Gleklen v. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Inc.

199 F.3d 1365, 339 U.S. App. D.C. 354, 5 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 1577, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 256, 82 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 11, 2000 WL 2598
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedJanuary 11, 2000
DocketNo. 99-7041
StatusPublished
Cited by211 cases

This text of 199 F.3d 1365 (Gleklen v. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gleklen v. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Inc., 199 F.3d 1365, 339 U.S. App. D.C. 354, 5 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 1577, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 256, 82 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 11, 2000 WL 2598 (D.C. Cir. 2000).

Opinion

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge RANDOLPH.

RANDOLPH, Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal from an order of the district court, Robertson, J., granting summary judgment for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on three counts of unlawful discrimination alleged by Amy Gleklen, a former employee. We affirm because Gleklen did not rebut the Committee’s reasonable, nondiscriminatory explanation for its employment decision.

I

Gleklen worked as the Deputy Director of the Harriman Communications Center, an arm of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, shifting between full-time and part-time status as the needs of the Democratic Committee changed between campaign seasons. In February 1997, shortly after Gleklen informed the Committee that she was pregnant with her third child, the Committee decided to embark on a more vigorous off-cycle member services program which required it to hire additional staff and increase the work hours of the existing staff. In early March 1997, the Democratic Committee requested Gleklen to resume fulltime employment in April. Gleklen refused. She preferred to continue working three days a week and wanted the Committee to reinstitute the [1367]*1367job-sharing arrangement it had allowed the previous year in the event that more work was needed. When Gleklen failed to report for work on April 1, she was fired and immediately replaced by a woman who was not pregnant. In June 1997, Gleklen timely filed a complaint with the EEOC alleging that the Committee had violated the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the D.C. Human Rights Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act. The EEOC responded with a “no reason to believe” letter on October 14, 1997, and Gleklen brought suit in federal district court.

Applying the burden-shifting analysis for discrimination claims set forth in Aka v. Washington Hospital Center, 156 F.3d 1284 (D.C.Cir.1998) (en banc), the district court granted the Democratic Committee’s motion for summary judgment because there was “no evidence from which a jury could reasonably find a causal link between defendants’ April 1997 request that plaintiff resume a full-time schedule and the impending birth of her child in August 1997.” Gleklen v. Democratic Congressional Campaign Comm., 38 F.Supp.2d 18, 21 (D.D.C.1999).

fl

Title VII makes it “an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s sex....” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a). Congress passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act as an amendment to Title VII: “[Wjomen affected by pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions shall be treated the same for all employment-related purposes ... as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work....” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k). The D.C. Human Rights Act uses the same language. See D.C.Code Ann. § 1 — 2505(b) (1981). The Family and Medical Leave Act grants eligible employees twelve weeks of leave during any twelve-month period following the birth of a child, and further provides: “It shall be unlawful for any employer to interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of or the attempt to exercise, any right provided under this subchapter.” 29 U.S.C. § -2615(a)(1). Gleklen claims that the Democratic Committee violated each of these provisions.

The burden-shifting analysis of McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), is applicable to D.C. Human Rights Act claims. See, e.g., Carpenter v. Federal Nat'l Mortgage Ass’n, 165 F.3d 69, 72 (D.C.Cir.1999). Although we have not considered the applicability of McDonnell Douglas to claims like Gleklen’s under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Leave Act, other circuits have concluded that McDonnell Douglas provides the proper framework for analysis of such claims. See, e.g., Graham v. State Farm Mutual Ins. Co., 193 F.3d 1274, 1283 (11th Cir.1999) (Leave Act); Chaffin v. John H. Carter Co., 179 F.3d 316, 319 & n. 10 (5th Cir.1999) (Leave Act); Maldonado v. U.S. Bank, 186 F.3d 759, 763 (7th Cir.1999) (Pregnancy Discrimination Act); Kerzer v. Kingly Mfg., 156 F.3d 396, 400-01 (2d Cir.1998) (Pregnancy Discrimination Act). Given that the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and D.C. Human Rights Act provisions in question are identical, and in view of the general similarity of the Leave Act, the McDonnell Douglas approach offers a coherent method of evaluating the evidence for all three alleged violations. For the most part, then, Gleklen’s claims may be analyzed simultaneously.

Under McDonnell Douglas, Gleklen had to establish a prima facie case of discrimination, at which point the Democratic Committee had to produce evidence articulating a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for its actions, after which Gleklen had to “produce substantial probative evidence that the proffered reason was not the true reason for the employment deci[1368]*1368sion and that the real reason was [discriminatory animus].” Chaffin, 179 F.3d at 320; see also Abraham v. Graphic Arts Int’l Union, 660 F.2d 811, 815 (D.C.Cir.1981).

A

On her Pregnancy Discrimination Act and D.C. Human Rights Act claims, Gleklen made out the requisite prima facie case: she was pregnant, she was qualified, she was fired, she was replaced by a woman who was not pregnant, and her replacement performed Gleklen’s former job while devoting at least some of her time to other responsibilities.1 See Pendarvis v. Xerox Corp., 3 F.Supp.2d 53, 57 (D.D.C.1998).2

On her claim under the Leave Act, Gleklen had to show that she engaged in a protected activity under this statute; that she was adversely affected by an employment decision; and that the protected activity and the adverse employment action were causally connected. See Chaffin, 179 F.3d at 319. As she describes her claim, it is essentially one of retaliation.3 Temporal proximity is often found sufficient to establish the requisite causal connection for such claims. See, e.g., King v. Preferred Technical Group, 166 F.3d 887, 893 (7th Cir.1999).

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199 F.3d 1365, 339 U.S. App. D.C. 354, 5 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 1577, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 256, 82 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 11, 2000 WL 2598, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gleklen-v-democratic-congressional-campaign-committee-inc-cadc-2000.