Filed: Aug. 13, 2015
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _ No. 14-3390 _ MABLE S. JONES, MD, Appellant v. TEMPLE UNIVERSITY _ APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA (D.C. Civil No. 2-12-cv-05349) District Judge: Honorable Ronald L. Buckwalter _ Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) June 26, 2015 _ Before: CHAGARES, KRAUSE and BARRY, Circuit Judges (Opinion Filed: August 13, 2015) _ OPINION* _ BARRY, Circuit Judge Dr. Mable S. Jones
Summary: NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _ No. 14-3390 _ MABLE S. JONES, MD, Appellant v. TEMPLE UNIVERSITY _ APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA (D.C. Civil No. 2-12-cv-05349) District Judge: Honorable Ronald L. Buckwalter _ Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) June 26, 2015 _ Before: CHAGARES, KRAUSE and BARRY, Circuit Judges (Opinion Filed: August 13, 2015) _ OPINION* _ BARRY, Circuit Judge Dr. Mable S. Jones a..
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NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
____________
No. 14-3390
_____________
MABLE S. JONES, MD,
Appellant
v.
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
_____________
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
(D.C. Civil No. 2-12-cv-05349)
District Judge: Honorable Ronald L. Buckwalter
____________
Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
June 26, 2015
____________
Before: CHAGARES, KRAUSE and BARRY, Circuit Judges
(Opinion Filed: August 13, 2015)
____________
OPINION*
____________
BARRY, Circuit Judge
Dr. Mable S. Jones appeals the order of the District Court granting summary
*
This disposition is not an opinion of the full court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not
constitute binding precedent.
judgment in favor of her former employer, Temple University, on her federal and state
law claims of race and sex discrimination. We will affirm.
I.
Dr. Jones is an African-American woman who was formerly employed by Temple
University Hospital1 (“Temple”) as a neuroradiologist. She was hired by Temple in 2007
as a part-time physician on-call radiologist, paid at an hourly rate, having stated on her
employment application that she was seeking a part-time position. In 2009, Dr. Jones
was offered and accepted a salaried position as a neuroradiologist at Jeanes Hospital, a
hospital for which Temple provided radiology services pursuant to contract. According
to Temple, at that time Dr. Jones expressed a strong preference to work part-time. She
was classified as an “8/10ths” employee, which enabled her to receive benefits despite
not working full time.
Dr. Jones held a non-faculty position throughout her term of employment at
Temple. Temple claims that there were no faculty positions available at the time Dr.
Jones was hired, and, at Jeanes Hospital, there were no residents and therefore no faculty
positions.2 Because she was not a faculty member, her employment contract required
only 90 days’ notice prior to termination, while the employment contracts for faculty
1
Temple University Hospital is part of Temple University of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania System of Higher Education. The parties do not dispute that Temple is a
state entity which acts under color of state law.
2
Dr. Jones claims that she made numerous requests to teach, but her requests were not
granted.
2
members required one year’s notice.
Around the time Temple entered into a contract with Jeanes Hospital to provide
radiology services, Temple’s Chair of Radiology, Dr. Charles Jungreis, selected Dr. Larry
Caputo, then Chairman of the Radiology Department at an affiliate of Methodist
Hospital, as Chief of the Radiology Department at Jeanes, a full-time position. This
chairperson position was not posted or publicly advertised, and no other candidates were
interviewed. Dr. Jungreis testified that Dr. Caputo was selected based on his
experience—twenty-nine years’ experience as a radiologist and twenty years’
administrative experience as chairman of the radiology department at his previous
hospital—and strong recommendations from other Temple faculty members. After
learning that Dr. Caputo had been selected, Dr. Jones expressed to Dr. Jungreis that she
would have been interested in the position.
