THOMAS E. ROGERS, III, Magistrate Judge.
This action arises from Plaintiff's employment and termination of employment with Defendant. Plaintiff asserts claims of race and sex discrimination in violation of the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), 42 U.S.C. § 2000(e)
Plaintiff, a black female, has been a pharmacist for 23 years. She was hired as a staff pharmacist with Defendant on April 13, 2015. Employee File (Ex. 1 to Def. Motion). She received $62.50 per hour and reported to Mark Matthews. Employee File. At the time she was hired, she acknowledged that her employment was "at will." Employee File.
Another staff pharmacist, Tripp Byrd, a white male, was chosen by Paul Fulbright
At some point during his time as Operations Manager, Byrd felt as though the technicians did not really respect the pharmacists because they realized no one "had true authority over the floor back there." Byrd Dep. 8. Also, if he tried to implement something new, it would generally be overruled and changed by "administration," meaning Paul Fulbright and Mark Matthews. Byrd Dep. 8-9. At some point Byrd decided that he no longer wanted to be Operations Manager because he felt it was just a title and he had no real authority to accomplish anything, but he did not discuss this with Matthews. Byrd Dep. 9-10. In January of 2016, after returning from a few days of vacation, Matthews called Byrd into his office and told him he was not happy with "the way things were" and that he wanted to let Plaintiff have a shot at the Operations Manager position. Byrd Dep. 10. Matthews told Byrd that he would not receive a reduction in pay and he could focus more on the Speciality Pharmacy. Byrd Dep. 10.
At some point after Byrd was no longer Operations Manager, he submitted a letter of resignation to Howard Nettles, who Plaintiff believed to be responsible for human resources matters. Byrd Dep. 12. He felt the working environment was stressful and that he had not done a good job as Operations Manager and so he thought it was best if he moved on from that position. Byrd Dep. 13-14. Both Howard Nettles and Paul Fulbright came to Byrd separately to discuss his concerns and ask him to stay, which he did. Byrd Dep. 14-16. Tony Megna, Defendant's CEO, testified that he also spoke with Byrd to try and talk him into staying. Megna Dep. 74-75 (Ex. 3 to Def. Motion). Byrd, however, testified that he never spoke to Megna about resigning.
On January 21, 2016, Plaintiff was promoted to Operations Manager and received a pay increase to $65.00 per hour. Employee File. During her time as Operations Manager, Plaintiff was required to complete biweekly surveys, which included the question "Do you have any complaints, exceptions, suggestions, or concerns." Employee File. Although Plaintiff asserts that she had many of the same concerns as Byrd did, she did not indicate them on the biweekly surveys until October 28, 2016, when she answered the question by stating "I have many; but no one cares-nor do they hear them." Employee File. On the same day, Plaintiff submitted a letter of resignation from her position as Operations Manager. Employee File. The letter stated,
Employee File. Matthews accepted her resignation from the Operations Manager position. Matthews Dep. 23 (Ex. 2 to Def. Motion). He told her that he was fine with her staying on as a staff pharmacist but he would need to get approval from Megna for her to do so. Matthews Dep. 23. Plaintiff told him that she would stay on in the role of Operations Manager until the end of the year. Pl. Dep. 57; Matthews Dep. 49. When asked during her deposition "did you specifically ask him if you could step down from Operations Manager and step into the place of staff pharmacist," Plaintiff replied, "Yes. Yeah. Before I left with him, I said — I asked him, I said, `So this is okay? If not, if I have to keep this role, I will.' And he said, `No, it's fine. I understand, you know, just it is a hard position.'" Pl. Dep. 58. Megna testified that he talked to Plaintiff and asked her what he could do to get her to stay on as Operations Manager. Megna Dep. 68-69, 74-75. However, like Byrd, Plaintiff testified that she never spoke to Megna about her resignation. Pl. Dep. 58. Megna testified that he ultimately decided that Plaintiff would not be able to remain on as staff pharmacist following her resignation from the Operations Manager position. Matthews Dep. 27-28; Megna Dep. 70. Defendant was in the process of restructuring the pharmacy as part of its planned expansion of the specialty pharmacy, and Megna felt that he needed pharmacists that were willing to be team players and assume more responsibility if needed, not less, during the transition. Megna Dep. 62-63, 69-73, 97. Plaintiff was given a termination form on December 6, 2016. Matthews Dep. 26; Termination Form (Ex. E to Pl. Resp.).
Following Plaintiff's departure, her responsibilities as Operations Manager were dispersed among all of the remaining pharmacists, but Teresa Webb assumed most of them. Webb Dep. 17 (Ex. 4 to Def. Motion). Another pharmacist, Bobby Tanner, was hired in January of 2017. Webb Dep. 17. He was hired as a staff pharmacist and did not become the Operations Manager. Byrd Dep. 29. Of the six pharmacists at the Darlington office where Plaintiff worked, all were white. Matthew Dep. 58.
