Court Opinion

ID: 9491566
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:17:27.556627+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:54:49.080593
License: Public Domain

HENDERSON, Senior Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
The panel majority holds that the jury’s verdict in favor of Clover can not be sustained legally under either the opposition clause or the participation clause of Title VIPs anti-retaliation provision codified at 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a). I have some concerns about the majority’s holding that Clover’s claim fails under the opposition clause because her belief that TSYS had engaged in sexual harassment was not objectively reasonable. It seems entirely possible to me that many reasonable young women would have found the conduct in question to be offensive and objectionable. It was apparently sufficiently disturbing to lead Ms. Waters 1 to file an EEOC complaint based on it and for the company to initiate an in-house investigation involving outside legal counsel.2 I write separately, however, because I find the majority’s construction of the participation clause too narrow.
*832The statute makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to discriminate against any employee “because he has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this subchap-ter.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a).3 The Majority notes that the types of participation protected by this provision are not spelled out in the statute but nevertheless concludes that an employee is protected only when participating in an investigation conducted by the EEOC or its designated representative. I do not believe that result is required by the language of the statute, prior decisions of this court, or persuasive authority from other courts.
In my view, it is equally reasonable to read the statutory language to mean any investigation into an employment practice rendered illegal by Title VII. Thus, an employee would be protected by the participation clause once an investigation was begun into conduct which allegedly violated the statute even if a formal EEOC complaint was not in existence at that time. In virtually every instance of an allegation of sexual harassment or other discriminatory conduct, the employer is going to conduct an internal investigation into the matter. Indeed, given the limited resources of the EEOC, the employer’s examination of the allegations may be the only detailed one that is carried out. To hold, as does the majority, that an employee is protected if she makes a statement to an investigator for the government agency but is not protected if she makes the identical statement, concerning the same allegation of discrimination, to her employer’s representative unduly weakens the assurances afforded by the anti-retaliation provision. As I understand the majority’s position, if an EEOC representative had joined Hollingsworth and Calhoun at the March 23,1995 meeting, Clover would have a valid participation clause claim. I do not believe that this is what Congress intended in enacting this provision. As the former Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals observed in an early Title VII case, the EEOC is an agency with limited powers: it can investigate and attempt conciliation but has no power to compel compliance with its findings regarding discrimination. The burden of enforcing Title VII rights rests, for the most part, with private individuals. Pettway v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., 411 F.2d 998, 1005 (5th Cir.1969). Therefore, the success or failure of a charge of retaliation does not turn on the presence or absence of a representative of the EEOC at any given stage of the proceeding.
Even if that position is rejected, however, the jury’s verdict in favor of Clover can be sustained. As the majority notes, by the time of Clover’s interview, Waters had filed a charge with the EEOC relating to Pettis’ behavior, and it was that charge which prompted the March 23, 1995 interview.4 As a result of Waters’ action, an investigation under “this subchapter” had clearly commenced by the time of the Clover interview. That Clover may have been unaware that Waters had filed an EEOC complaint prior to the interview is surely immaterial. That will be the ease with most potential employee witnesses to alleged acts of alleged sexual harassment or other discriminatory conduct.
One difficulty with the majority’s opinion is that it would discourage employees with grievances concerning discriminatory treatment from pursuing informal resolution of those matters with management before filing a formal EEOC charge and would certainly discourage other employees from participating in such informal investigations. At least with respect to opposition clause claims, courts have held that the statute protects “informal protests, such as voicing complaints to employers or using an employer’s grievance procedures.” See, e.g., Armstrong v. Index Journal Co., 647 F.2d 441, 448 (4th Cir.1981). And the participation clause has *833generally been found to offer far broader protection than the opposition clause, which, of course, has a more limited purpose. See Sias v. City Demonstration Agency, 588 F.2d 692, 695 (9th Cir.1978). The danger of the majority’s approach was demonstrated in this case as Clover was initially reluctant to answer questions about the matter and did so only after being assured that she would suffer no reprisals for her cooperation with the in-house investigation. Yet, the jury that heard the evidence in this case concluded that Clover had in fact been retaliated against for her expressions of concern about Pettis’ conduct toward Waters.5 I would imagine that TSYS, like any other employer in a similar situation, could have compelled Clover to participate in its internal investigation. I think it would be unfair to deny to her and other similarly situated employees the freedom from retaliation for such cooperation.
The majority can point to no case which squarely holds that an employee in Clover’s situation is not protected against retaliation. There is certainly no decision from this circuit which so holds. The case which arguably provides the strongest support for the majority’s conclusion, Vasconcelos v. Meese, 907 F.2d 111 (9th Cir.1990), is clearly distinguishable. In that case, the plaintiff was terminated for lying during an internal investigation of the alleged sexual harassment. There is no allegation in this case that Clover lied or misrepresented the facts during her interview concerning Pettis’ treatment of Waters.6
In a ease cited by the majority, this court observed last year that the anti-retaliation provision is “expansively written” and protects against retaliation all types of participation in investigations of alleged employment discrimination. Merritt v. Dillard Paper Co., 120 F.3d at 1186. In Merritt, the court held that an employee who had allegedly sexually harassed a female coworker and who subsequently had given compelled deposition testimony in a lawsuit brought against the company by the victim, which was adverse to the company, could avail himself of the protections of the anti-retaliation provision. According to the court, “[ujnder the plain language of the provision, those who testify or otherwise participate in a Title VII proceeding are protected from retaliation for having done so, even if it turns out they were not of any assistance to the Title VII claimant.” Id. Today’s decision marks a retreat from a reasonable reading of the statute to the extent that it renders enforcement of the retaliation provision virtually ineffective. For this reason, I respectfully dissent.

. The complainant’s name is spelled both "Waters” and "Walters" in the record. It is not clear which is the correct spelling.

. Ms. Waters had apparently filed some type of internal complaint against Pettis with the company at some point during 1994, and TSYS had conducted an earlier investigation at that time. The plaintiff was not interviewed in connection with that review.

. The statute also protects applicants for employment, individuals in job-training programs, and members — and applicants for membership — in labor organizations. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a).

. For reasons that are not entirely clear from the record, Waters' employment with the company ended at some point late in 1994. Pettis was promoted after Clover filed the present action.

. During her employment with TSYS, Clover had a recurring problem with tardiness and was counseled about it on a number of occasions. The plaintiff presented this documentary evidence very early in her case, apparently to lessen its impact on the jury. Therefore, there was evidence which would have supported a jury finding that the company had a legitimate, non-retaliatory reason for terminating Clover. The jury, however, heard all the evidence and con-eluded otherwise. I do not address this issue further because the majority does not reverse the district court’s judgment in favor of the plaintiff on evidentiary grounds.

. TSYS does contend, however, that Clover gave conflicting reasons for her tardiness in arriving at the March 23, 1995 meeting with Hollings-worth and Calhoun.