Opinion ID: 163993
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Summary Judgment on Retaliation Claim

Text: Plaintiff argues that the district court erred in granting summary judgment sua sponte on her retaliation claim. Defendants argue that their motion for summary judgment included the retaliation claim, and thus the district court did not rule sua sponte. We review a grant of summary judgment de novo, applying the same standards as those used by the district court. Wells v. Colo. Dep’t of Transp., 325 F.3d 1205, 1209 (10th Cir. 2003). After reviewing defendants’ motion, we conclude it included a request for summary judgment on plaintiff’s retaliation claim against the County. A claim of retaliation requires a showing that an employee was subjected to an “adverse employment action” in retaliation for exercising a protected right. Id. at 1212. In their summary judgment motion, defendants argued that plaintiff failed to show such an adverse employment action occurred, discussing both plaintiff’s post-complaint transfer and her resignation. Even if the district court’s ruling had -7- been sua sponte, however, the error would have been harmless because the trial evidence did not show an adverse employment action against plaintiff. Most of the actions identified by plaintiff in her brief are not “adverse employment actions” as that term is defined in our cases. See Aplt’s Br. at 15. An adverse employment action requires employer conduct that is “materially adverse” to an employee’s job status, such as termination, demotion, or an unwelcome reassignment with significantly different duties. Wells, 325 F.3d at 1212-13. Plaintiff’s transfer to the courtroom clerk training position was at her request, and thus was not adverse. Her employment termination was also at her own request, after Ferguson was fired, and the evidence of her treatment after she filed the EEOC complaint did not raise a triable issue as to whether she was constructively discharged. Although plaintiff argues that her pay was “docked,” Aplt’s Br. at 15, the evidence showed only that she used some paid leave time after the incident. Thus the district court correctly granted judgment in favor of the County on plaintiff’s retaliation claim.