Opinion ID: 780508
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Plaintiff's Career During Gallagher's Tenure as Commissioner

Text: 12 In January 1997 defendant John Gallagher became police commissioner of Suffolk County. The crux of plaintiff's complaint is that Gallagher, who is Irish-Catholic, promoted a pro-Catholic mentality in the department. At official police functions Gallagher made statements like [W]e are all good Christians, and, [W]e can all work well together because we all went to good Christian schools, were taught by the Christian Brothers and learned good Christian values. Defendants respond that Gallagher's statements were innocuous and taken out of context. 13 During Gallagher's tenure as commissioner, Shomrim, a fraternal organization for Jewish police officers that Mandell co-founded, saw its membership decrease dramatically; the organization was defunct when plaintiff retired. Plaintiff contends that this occurred under Gallagher's administration because visibility as a Jew in the department was seen as a liability. 14 On four separate occasions between 1997 and 1999, Gallagher declined to promote plaintiff to the rank of an inspector: on August 4, 1997 (one position open); on September 7, 1998 (two positions open); on August 30, 1999 (two positions open); and on November 7, 1999 (one position open). These promotions went to Catholic officers instead. 15 When he was passed over the first time in August 1997 Mandell complained to Gallagher about discrimination in the department. Defendant said he would institute a formal internal affairs investigation. Dissatisfied with this response, plaintiff wrote a letter on August 25, 1997 to Suffolk County Legislator Maxine Postal. In the letter he criticized Gallagher's decision to forward his discrimination complaint to Internal Affairs, and labeled defendant as either the most pathetically inept Commissioner that we have ever had or the most devious. It is sharply contested whether Gallagher saw a copy of this letter prior to the instant litigation. 16 In November 1999 Gallagher involuntarily transferred plaintiff, who was then a commanding officer — a top-ranking and decision-making position in a division — to the more subordinate position of executive officer. This transfer was perceived as a demotion not only by plaintiff but also by his fellow officers who commented that the transfer was not favorable, not in anticipation of a promotion, and that it was plain the department was trying to force plaintiff to resign. II Proceedings Below 17 The instant action was commenced in March 1999, with an amended complaint filed in February 2000. In the amended complaint Mandell contends that the four denials of promotion to inspector in 1997-1999 and the 1999 transfer to executive officer were motivated in part by religious discrimination and in part by retaliation for his public criticism of the department. At the close of discovery, defendants moved for summary judgment on a number of different grounds. Concluding that plaintiff had failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination or to adduce evidence of a causal connection between the two instances of speech and the adverse employment actions at issue, the district court granted defendants summary judgment on all plaintiff's claims. This appeal ensued. We affirm, in part, and vacate and remand, in part.