Opinion ID: 41382
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Changes in Job Duties and Perks

Text: 11 Saunders also contends that she suffered a decrease in the frequency with which she performed charge nurse, in-service, and precepting duties and changes to her holiday and vacation schedule in retaliation for filing her initial EEOC charge. It is undisputed that the schedule changes were applied not just to Saunders but to all part-time nurses in the emergency department; therefore, Emory has proferred a non-retaliatory reason for the changes in Saunders’ schedule. Saunders has no produced no evidence indicating that Emory’s proferred reason is pretext for illegal retaliation. It is also undisputed that the decrease in certain duties has not resulted in tangible effects such as a decrease in pay or failure to maintain her current certification. In the wake of Burlington Northern, however, the employer’s conduct need not reach the level of an ultimate or substantial employment action to constitute actionable adverse conduct. The conduct only need be serious enough that it might dissuade a reasonable worker from making or supporting a charge of discrimination. The Supreme Court’s discussion in Burlington Northern provides some insight into when an employer’s conduct might dissuade a reasonable worker from making or supporting a charge of discrimination. In Burlington Northern, the Supreme Court concluded that even a total “reassignment of job duties is not automatically actionable.” 548 U.S. at 71; 126 S. Ct. at 2417. Discussing 12 reassignments, the Court indicated that the nature of work being performed or the necessity of greater qualifications for certain duties was relevant to whether a reassignment was actionable. Id. In this case, Saunders has not suffered a total reassignment, but simply a decrease in certain responsibilities. There is no evidence that she has been assigned more difficult or arduous work in lieu of these responsibilities. Furthermore, the record indicates that these responsibilities are part of the normal duties of a Level IV registered nurse; there is no evidence that these responsibilities require greater qualifications or carry greater prestige than any of the other duties of a Level IV registered nurse. Because this slight decrease in the frequency with which Saunders performs certain job responsibilities does not rise to the level of actionable retaliation, Saunders cannot establish a prima facie case based on those actions.1