Opinion ID: 712765
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Behavior of Marion Hill

Text: 12 Ritzert-Smith's claims regarding Mr. Hill, General Supervisor of the Chemical Operations Group and her indirect supervisor, are more troubling. Her account of his behavior, which we assume is true for purposes of summary judgment, would show that he made offensive remarks and jokes relating to her sex. 13 Siemens argues that Hill's attitude is irrelevant because he did not evaluate Ritzert-Smith. Although it is true that he did not sign the evaluations until after her direct supervisors had completed them and reviewed them with her, his affidavit indicates that he had some responsibility for her reviews. 14 Even so, we find scant evidence to support Ritzert-Smith's contention, tenuous to begin with, that she received low marks for cooperation and teamwork and in turn did not progress at the company, because of Hill's alleged bias. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249 (1986). (If the evidence is merely colorable, or is not significantly probative, summary judgment may be granted.) (citations omitted). Siemens has presented consistent performance evaluations for 13 years, nearly all of which voice the same complaint: Ritzert-Smith was rude and contemptuous of coworkers. Her poor ratings came from several supervisors over the years. The same criticisms appeared in years in which Hill did not sign the evaluations as in years that he did, and continued after he retired. 15 We are mindful that it is Siemens' burden to prove that its compensation decisions were based on factors other than sex, Corning, 417 U.S. at 196-97; nevertheless, we do not find that Ritzert-Smith has shown a causal link between discriminatory conduct and her salary that would cast doubt on Siemens' gender-neutral explanation of the pay disparity. Summary judgment was appropriate: a reasonable jury could not fail to find by a preponderance of the evidence that Siemens' wage decisions were based on factors other than sex. See Anderson, 477 U.S. at 252.