In 2009, Temple predicted a budget shortfall for fiscal year 2010, and Dr. Jungreis
was informed that he needed to eliminate at least one position from the radiology
department. Based on its evaluation methods, Temple determined that a neuroradiologist
position should be eliminated based on an insufficient volume of work. At the time, there
were eight neuroradiologists (Dr. Jones was the only African-American). Temple
selected Dr. Jones’s position for elimination because she was the only part-time, non-
faculty neuroradiologist, rendering it easier for the remaining neuroradiologists to absorb
her work and requiring only 90 days’ notice prior to termination, and because Temple
3
was in the process of implementing a new system to allow neuroradiology films to be
read remotely, lessening the need to have a neuroradiologist stationed at Jeanes Hospital.
Dr. Jones was advised in January 2010 that her position would be eliminated in April, but
ultimately her employment was extended, as Temple required additional time to
implement its new remote reading system. She was terminated in October 2010. This
lawsuit followed.
As is relevant here, Dr. Jones alleged in her complaint that Temple discriminated
against her on the basis of race and sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq.; 42 U.S.C. § 1981; the Pennsylvania Human Relations
Act (“PHRA”), 43 Pa. Stat. §§ 951-63; and the Equal Protection Clause, pursuant to 42
U.S.C. § 1983, when Temple failed to select her as Chief of Radiology at Jeanes Hospital
and terminated her. On July 10, 2014, the District Court granted summary judgment in
favor of Temple on all claims.
In a thorough and comprehensive opinion, spanning thirty-one pages, the District
Court held that Dr. Jones failed to set forth evidence that Temple’s legitimate,
nondiscriminatory reasons for selecting Dr. Caputo, instead of her, as Chief of Radiology
were a pretext for race or sex discrimination, and that Dr. Jones failed to establish a prima
facie case of race discrimination3 with respect to her termination, because there were no
similarly situated employees outside of her protected class who were treated differently.
3
Dr. Jones conceded at summary judgment that the evidence did not support a claim of
sex discrimination with respect to her termination.
4
The Court also held that, even if Dr. Jones could establish a prima facie case with respect
to her termination, she failed to offer any evidence that Temple’s legitimate,
nondiscriminatory reasons for her termination were a pretext for race discrimination.
On appeal, Dr. Jones argues that the District Court erred in granting summary
judgment in favor of Temple because there were genuine issues of material fact in dispute
as to whether the reasons stated by Temple for failing to select her as Chief of Radiology
were a pretext for race and sex discrimination, whether she had established a prima facie
case of race discrimination with respect to her termination, and whether Temple’s reasons
for terminating her were a pretext for race discrimination.
II.
The District Court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C §§ 1331 and 1367, and
we have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We exercise plenary review over a
district court’s order granting summary judgment, applying the same standard as the
district court. Mandel v. M&Q Packaging Corp., 706 F.3d 157, 164 (3d Cir. 2013).
Summary judgment is appropriate where “the movant shows that there is no genuine
dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”
Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). We view the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving
party, drawing all inferences in that party’s favor.
Mandel, 706 F.3d at 164.
III.
Dr. Jones’s claims under Title VII, section 1981, and the PHRA are all analyzed
5
under the “familiar burden-shifting framework” of McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green,
411 U.S. 792 (1973). Jones v. Sch. Dist. of Phila.,
198 F.3d 403, 410 (3d Cir. 1999).
Under this framework, to establish a prima facie case of discrimination, a plaintiff must
show that “1) [she] is a member of a protected class, 2) [she] was qualified for the
position [she] sought to attain or retain, 3) [she] suffered an adverse employment action,
and (4) the action occurred under circumstances that could give rise to an inference of
intentional discrimination.”
Mandel, 706 F.3d at 169 (quoting Makky v. Chertoff,
541
F.3d 205, 214 (3d Cir. 2008)). The burden then shifts to the employer “to articulate a
legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the adverse employment action.”
