Opinion ID: 2718272
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sex-plus-Age Discrimination Claim

Text: Doucette also appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment on her claim of sex-plus-age discrimination under the MHRA. “‘Sex-plus’ discrimination occurs when employees are classified on the basis of sex plus one other seemingly neutral characteristic.” Knott v. Mo. Pac. R. Co., 527 F.2d 1249, 1251 (8th Cir. 1975). Doucette claims the County discriminated against her as an older woman. Although the Minnesota Supreme Court has not had occasion to recognize a claim for sex-plus-age discrimination under the MHRA, the Minnesota Court of Appeals has done so. See Pullar v. Indep. Sch. Dist. No. 701, 582 N.W.2d 273, 277 (Minn. Ct. App. 1998) (citing Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corp., 400 U.S. 542 (1971) (per curiam)). The County seeks to distinguish Pullar on the grounds that it dealt with a “sex-plus” discrimination claim where the additional characteristic, familial status, was not otherwise protected under the MHRA. However, we agree with the district court that a claim of sex-plus-age discrimination is likely cognizable under the MHRA.9 After all, as the district court noted, age is one way an employer could discriminate against some members of one sex but not the other.10 Moreover, 9 Although we have not decided the question, several other circuits have recognized “sex-plus” claims brought by plaintiffs with two protected characteristics. See, e.g., Shazor v. Prof’l Transit Mgmt., Ltd., 744 F.3d 948, 958 (6th Cir. 2014) (recognizing Title VII claim by subclass of African American women); Gorzynski v. JetBlue Airways Corp., 596 F.3d 93, 109–10 (2d Cir. 2010) (recognizing “age-plus-gender” discrimination claim, when complaint brought claims under ADEA and Title VII); Hicks v. Gates Rubber Co., 833 F.2d 1406, 1416 (10th Cir. 1987) (recognizing Title VII claim by subclass of African American women); Jefferies v. Harris Cnty. Comm’ty Action Ass’n, 615 F.2d 1025, 1033–34 (5th Cir. 1980) (same). 10 We assume without deciding that Doucette’s sex-plus-age discrimination claim was adequately pled for purposes of our summary judgment review. Her -10- Doucette contends her sex and her age both played a role in the County’s decisions, and “[t]hese characteristics do not exist in isolation.” Shazor, 744 F.3d at 958. “To be actionable, however, ‘sex-plus’ discrimination claims must be premised on gender. ‘Sex-plus’ plaintiffs can never be successful unless there is a corresponding sub-class of members of the opposite gender.” Pullar, 582 N.W.2d at 277 (citing Coleman v. B-G Maint. Mgmt., 108 F.3d 1199, 1203 (10th Cir. 1997)). Here, Doucette’s “corresponding sub-class” is comprised of older men. Doucette offers both direct and indirect evidence of sex-plus-age discrimination. Direct evidence may include “remark[s] by a decisionmaker [that] . . . show a specific link between a discriminatory bias and the adverse employment action, sufficient to support a finding by a reasonable fact-finder that the bias motivated the action.” Torgerson, 643 F.3d at 1045–46. However, “direct evidence does not include stray remarks in the workplace, statements by nondecisionmakers, or statements by decisionmakers unrelated to the decisional process itself.” Twymon v. Wells Fargo & Co., 462 F.3d 925, 933 (8th Cir. 2006) (quotation omitted). As direct evidence, Doucette notes two statements indicating intent to discriminate against her based on her age: (1) Wetzel’s comment that older people should not be in law enforcement; and (2) Monnier’s question to Doucette’s daughter as to whether she intended to retire or return to work after vacation. At her deposition, Doucette said that Wetzel “made a comment where he was at one of our staff meetings that women—or not women, that old people shouldn’t be working in our profession because they get injured.” She then clarified that by “our profession,” she meant “law enforcement.” Wetzel’s audience was older women, but complaint alleged that younger, male colleagues were treated differently than she was, and she included MHRA claims for both sex and age discrimination. See Gorzynski, 596 F.3d at 110 (“Gorzynski’s complaint did not contain a claim under the ADEA or Title VII based explicitly on an age-plus-sex or sex-plus-age theory of discrimination, nor need it have to survive summary judgment.”). -11- there is no evidence he meant older women were particularly prone to injury or should take greater care than men to avoid injury by not working in law enforcement. Wetzel’s comment was gender-neutral; even if taken to apply to his audience, Doucette has not demonstrated this remark, while made by a “decisionmaker,” was connected to “the decisional process itself.” Id. Doucette also cites a question by Monnier to her daughter, Tracy LeBlanc, as evidence that he wanted her to retire. Though LeBlanc’s and Monnier’s reports of the conversation differ, we take the facts in the light most favorable to Doucette, the nonmoving party. In her declaration, LeBlanc wrote that while Doucette was on vacation, “Mike Monnier approached me an[d] asked whether my mother, Mary Doucette[,] was planning on retiring. I responded to Mike that mom had no intention of retiring.” Although retirement inquiries may be “so unnecessary and excessive—that is, unreasonable—as to constitute evidence of discriminatory harassment,” asking a question about someone’s retirement plans is not inherently discriminatory. Cox v. Dubuque Bank & Trust Co., 163 F.3d 492, 497 (8th Cir. 1998) (citations omitted). We do not find Monnier’s question unreasonable. As indirect evidence, Doucette provides substantially the same proof for this claim as for her sex discrimination claim. She fails to demonstrate that the County’s asserted cause for terminating her was pretextual for the same reasons. Based on the record Doucette has presented, we cannot infer discriminatory intent motivated her termination, as her two male co-workers of comparable age did not engage in sufficiently similar misconduct or have a similar disciplinary history. In addition, she contends a younger female employee had received more favorable treatment. After Doucette complained to Monnier that the younger woman was taking excessive breaks, Monnier instituted a uniform policy regarding the duration of lunch and other breaks. However, there is no evidence that this policy was enacted in a punitive way, and absent more, it does not reflect discriminatory treatment of Doucette as an older -12- woman. In sum, Doucette has not presented evidence sufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact as to her sex-plus-age discrimination claim.