Opinion ID: 721358
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Vitug's Constructive Discharge Claim

Text: 36 Title VII provides, among other things, that an employer may not discharge any individual ... because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). Where a defendant employer makes an employee's working conditions so intolerable that the employee is forced into an involuntary resignation, the courts will consider the plaintiff employee to have been constructively discharged. Saxton v. American Tel. & Tel. Co., 10 F.3d 526, 536-37 (7th Cir.1993) (quoting Weihaupt v. American Medical Ass'n, 874 F.2d 419, 426 (7th Cir.1989)) (emphasis in original). Through this legal construct, a plaintiff who is forced out by discriminatory conduct may bring a successful Title VII claim even though the plaintiff was never officially dismissed by the defendant. Saxton, 10 F.3d at 536-37. 37 In order to recover under a constructive discharge theory of discrimination, the plaintiff must demonstrate first that he was, in fact, constructively discharged--i.e., that the defendant made the working conditions so intolerable as to force a reasonable employee to leave. Id. Once a plaintiff has shown that a constructive discharge occurred, he must prove, as with any other discharge claim under Title VII, that he was constructively discharged because of his membership in a protected class. Id. 38 In his complaint, Vitug's claim of constructive discharge comprises a recounting of the circumstances surrounding his rejection for the field audit supervisor position and a declaration that the defendants' failure to promote him in the first place, together with the defendants subsequent refusal to remedy this failing, had rendered the Plaintiff's working conditions intolerable, and Plaintiff was compelled to terminate his employment involuntarily.... This claim is consistent with plaintiff's letter of resignation, in which he stated: The circumstances surrounding the denial of my promotion to Field Audit Supervisor has [sic] created a hostile work environment. 39 Thus, from the pleadings, Vitug's constructive dismissal claim rests entirely on the assertion that Multistate's failure to promote him constituted discrimination on the basis of his religion and national origin--an assertion that, as explained above, Vitug has offered no evidence to support. Nevertheless, in his argument against summary judgment (echoed on appeal), Vitug alleges that defendants' conduct between his denial of promotion and his resignation also forced him to leave Multistate. 40 Vitug admits that prior to June of 1991, Koenig's reviews of Vitug had always been favorable, and Vitug had never been mistreated. Yet, according to Vitug, after he was passed over for the position of field audit supervisor and Jennings assumed a supervisory position over him, working conditions at Multistate deteriorated into a hostile and intolerable environment. As the district court succinctly summarized: 41 Vitug claims: (1) Koenig and Jennings were confrontational and overly aggressive; (2) Jennings would give threatening looks when Vitug conversed with other auditor[s], and tried to intimidate other auditors into not seeking advice from Vitug; (3) other auditors eventually stopped interacting with Vitug; (4) Koenig gave Vitug the silent treatment, or was arrogant and hostile; (5) Vitug was excluded from meetings of the auditors; (6) Jennings criticized Vitug's method of performing audits, and stated his dissatisfaction with the amount of time they took and Vitug's lack of aggressiveness in obtaining information from taxpayers; and (7) Koenig and Jennings demanded that Vitug sign a performance goal, and argued with him when he refused to sign. 42 Vitug v. Multistate Tax Comm'n, 860 F.Supp. 546, 553 (N.D.Ill.1994). What is important, however, is that Vitug never claims that Koenig, Jennings, or anyone else at Multistate ever made any disparaging remarks concerning his religion or national origin. Nor does Vitug present evidence that any of the above hostile treatment was a result of Vitug's religion, national origin, or his filing a claim with the EEOC. Thus, regardless of how horrific the conditions Vitug describes may have been, Vitug has failed to put forth any evidence supporting his claim that Multistate's failure to promote him, or Koenig's and Jennings's ensuing incivilities, were a result of his religion or national origin. Because Vitug cannot prove that any of defendants' actions were motivated by his religion or ethnicity, his constructive discharge claim is doomed to failure even if he were able to demonstrate that the working conditions at Multistate were intolerable. 43 The district court's entry of summary judgment in favor of the defendants on all counts is AFFIRMED.