Amrhein v. Health Care Service Corp.

546 F.3d 854, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 21828, 91 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 43,356, 104 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 929, 2008 WL 4613877
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedOctober 20, 2008
Docket07-1460
StatusPublished
Cited by84 cases

This text of 546 F.3d 854 (Amrhein v. Health Care Service Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Amrhein v. Health Care Service Corp., 546 F.3d 854, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 21828, 91 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 43,356, 104 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 929, 2008 WL 4613877 (7th Cir. 2008).

Opinions

BAUER, Circuit Judge.

After being disciplined and ultimately terminated, Kitsy Amrhein sued her former employer, Health Care Service Corporation (“HCSC”), alleging that she had been discriminated against on the basis of her gender and that she was the victim of unlawful retaliation. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendant. Amrhein appeals, and for the reasons stated below, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Amrhein worked for HCSC from May 28, 1985 until her termination on March 1, 2004. In 1997, she was promoted to the position of group specialist in HCSC’s Springfield Full Service Unit; she held this position until she was discharged. Group specialists at HCSC provide services to employer groups that have insurance through Blue Cross/Blue Shield. At the time that Amrhein was terminated, there were eight group specialists in her unit, including herself, six other women, and Scott Redpath. Redpath and Am-rhein were promoted to group specialist at the same time. Amrhein was the primary contact for United Airlines and the secondary contact for Georgia Pacific; Redpath was the primary contact for Georgia Pacific and the secondary contact for United Airlines. Theresa Benner worked as the supervisor for Amrhein’s unit; Benner reported to Jane Marquedant, who in turn reported to Karen Woods.

Beginning at the end of 2002, Amrhein formed an opinion that she and Redpath were not treated equally at HCSC. She felt that Redpath was assigned significantly less work than she was and that Red-path did not pull his weight with either the United Airlines or Georgia Pacific accounts. Amrhein let this opinion be known to several HCSC employees, including Benner.

In a performance review drafted by Benner and dated February 10, 2003, Am-rhein received favorable marks for all competency areas, but only met the “targeted standard” with respect to contributions to team and technical quality. She received a 2% salary increase. Amrhein did not think this review or the salary increase reflected the quality of her work, and she felt that she was being penalized for complaining about Redpath.

Over the following year, Amrhein was disciplined by HCSC on two separate occasions. Employees of HCSC were required to follow the HCSC Code of Conduct and Business Ethics Code. The Code forbade the misuse of corporate assets, which had been interpreted to include the overuse of company telephones for personal purposes. The Code also prohibited the disclosure of proprietary business information. HCSC monitored the quality of the group special[857]*857ist’s work with quality coordinators. The coordinators would randomly tape-record telephone conversations of group specialists and listen for violations of the Code.

During a taped phone conversation with a representative from a competing company in January 2003, Amrhein disclosed information that Karen Woods believed to be “proprietary business information.” Am-rhein divulged the amount of the fee HCSC charged its customers for a certain service, and further suggested that HCSC had not trained its employees on compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Amrhein was suspended without pay for five days and placed on probation. Amrhein claimed that there was nothing improper about the conversation, and that the real reason HCSC suspended her was that she had complained about her 2003 performance review.

A warning issued by Benner to Amrhein on December 2, 2003, indicated that her use of the telephone for personal use was excessive; Amrhein did not believe her personal telephone use was particularly excessive and argued to Benner that Red-path’s use exceeded her own, and that Redpath, who did not receive a warning, should have.

On December 8, 2003, Marquedant, Benner, and Amrhein met to discuss the telephone use and Amrhein’s frustration regarding the warning. During that meeting, Amrhein stated that she felt she was being treated significantly less fairly than Redpath by Benner and HCSC. She also suggested that she might seek an EEOC mediator, or “file a complaint” in order to obtain one.

On December 12, 2003, Amrhein sent an e-mail to Marquedant regarding her treatment at HCSC. In the e-mail she discussed how her behavior and work product far exceeded that of Redpath, but that Red-path received preferential treatment. She stated that she felt that this amounted to “sexual discrimination.” Also in the email, Amrhein detailed a series of personal tragedies that she had experienced between June 2003 and December 2003. Her father passed away on June 9, 2003; her brother-in-law died unexpectedly on September 12, 2003, and her niece was hospitalized in November after expressing suicidal tendencies. Marquedant notified Woods and human resources representative Yvonna Cosey of Amrhein’s concerns. Cosey investigated Amrhein’s various complaints.

On January 14, 2004, Amrhein met with Cosey and Marquedant. Cosey informed Amrhein that she found no evidence of gender discrimination. Amrhein then expressed her intent to file a complaint with the EEOC; the following day, Marquedant notified Benner and Woods of Amrhein’s intent to file an EEOC claim.

On February 4, 2004, Woods sent an email to her supervisor asking for help in addressing their “options” with Amrhein. Woods noted that Amrhein was a “huge challenge” and was “disruptive to the unit” and “costing us a huge amount of time and resources.”

On February 18, 2004, Marquedant met with several group specialists, including Amrhein, to discuss new policies regarding the scheduling of personal time off or “PTO.” During the meeting, Amrhein complained about the scheduling of her PTO, to which Marquedant responded that “if you wanted to schedule all of your days, you should not have made the complaint,” and referenced Amrhein’s “opening up a can of worms.” The argument escalated quickly; witnesses characterized Am-rhein’s behavior in the meeting as argumentative.

[858]*858Also in 2004, Marquedant, while monitoring Amrhein’s calls for personal use, overheard Amrhein make what she judged to be an inappropriate disclosure. The call, which took place on January 14, 2004, was between Amrhein and Cathy Perri-cone, an employee of United Airlines. Amrhein suggested in that conversation that staff reallocation at HCSC had been due to the need for HCSC to meet “performance guarantees,” which were contractual performance expectations that HCSC had to meet to avoid financial penalties. Marquedant notified Benner and Woods of her opinion that this disclosure violated the Code’s confidentiality policy. After discussing various options, Cosey, Woods and Marquedant made the decision to terminate Amrhein. Amrhein was notified on March 1, 2004 that she was terminated for (1) the Perricone conversation; and (2) insubordination at the February 18, 2004 meeting.

On January 25, 2005, Amrhein filed a two-count complaint against HCSC, alleging that HCSC had discriminated against her based on her gender in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a) and had terminated her in retaliation for her efforts to oppose gender discrimination in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3. On February 9, 2007, the district court granted HCSC’s motion for summary judgment. This timely appeal followed.

II. ANALYSIS

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546 F.3d 854, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 21828, 91 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 43,356, 104 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 929, 2008 WL 4613877, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/amrhein-v-health-care-service-corp-ca7-2008.