Walker v. United Parcel Service of America, Inc.

76 F. App'x 881
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 11, 2003
Docket02-5097
StatusUnpublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 76 F. App'x 881 (Walker v. United Parcel Service of America, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Walker v. United Parcel Service of America, Inc., 76 F. App'x 881 (10th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

HARTZ, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Tonya Walker appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of her former employer, Defendant United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS), on her claims for (1) sexual harassment and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and (2) retaliation under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601-2654. Plaintiff also appeals the district court’s award of costs to UPS, arguing that the cost award should be reversed along with the grant of summary judgment. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff began working for UPS as a full-time package driver in February 1990. She claims that during the course of her employment, she was subjected to a litany of offensive gender-related jokes, comments, and conduct by her supervisors and coworkers that created a sexually hostile working environment. Plaintiff complained about some of this behavior to her union steward, although she did not ask him to file a grievance on her behalf, and he did not do so. She asserts that she also complained generally about sexual harassment to two different supervisors in 1997, but admits that she did not provide them with any specifics. Apparently no action was taken by UPS with respect to the alleged harassment.

On August 25, 1997, Plaintiff filed a charge of sex discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), citing sexist remarks allegedly made by her supervisor and asserting that she was disciplined more frequently than her male coworkers. After obtaining a right-to-sue letter from the EEOC, she sued UPS on November 6, 1997, alleging, among other things, sexual harassment and retaliation under Title VII.

On December 24, 1997, UPS terminated Plaintiff’s employment, claiming excessive absenteeism and job abandonment. Plaintiff, who was pregnant at the time, filed a grievance with her union asserting that the absences were pregnancy-related, and arguing that the termination violated her rights under the FMLA.

It appears that Plaintiff continued working at UPS while the grievance was being processed. On January 12, 1998, she began a seven-month pregnancy-related leave of absence from work. While Plaintiff was on pregnancy leave, UPS and the union settled her grievance by reducing the termination to a five-day suspension, which ran concurrently with Plaintiff’s leave of absence. It is undisputed that Plaintiff lost no pay as a result of the “termination” and subsequent suspension. Nevertheless, in March 1998 Plaintiff amended her pending Title VII sexual-harassment and retaliation complaint to add a claim alleging that the suspension violated her rights under the FMLA.

*884 Plaintiff returned to UPS from her leave of absence on August 17,1998. She claims that upon her return she was subjected to more harassment and “near daily disciplinings” for two weeks, which did not stop until she gave UPS a two-week notice of her intent to quit. On September 18,1998, Plaintiff resigned from UPS and began working for Federal Express. Plaintiff ultimately filed a separate lawsuit against UPS, alleging that she was constructively discharged in retaliation for exercising her rights under the FMLA and Title VII.

In July 1998 UPS moved for summary judgment on Plaintiffs Title VII and FMLA claims. (The constructive discharge claims were not at issue in the motion.) The district court granted the motion, finding that it lacked jurisdiction over the Title VII claims because Plaintiff had failed to exhaust her administrative remedies, and ruling that the FMLA claim failed because Plaintiff suffered no damages as a result of the five-day suspension. On appeal we affirmed the district court’s FMLA ruling but reversed its Title VII ruling. See Walker v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 240 F.3d 1268, 1271-79 (10th Cir.2001) (Walker I). We remanded the Title VII claims for further proceedings on the merits. See id. at 1279.

Following our decision in Walker I, the district court consolidated the remanded Title VII sexual-harassment and retaliation claims with Plaintiffs then-pending constructive discharge claims. UPS subsequently moved for summary judgment on the consolidated claims. The district court once again granted summary judgment, finding that (1) Plaintiffs sexual harassment claim failed because Plaintiff was not subjected to a sexually hostile work environment, and (2) Plaintiffs Title VII and FMLA retaliation claims failed because Plaintiff was not constructively discharged. The court also awarded costs to UPS. Plaintiff now appeals those rulings.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

‘We review a decision granting summary judgment de novo, using the same legal standard applicable in the district court.” Mesa v. White, 197 F.3d 1041, 1043 (10th Cir.1999). Summary judgment is appropriate only “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). “The moving party is entitled to summary judgment ‘[w]here the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party.’ ” Penry v. Fed. Home Loan Bank of Topeka, 155 F.3d 1257, 1261 (10th Cir.1998) (quoting Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986) (brackets in Penry)). “When applying this standard, the court must examine the factual record and reasonable inferences drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the non-moving party.” Id.

III. DISCUSSION

A. Sexual harassment

1. Hostile work environment

Plaintiff argues that the district court erred in failing to consider much of her evidence of sexual harassment, and in finding as a matter of law that she was not subjected to an objectively hostile work environment at UPS.

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

Related

Azu v. Sam's Club, Inc.
D. Colorado, 2019
Walton v. New Mexico State Land Office
113 F. Supp. 3d 1178 (D. New Mexico, 2015)
Clay v. United Parcel Service, Inc.
983 F. Supp. 2d 1331 (D. Kansas, 2013)
Hunt v. Central Consolidated School District
951 F. Supp. 2d 1136 (D. New Mexico, 2013)
Gerald v. Locksley
849 F. Supp. 2d 1190 (D. New Mexico, 2011)
Jones v. Wichita State University
528 F. Supp. 2d 1222 (D. Kansas, 2007)
Schmidt v. Medicalodges, Inc.
492 F. Supp. 2d 1302 (D. Kansas, 2007)
Sholl v. Plattform Advertising, Inc.
438 F. Supp. 2d 1303 (D. Kansas, 2006)
Velasquez v. Frontier Medical Inc.
375 F. Supp. 2d 1253 (D. New Mexico, 2005)
Freeman v. Spencer Gifts, Inc.
333 F. Supp. 2d 1114 (D. Kansas, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
76 F. App'x 881, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walker-v-united-parcel-service-of-america-inc-ca10-2003.