Ellis v. United States Postal Service

784 F.2d 835, 40 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 318, 1986 U.S. App. LEXIS 22693, 39 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 35,992
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedFebruary 27, 1986
DocketNo. 85-1813
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 784 F.2d 835 (Ellis v. United States Postal Service) 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
Ellis v. United States Postal Service, 784 F.2d 835, 40 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 318, 1986 U.S. App. LEXIS 22693, 39 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 35,992 (7th Cir. 1986).

Opinion

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

The appellants, five employees of the United States Postal Service, filed this action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleging claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1981; 42 U.S.C. § 1985; Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (Title VII); the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq. (ADEA); the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 151 et seq.; the Postal Reorganization Act, 39 U.S.C. § 201 et seq.; and the due process clause of the fifth amendment.1 The gravamen of the appellants’ complaint is that defendant Gwendolyn White, another Postal Service employee, was improperly given preference over the appellants with respect to job promotion and shift assignment. The district court dismissed the action. We affirm.

I

Appellants Mae Campbell, Savannah Daniels, Joseph Ellis, and Pearl Holmes applied for the position of Head Nurse at the main post office in Chicago, Illinois; Gwendolyn White had also filed an application for the same position. All five applicants were interviewed by an advisory panel. After reviewing the applications and considering the panel’s recommendation, Frank Goldie, Postmaster of the Chicago Office, selected Ms. White for the job.

The appellants’ complaint is based on this hiring decision. In Count I, appellants Ellis, Campbell, Daniels, and Holmes allege that White’s promotion constituted “political discrimination.” They contend that Ms. White was selected because of her membership in the Phoenix Association, an “upward mobility social organization,” Appellees’ Br. at 4, of which the appellants were not members. Appellants claim that Ms. White flaunted the fact that she was chosen because she knew the “right people.” As further evidence of their claim, the appellants allege that they each had better qualifications and greater seniority than did White.

In Count II, Ellis additionally alleges that he was denied the promotion to Head Nurse because of sex discrimination. In Count III, Daniels also alleges that she was denied the promotion because of her age. Finally, in Count IV, Roberts alleges that she too was the victim of political discrimination. Roberts contends that, because of White’s promotion, she was reassigned to a less desirable work shift at the Post Office.

[837]*837The appellees moved for partial dismissal or, in the alternative, partial summary judgment. The district court first addressed Counts II and III. With respect to Count II, Ellis’ sex discrimination claim, the court held that Title VII provided the exclusive remedy in the context of federal employment discrimination. Similarly, with respect to Count III, Daniels’ age discrimination claim, the court held that the ADEA provided the sole remedy. However, the court found that, while the Title VII and ADEA counts stated claims on which relief could be granted, they were nonetheless deficient since neither claim named the proper defendant. Relying on McGuinness v. United States Postal Service, 744 F.2d 1318 (7th Cir.1984), the court held that, under Title VII and, by inference, the ADEA, a plaintiff must name the head of the federal agency as a defendant. Therefore, since the plaintiffs in this ease had sued only the United States Postal Service, the local postmaster, and White, the pleadings needed to be corrected. The district judge granted the plaintiffs leave to amend their complaint to sue the proper party; however, no correction was ever made.2 These two counts were dismissed at a later date for failure to name the Postmaster General as defendant.

The district court also dismissed Counts I and IV, the political discrimination claims. interpreting these claims to be premised on section 1981, section 1985(3), and the due process clause, the court addressed each possibility seriatim. First, with respect to section 1981, the court held that it was unavailable in this case because it only redressed claims of racial discrimination. Second, the court dismissed the section 1985 claims on the grounds that the Postal Service, as a single entity, could not engage in the requisite conspiracy, and section 1985 could not reach non-racial animus. Finally, the court held that the appellants’ political discrimination claims could not be brought directly under the fifth amendment. While believing that this court’s decision in Egger v. Phillips, 710 F.2d 292 (7th Cir.1983), would not have per se foreclosed this remedy, the district court nonetheless held that a subsequent Supreme Court decision, Bush v. Lucas, 462 U.S. 367, 103 S.Ct. 2404, 76 L.Ed.2d 648 (1983), barred the requested fifth amendment relief in this case because an elaborate and comprehensive remedial scheme was already in place. Accordingly, the entire action was dismissed.

The appellants have presented only two issues which we need consider in this appeal.3 First, we are asked to determine whether the district court justifiably dismissed the Title VII and ADEA claims for [838]*838failure to name the proper party defendant. Second, with respect to the fifth amendment political discrimination claims, the appellants ask us to decide whether the existence of a comprehensive remedial scheme is sufficient to preclude nonstatutory relief premised solely on the fifth amendment. Since we believe that the district court properly resolved both issues, we affirm.

' II

It is well-settled in this circuit that, in a Title VII action alleging discrimination in the Postal Service, the only proper defendant is the head of the agency — the Postmaster General. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16(c); McGuinness v. United States Postal Service, 744 F.2d 1318, 1322-23 (7th Cir. 1984); see also Canino v. EEOC, 707 F.2d 468, 472 (11th Cir.1983); Hall v. Small Business Administration, 695 F.2d 175, 180 (5th Cir.1983); Davis v. Califano, 613 F.2d 957, 958 n. 1 (D.C.Cir.1979). The only novel question presented by this case, then, is whether the same rule should apply to actions under the ADEA. We hold that it should.

Unlike Title VII, the ADEA does not specify who must be named as a proper party defendant in an age discrimination case. However, we find persuasive the reasoning set forth in

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Bowser v. U.S. Postal Service
W.D. North Carolina, 2024
Brister v. Perdue
W.D. Louisiana, 2020
Rodgers v. Perdue
W.D. Louisiana, 2020
Stoyanov v. Mabus
126 F. Supp. 3d 531 (D. Maryland, 2015)
Michael Massey and John Otten, M.D. v. David Helman
196 F.3d 727 (Seventh Circuit, 2000)
Coe v. National Labor Relations Board
40 F. Supp. 2d 1049 (E.D. Wisconsin, 1999)
Baker v. Runyon
995 F. Supp. 817 (N.D. Illinois, 1997)
Payton v. Runyon
990 F. Supp. 622 (S.D. Indiana, 1997)
Adams v. United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
932 F. Supp. 660 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1996)
Adams v. US EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COM'N
932 F. Supp. 660 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1996)
Mays v. United States Postal Service
928 F. Supp. 1552 (M.D. Alabama, 1996)
Parow v. Runyon
D. New Hampshire, 1995
Meyer v. Runyon
869 F. Supp. 70 (D. Massachusetts, 1994)
Holloway v. Bentsen
870 F. Supp. 898 (N.D. Indiana, 1994)
Patricia Hawkes v. United States Postal Service
979 F.2d 853 (Seventh Circuit, 1992)
Rebar v. Marsh
959 F.2d 216 (Eleventh Circuit, 1992)
Smith v. Lujan
780 F. Supp. 1275 (D. Arizona, 1991)
McGuire v. United States Postal Service
749 F. Supp. 1275 (S.D. New York, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
784 F.2d 835, 40 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 318, 1986 U.S. App. LEXIS 22693, 39 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 35,992, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ellis-v-united-states-postal-service-ca7-1986.