Makky, 541
F.3d at 214. When the employer articulates legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons for its
employment action, the plaintiff, to survive summary judgment, “must point to some
evidence, direct or circumstantial, from which a factfinder could reasonably either
(1) disbelieve the employer’s articulated legitimate reasons; or (2) believe that an
invidious discriminatory reason was more likely than not a motivating or determinative
cause of the employer’s action.” Fuentes v. Perskie,
32 F.3d 759, 764 (3d Cir. 1994).
To succeed on a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violation of the Equal
Protection Clause, a plaintiff must show “proof of racially discriminatory intent or
purpose” on the part of a state actor. Doe ex rel. Doe v. Lower Merion Sch. Dist., 665
F.3d 524, 543 (3d Cir. 2011) (internal brackets and quotation marks omitted). “The
central purpose of the [Equal Protection] Clause is to prevent the States from purposely
6
discriminating between individuals on the basis of race.” Id. (internal quotation marks
omitted).
Dr. Jones has failed to submit any evidence from which a reasonable fact finder
could conclude that her non-selection as Chief of Radiology was motivated by race or sex
discrimination or that her termination was motivated by race discrimination. Temple
claims that it did not select Dr. Jones as Chief of Radiology at Jeanes Hospital because it
was a full-time position, and she had expressed a preference for part-time work, and
because Dr. Caputo had many years of experience and strong recommendations from
other physicians. Dr. Jones contends that Temple’s stated reasons for her non-selection
are not credible because Temple had a poor track record of hiring black physicians and
because Dr. Jungreis failed to post the position (in violation of Temple policy), pursued
Dr. Caputo to the exclusion of any other candidate, and contended that the position need
not be posted because it was not a separate position. To defeat summary judgment,
however, a non-moving plaintiff seeking to discredit an employer’s proffered reasons for
an adverse employment action “must demonstrate such weaknesses, implausibilities,
inconsistencies, incoherencies, or contradictions in the employer’s proffered legitimate
reasons for its action that a reasonable factfinder could rationally find them ‘unworthy of
credence.’” See Burton v. Teleflex Inc., 707 F.3d 417, 427 (3d Cir. 2013) (quoting
Fuentes, 32 F.3d at 765). Dr. Jones has failed to do so. A reasonable fact finder simply
could not conclude, from this evidence, that Temple’s reasons for failing to select Dr.
7
Jones as Chief of Radiology are “unworthy of credence,” and there is no evidence that
Temple was motivated by discriminatory intent.4
With respect to Dr. Jones’s termination, even assuming she could establish a prima
facie case of discrimination (an issue seriously in doubt), she has failed to present
evidence from which a reasonable fact finder could conclude that Temple’s legitimate,
nondiscriminatory reasons for her termination were a pretext for race discrimination.
Temple contends that it decided to terminate a neuroradiologist because of an insufficient
volume of work, and that it selected Dr. Jones for termination because she was stationed
at Jeanes Hospital and Temple was in the process of implementing new technology which
would permit films from Jeanes to be read remotely, and because Dr. Jones was a part-
time, non-faculty employee with a shorter period of required notice prior to termination
and a volume of work that could more easily be absorbed by others. Dr. Jones argues
that a jury could find that Temple’s stated reasons for her termination were pretextual
because its measures of work and productivity were flawed, the implementation of the
remote reading system was irrelevant, Temple erroneously concluded that she was not
capable of providing certain types of readings, other radiologists could have been
terminated instead of her, and Temple’s reasons for terminating her shifted over time.
Dr. Jones, however, “must do more than show that [Temple] was ‘wrong or mistaken’ in
deciding to lay [her] off,” to survive summary judgment. See Tomasso v. Boeing Co.,
4
For purposes of Dr. Jones’s non-selection claim, we assume without deciding, as did the
District Court, that she stated a prima facie case of discrimination.
8
445 F.3d 702, 706 (3d Cir. 2006). The issue is “whether discriminatory animus
motivated the employer, not whether the employer is wise, shrewd, prudent, or
competent.” See
Fuentes, 32 F.3d at 765. Dr. Jones has presented no evidence to
discredit Temple’s legitimate nondiscriminatory reasons for her termination, and no
evidence from which a fact finder could infer that Temple’s actions were motivated by
discriminatory animus. See
Burton, 707 F.3d at 430. Her argument that Temple’s
reasons for terminating her shifted over time is unpersuasive and, as a factual matter, not
supported by the record.
IV.
We will affirm the order of the District Court granting summary judgment in favor
of Temple.
9
