Zayas v. Rockford Memorial Hospital

740 F.3d 1154, 2014 WL 325260, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 1875, 97 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 44,998, 121 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 766
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedJanuary 30, 2014
DocketNo. 13-2555
StatusPublished
Cited by82 cases

This text of 740 F.3d 1154 (Zayas v. Rockford Memorial Hospital) 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
Zayas v. Rockford Memorial Hospital, 740 F.3d 1154, 2014 WL 325260, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 1875, 97 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 44,998, 121 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 766 (7th Cir. 2014).

Opinion

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge.

This matter concerns allegations of employment discrimination under Title VII and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Margarita Zayas worked for Rockford Memorial Hospital (the Hospital) as an ultrasound technician from November 1999 until her discharge in April 2011. Larry Griesman, Zayas’ direct supervisor, was responsible for hiring and terminating Zayas. Zayas is Puerto Rican and was fifty-five years old at the time of her termination, the oldest ultrasound tech at the Hospital. She brought both a national origin discrimination claim and a hostile work environment claim under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., as well as an age discrimination claim under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq.

Zayas was discharged for sending Gries-man a series of disrespectful emails, despite her supervisor’s warnings. In April of 2010, Griesman and a human resources employee held two meetings in which they warned Zayas about sending Griesman inappropriate emails. Thereafter, Zayas continued to write emails of the same nature, which caused Griesman to issue Za-yas a formal written warning on July 28, 2010. Disregarding informal and formal warnings, Zayas sent three more equally unprofessional emails to Griesman. Consequently, on April 22, 2011, Griesman discharged Zayas for sending emails that “were perceived as negative, unprofessional and disrespectful towards her managers and peers.”

Despite the insubordinate emails, Zayas contends that the Hospital terminated her because of her age and national origin. Zayas’ age discrimination claim is hardly supported, since it is based solely on the fact that she was the oldest technician in the department, and was replaced by a younger employee. Zayas provided no other evidence to support this claim. As for the national origin claims, Zayas offers a series of incidents in an attempt to establish discrimination and a hostile work environment:

(1) Griesman singled Zayas out in a meeting and said “you think everyone is out to get you;” (2) a co-worker “almost [1157]*1157got physical with her” and told Zayas she should quit; (B) another co-worker posted a poem about “firing trouble” above Zayas’ locker; (4) on one occasion, Zayas walked into an office and all the other technicians got up and left; (5) several technicians called her “Maria” even though she asked them not to; (6) Zayas asked a co-worker if a patient received a Spanish translator and the co-worker responded by saying “if they are in this country, they need to learn to speak English;” (7) Zayas attempted to move an ultrasound machine, but a coworker obstructed her ability to move it; and (8) a co-worker exited a room without closing the door to which Zayas responded: “Why aren’t you closing the door? Is it because I am Puerto Ri-can?”

Zayas also cites satisfactory job performance appraisal scores for 2008 and 2009 as evidence of meeting her employer’s legitimate job expectations, contending that the emails were simply a pretext for discrimination.

The district court granted the Hospital’s motion for summary judgment on all three claims. We review the grant of summary judgment de novo, construing all facts and reasonable inferences in Zayas’ favor. Smiley v. Columbia Coll. Chi, 714 F.3d 998, 1001 (7th Cir.2013).

I.

We turn first to the discrimination claims. Zayas alleges discrimination on the basis of both her age and national origin. Plaintiffs may support these claims through a direct or indirect method of proof. See Martino v. W. & S. Fin. Grp., 715 F.3d 195, 201 (7th Cir.2013).

The direct method requires courts to inquire whether a rational juror could infer discriminatory intent from the direct and the circumstantial evidence in the record. Id. at 201-02. Zayas cannot rely on the direct method, since the record contains neither explicit declarations of a discriminatory motive nor sufficient circumstantial evidence for a rational jury to infer discrimination. With respect to her age, the only relevant circumstances are the fact that her replacement is a younger woman (as were all of Zayas’ co-workers), which is not sufficient on its own to establish an age discrimination claim. With respect to her ethnicity, Zayas’ evidence is similarly limited: she relies on a single derogatory comment about Spanish speakers made by Za-yas’ co-worker (rather than her supervisor) and on the fact that her replacement is white. On either ground, Zayas is a long way from being able to prove a discriminatory motive directly. See e.g., Adams v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 324 F.3d 935, 939 (7th Cir.2003) (“circumstantial evidence ... must point directly to a discriminatory reason for the employer’s action.”).

Therefore, Zayas only asserts discrimination under the indirect method of proof standard. See McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973). Under the indirect method, Zayas must establish a prima facie case by showing: (1) she is a member of a protected group; (2) she satisfied her employer’s legitimate job expectations; (3) she suffered an adverse employment action; and (4) similarly situated employees outside of the protected class were treated more favorably. Naficy v. Ill. Dep’t of Human Servs., 697 F.3d 504, 511 (7th Cir.2012). If these elements are met, the burden shifts to the defendant to introduce a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the employment action. Id. On rebuttal, the plaintiff must provide evidence demonstrating that the defendant’s stated reason is pretextual. Id. at 511-12.

[1158]*1158It is undisputed that Zayas has satisfied the first and third prongs under the indirect method of proof: she is a member of a protected class, Puerto Rican and over the age of 40, and suffered an adverse employment action, termination. As for the second and fourth prongs, Zayas still lacks sufficient evidence to overcome summary judgment.

Zayas points to her 2008 and 2009 satisfactory performance evaluations as proof that she met the Hospital’s legitimate job expectations. Zayas’ reliance on these evaluations is misplaced. The question is not whether she ever satisfied the Hospital’s expectations, but whether she met the Hospital’s expectations at the time she was fired. See Peters v. Renaissance Hotel Operating Co., 307 F.3d 535, 545-46 (7th Cir.2002). Further, our analysis of an employer’s legitimate expectations does not merely consider whether a plaintiffs actual job performance was satisfactory — it is a much broader analysis, which allows fact-finders to consider factors such as insubordination and workplace camaraderie. See Fane v. Locke Reynolds, LLP,

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740 F.3d 1154, 2014 WL 325260, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 1875, 97 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 44,998, 121 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 766, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zayas-v-rockford-memorial-hospital-ca7-2014.