Opinion ID: 1201357
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Letter of Instruction

Text: Next, Ms. Atanus submits that she presented a prima facie case of discrimination regarding the letter of instruction that she received on January 13, 2003. The letter stated that she had not been following GSA guidelines for the modification and extension of contracts. According to Ms. Atanus, a comparison of the letter that she received with letters received by employees outside of her protected classes reveals that the letters received by other employees were boilerplate, much less severe in tone and did not threaten termination. Ms. Atanus has not shown that the January 13, 2003 letter of instruction was an adverse employment action. In Sweeney v. West, 149 F.3d 550, 556-57 (7th Cir.1998), we declined to consider two counseling statements, which admonished the employee to improve, as adverse employment actions or as having tangible job consequences because the employee had not pointed to any immediate consequences of the reprimands, such as an eligibility for promotion, transfer to a favorable location, an advantageous increase in responsibilities or similar benefits. See Johnson v. Cambridge Indus., Inc., 325 F.3d 892, 901, 902 (7th Cir.2003) (noting that, although the definition of an adverse employment action is generous, an employee must show some quantitative or qualitative change in the terms or conditions of his employment or some sort of real harm); Oest v. Illinois Dep't of Corr., 240 F.3d 605, 613 (7th Cir.2001); cf. Coolidge v. Consol. City of Indianapolis, 505 F.3d 731, 735 (7th Cir.2007) (explaining that two reprimands followed by termination constitute an adverse employment action). The same is true here. The letter itself does not state that Ms. Atanus is being disciplined for her second failure to follow FAR 4.2; rather, it warns that disciplinary action may be taken if she fails to comply with the directive of the letter. Ms. Atanus was not terminated or demoted, and she does not allege that her job responsibilities were changed because of the letter. Indeed, after Ms. Atanus requested that the GSA conduct a desk audit, the agency developed an official position, specifically for her and at the same GS-11 grade, to comply with her request. [7] Ms. Atanus, moreover, has not established that the employees who received letters of instruction were similarly situated. The letter that Ms. Atanus received was not written by the manager who issued letters to the other employees. Additionally, this letter was Ms. Atanus' second letter of instruction for failing to follow the same GSA regulation. The letter references the prior letter of instruction that Ms. Atanus had received, in which Ms. Atanus had been warned that further violations of FAR 4.2 could lead to disciplinary action, up to and including removal. R.37, Ex. 5 at 2. Because employers are justified in reprimanding employees more severely for repeated errors and because Ms. Atanus has not submitted any evidence indicating that the two other employees who received less severe letters had been reprimanded in the past, she has failed to show that these employees were similarly situated. Accordingly, Ms. Atanus has not established a prima facie case of discrimination with regard to the January 13, 2003 letter of instruction.