Opinion ID: 201705
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ingram's Failure-To-Promote Claim Under M.G.L. ch. 151B

Text: 36 Ingram alleges that Brinks' failure to promote her to either assistant branch manager or branch manager amounts to actionable sex and pregnancy discrimination under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151B. In relevant part, ch. 151B § 4(1) makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate on the basis of sex in hiring, firing, compensating, or in providing other terms, conditions, or privileges of employment. The protections of this provision have been interpreted to apply to plaintiffs asserting claims of sex discrimination stemming from their pregnancy. Gunther v. Gap, Inc., 1 F.Supp.2d 73 (D.Mass.1998). 37 Neither party disputes that the applicable limitations period is six months, since ch. 151B § 5 as it existed before 2002 requires a plaintiff to file a charge with the MCAD no later than six months after the alleged act of discrimination. 8 See Ocean Spray Cranberries v. MCAD, 441 Mass. 632, 641, 808 N.E.2d 257 (2004). Accordingly, only events taking place between February 8, 2001, and August 8, 2001, the day that Ingram filed her claim with the MCAD, are actionable. 9 To be sure, discriminatory acts or practices that predate or postdate the actionable period can be used as relevant background evidence. Rathbun, 361 F.3d at 76. But the problem with Ingram's case is more fundamental: While the prior acts that Ingram describes can be introduced to provide a background for or evidence of animus in connection with an adverse decision, without an adverse decision within the limitations period, the discrimination inquiry simply stops. 38 The following events occurred during the actionable six-month period between February 8, 2001, and August 8, 2001: 39 In March 2001, Harrington, the newly appointed branch manager, assured Ingram that he would tell Gaherity that she was his choice for assistant manager, although he asked Ingram whether she would be able to meet the demands of the job with two small children. She assured him that she would. 40 Notwithstanding Harrington's assurances, while Ingram was still on maternity leave, Brink's advertised the assistant branch manager position in the local newspaper. Gaherity, it appears, was still resisting Ingram's promotion. And then, on April 11, 2001, evidence suggested that Brink's was eliminating the assistant branch manager position in favor of an Operations Manager, Ingram's job title at that time. 41 On May 1, 2001, after Harrington's resignation, Ingram reiterated her desire for the assistant branch manager title and corresponding salary. While Gaherity assured her that he would get the job for her that very day, he did not. 42 On May 18, 2001, Brink's finally offered Ingram the promotion and salary raise to $45,000. Ingram, however, turned it down and instead accepted a higher paying job with a different firm. On May 31, 2001, Ingram formally resigned. 43 Three weeks later, Brink's hired Hardy for the assistant branch manager/operations manager position at a starting salary of $50,000, $5,000 more than Brink's offered Ingram the month prior.
44 Employment discrimination claims, including failure-to-promote claims brought under ch. 151B, are reviewed according to the burden-shifting framework articulated in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973). See Wheelock College v. MCAD, 371 Mass. 130, 355 N.E.2d 309 (1976). 45 Where there is no direct evidence of discriminatory intent — no smoking gun — the plaintiff must first establish a prima facie case of gender discrimination. McDonnell, 411 U.S. at 802, 93 S.Ct. 1817. In a failure-to-promote claim, the plaintiff establishes a prima facie case by showing that (1) she is a member of a protected class, (2) she was qualified for an open position for which she applied, (3) she was rejected, and (4) someone possessing similar qualifications filled the position instead. Rathbun, 361 F.3d at 71. If a prima facie case is made out, an inference of intentional discrimination is raised, and the burden of production shifts to the employer to articulate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for its employment decision(s). Id. If the employer does so, the burden of production reverts to the plaintiff, who then must prove that the employer's neutral reasons were actually a pretext for the alleged discrimination. Id.; see also Texas Dep't of Cmty. Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 256, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981). 46 If, as is the case here, the plaintiff fails to make it past the first stage, i.e. to aver a prima facie case, the inference of discrimination simply never arises and the employer's motion for summary judgment is granted. 47
48 As the district court found, it is beyond dispute that (1) Ingram is a member of a protected class based on her sex and her pregnancy status during the relevant period, and (2) she applied for the assistant manager position. One could even conclude that Ingram was qualified for the assistant branch manager position, as Brink's apparently believed. The problem is with respect to the third prong of the test — an adverse employment action. Ingram finally got the promotion that she wanted and she turned it down. 49 Ingram argues that three events occurring after February 8, 2001 can be construed as a de facto rejection of her for the assistant manager position — (1) the April 2001 advertisement for the assistant manager position, notwithstanding earlier assurances that the job was her's, (2) the elimination in April 2001 of the assistant branch manager position in favor of operations manager, the title Ingram held, and (3) Gaherity's unfulfilled promise to secure Ingram the assistant manager position within an hour on May 2, 2001. But these events, while they surely may have been frustrating to Ingram, comprise nothing more than delays in the decision making process which are not actionable. 50 The district court correctly found that no reasonable factfinder could conclude that the first or second occasion amounted to a rejection. The process of finding a candidate for the assistant manager position continued; no one else was hired. After Ingram brought the newspaper advertisement to Harrington's attention, he told her that Gaherity was resisting his recommendation, not that Gaherity had conclusively rejected Ingram for the position. And, in the second instance, the change in title from assistant branch manager to operations manager was nothing more than an upper-management decision to change the title of the position to more accurately reflect its role and responsibilities. While the significance of the title change is not at all clear, it surely did not spell rejection for Ingram. 51 The district court characterized the third instance — Gaherity's failed promise to secure Ingram the promotion in an hour — as a closer call, and then passed on the question, finding no need to decide whether this instance amounted to a rejection because Ingram's claim failed at another point in the McDonnell test, namely Brink's ability to rebut a prima facie showing of discrimination with legitimate non-discriminatory motives. 52 It is difficult to construe Gaherity's actions on May 2, 2001, as a rejection. Indeed, after boasting to Ingram that he could secure her the promotion within the hour, Gaherity left the Lawrence branch and promptly drafted an email to his supervisor emphatically recommending Ingram for the assistant manager/operations manager position. Gaherity's email set the hiring process in motion, and, only two weeks later, Ingram was offered the promotion. 53 To be sure, Gaherity's initial assurances about how quickly he could effect her promotion were nothing more than a boast. But his empty boasts hardly amounted to a rejection. On the contrary, Ingram was offered the promotion within a relatively short time thereafter. 54 Without establishing that she was rejected for the promotion within the actionable time frame, Ingram cannot establish a prima facie case of discrimination and her failure-to-promote claim falters. Central to the first stage of the McDonnell framework, is evidence of an adverse employment decision. To be sure, the favorable decision did not come as quickly as Ingram would have liked, and she had her hopes dashed on more than one occasion. But in the final analysis, she got the job and she chose not to take it. 55