award, as this issue will have to be revisited following the proceedings on remand.