Murphy v. Board of Regents of University of Wisconsin System

73 F. Supp. 3d 1042, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177043, 2014 WL 7366193
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Wisconsin
DecidedDecember 24, 2014
DocketNo. 13-cv-642-jdp
StatusPublished

This text of 73 F. Supp. 3d 1042 (Murphy v. Board of Regents of University of Wisconsin System) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Murphy v. Board of Regents of University of Wisconsin System, 73 F. Supp. 3d 1042, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177043, 2014 WL 7366193 (W.D. Wis. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION & ORDER

JAMES D. PETERSON, District Judge.

Plaintiff Andrew T. Murphy works as a financial specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He applied for a higher-level position as an accountant, but the position went to a female candidate. He contends that the successful candidate was less qualified and that UW-Madison discriminated. against him because of his sex.

Defendant Board of Regents, which governs the University of Wisconsin System including UW-Madison, has moved for summary judgment. Dkt. 12. The court will grant the motion. As a man, Murphy faces an uphill battle to establish a prima facie case of discrimination, which would require him to show that UW-Madison has a reason or an inclination to discriminate against men. He does not make this showing. Also, he cannot rebut defen[1044]*1044dant’s legitimate, non-diseriminatory reason for its decision, which is that although Murphy has an impressive education, the successful candidate performed better in the interview and had more relevant experience administering NIH grants, an important part of the position that Murphy sought. Ultimately, he has simply not adduced evidence to support an inference that he did not get the job because he is male.

UNDISPUTED FACTS

The following facts are, except where noted, undisputed.

Plaintiff is highly educated. His bachelor’s and master’s degrees in botany led him to the University of Wiseonsin-Madi-son, one of the schools administered by defendant Board of Regents, where he' studied and worked as a research assistant in the Department of Agronomy. He lost funding' for his research before finishing his doctorate, so he changed course and pursued a master’s degree in business administration at UW-Madison. After receiving his MBA, plaintiff worked in the private sector for about seven years performing statistical work and was the sole worker in his employer’s finance office.

In 1997, plaintiff returned to UW-Madison to work, first in the Sea Grant Institute as a Financial Specialist 1. In this position, which he held for two years, plaintiff was involved with post-award grant management and auditing others’ work. His next positions, which he held for á combined six years, were as a Financial Specialist 3 and an accountant in the School of Music. There, plaintiff handled financial transactions and was involved in limited post-award grant management. He also worked independently to improve the School of Music’s financial systems. Plaintiff obtained his certified public accountant (CPA) license during this time'.

In 2005, plaintiff was hired by UW-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH). The SMPH has several departments. Plaintiff started in the Department of Medicine as an Accountants Journey and was later promoted to a Financial Program Supervisor. In these positions, plaintiff managed grants in the post-award stage. Approximately 90% of grant funds received by the Department of Medicine were spent on salary and benefits, so plaintiff supervised the employees responsible for payroll. In addition to managing fiscal staff and annual salary budgets, plaintiff worked to improve policies and practices in the department. For example, he helped develop accounting software and cost transfer processes.

Plaintiff was laid off in 2009, but he voluntarily accepted a demotion into a Financial Specialist 3 position in a different department in SMPH, the Office of Clinical Trials (OCT). As a consequence of his voluntary demotion, plaintiff received “restoration” rights for three years pursuant to Wisconsin’s civil service system. This meant that plaintiff had the right to be recalled to positions similar to the one from which he had been laid off, if he applied and he were qualified to perform the work after the customary orientation provided to new employees. Plaintiff had applied for several positions as a restoration candidate, but he was not selected. Plaintiff remains a Financial Specialist 3 in the OCT, where he performs hands-on work with invoices, databases, reports for billing staff time, revenue allocation, and financial activity.

In 2011, plaintiff applied as a restoration candidate for an Accountant position in Population Health Services (PHS), another SMPH department, overseen by Dr. F. Javier Nieto. The position did not require a specific level of formal education or professional certification, although it required [1045]*1045“professional training in accounting, such as that which would be acquired by earning a Bachelor’s Degree in accounting or auditing.” In addition to the formal position requirements, PHS was looking for a detail-oriented, hands-on person with the initiative and skills to effectively manage grant accounts. The new hire would work closely with the Research Manager on pre-award and post-award grant management, requiring someone who would take direction well and apply new skills quickly. This person would manage a considerable number of state contracts, experience that plaintiff did not have.

PHS Department Administrator Deanna Moore and Research Manager Tom Lo-chner interviewed plaintiff for the PHS Accountant position in December 2011. This was not the first time Moore had interviewed plaintiff. As Department Administrator for the last 14 years, Moore often interviewed job candidates, contacted employment references, and selected candidates for administrative positions. Moore had previously interviewed plaintiff for the Research Manager position in 2008 or 2009, but he did not get the job. Moore recalled that her decision was informed in part by “negative employment reference feedback,” although she did not remember details. Dkt. 21 (Moore Dep. 22:8-23:18).

Plaintiff did not fare well at his interview for the PHS Accountant position. He challenges this assessment by contending that he “answered all questions presented to him” and believes that he satisfactorily articulated his qualifications and experience. Dkt. 26, at 18-20. But Moore’s contemporaneous notes concerning plaintiffs interview raised serious questions about his ability to manage PHS’s grants. In addition to having very little experience with pre-award grant management, plaintiff could provide few details about his process for managing research grants in the post-award stage even though he had ample experience in that area. Moore was concerned by plaintiffs inability to describe in detail his experience managing large grants and, if hired, how he would handle grant management at PHS. Plaintiff also had no experience with submitting grant proposals to the National Institute of Health (NIH).

Moore decided to contact Darlene Wood and Camille Hogan to find out more about plaintiff, even though he had not listed them as references. It was common practice for Moore to contact people other than the references provided by an internal applicant, and Moore had sought feedback from Wood and Hogan before. They worked in Fiscal Affairs, a SMPH department consisting of accountants and financial specialists who often interact with the other departments’ accountants and financial personnel. For example, Fiscal Affairs employees review and approve transactions that were processed by other departments, and they frequently work with other departments to resolve account issues. Thus, the new PHS accountant would have to work with Fiscal Affairs personnel. Plaintiff had already worked regularly with Fiscal Affairs personnel during his career at UW-Madison. He had done considerable work with Wood, the fiscal supervisor.

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Bluebook (online)
73 F. Supp. 3d 1042, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177043, 2014 WL 7366193, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murphy-v-board-of-regents-of-university-of-wisconsin-system-wiwd-2014.