Under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56, the moving party bears the burden of showing that summary judgment is proper. Summary judgment is proper if there is no genuine dispute of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a);
To show that a genuine dispute of material fact exists, a party may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of his pleadings.
Defendant first argues that it is entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law because Plaintiff resigned from her position and was not terminated. Plaintiff argues that she resigned only from the managerial position but not from her employment with Defendant. She further argues that, to the extent she is considered to have resigned, her resignation amounts to a constructive discharge.
Constructive discharge occurs in the employment discrimination context when an employer deliberately makes the working conditions of the employee so intolerable in an effort to induce the employee to quit or force the employee into involuntary resignation.
However, she did suffer an adverse employment action when she was not placed in a staff pharmacist position as she requested. Plaintiff submitted a letter of resignation from her position as Operations Manager and requested to continue as a staff pharmacist. The date she indicated in her letter that she was resigning passed and she continued to work in the Operations Manager capacity until she received her letter of termination. Additionally, she communicated to Matthews her willingness to remain in the position of Operations Manager if that was necessary to maintain her employment. The facts of this case do not fit squarely within a commonly used prima facie analysis. Whether addressed as a failure to hire or a termination, ultimately as explained below, the court looks to Defendant's legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for its adverse action and Plaintiff's evidence of pretext to resolve this motion.
Plaintiff alleges that Defendant discriminated against her because of her race and her sex. Title VII makes it "an unlawful employment practice for an employer-(1) 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 race, color, religion, sex, or national origin...." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). In the absence of direct evidence of discrimination, courts apply the burden-shifting framework set forth in
If Plaintiff establishes a prima facie case, the burden shifts to Defendant to produce a legitimate, non-discriminatory or non-retaliatory reason for the disparate treatment.
Once Defendant has met its burden of production by producing its legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason, the sole remaining issue is "discrimination vel non."
Plaintiff establishes a prima facie case whether analyzed as a failure to hire claim or as a termination claim. Plaintiff sent a letter to Matthews indicating she was resigning from the Operations Manager position and requested to continue as a staff pharmacist. To establish a prima facie case of either race or sex discrimination in the failure to hire context, the plaintiff must present facts showing (1) membership in a protected class; (2) application to the position in question; (3) qualifications for that position; and (4) a failure to hire under circumstances giving rise to an inference of unlawful discrimination.
Plaintiff also continued to work in her position as Operations Manager past the date she indicated in her letter
Accordingly, the burden shifts to Defendant to present a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for its employment decision. Megna, Defendant's CEO who made the decision not to place Plaintiff in the staff pharmacist position, testified that he wanted employees who were willing to be team players and who would take on more responsibility if necessary, not less, as Plaintiff had indicated was her intent by resigning from the Operations Manager position.
As such, the burden returns to Plaintiff to show that this reason given by Defendant was not its true reason but merely pretext for a discriminatory or retaliatory reason. Plaintiff argues that, unlike her, Byrd was allowed to go back to the staff pharmacist position from the Operations Manager position. However, Byrd did not resign from or even ask to be removed from the Operations Manager position. Defendant made the decision to place Plaintiff into that position instead of Byrd because they did not like the way things were going with Byrd as Operations Manager. In addition, Byrd had taken on a new role as Defendant started establishing its Specialty Pharmacy, and Matthews felt it would be better to put Plaintiff in the Operations Manager position and let Byrd focus on the Specialty Pharmacy.
Sometime after Byrd, a white male, was removed from the Operations Manager position, he submitted a resignation letter to resign from employment with Defendant. He felt he had done a poor job as evidenced by his removal from the Operations Manager position, the job was stressful, and he was dealing with additional stressors in his personal life. Once they received his letter, both Howard Nettles and Paul Fulbright came to Byrd separately to discuss his concerns and ask him to stay, which he did. Byrd Dep. 14-16. There is no indication in the record that Nettles or Fulbright had to get Megna's approval to keep Byrd. Although Megna testified that he spoke to Byrd to ask him to stay, Byrd testified that Megna never spoke to him. With respect to Plaintiff, although Matthews told her that he was okay with her stepping down as the Operations Manager but staying on as a staff pharmacist, he told her that he had to get Megna's approval to do so. Megna testified that he also tried to talk Plaintiff into staying in the Operations Manager position but Plaintiff declined. Plaintiff, however, testified Megna never spoke to her. Further, Plaintiff testified that she told Matthews that if she had to stay in the Operations Manager position, she would. Questions of fact exist regarding Megna's involvement with the retention of Byrd and the release of Plaintiff.
Plaintiff also argues that she can show pretext because the reason given in Defendant's response to her EEOC charge differs from the reason set forth in this litigation. The fact that an employer has offered inconsistent post-hoc explanations for its employment decisions can be probative of pretext.
In addition to the conflicting testimony regarding Megna's involvement with the employment acts taken with respect to Byrd and Plaintiff and the differing reasons given for the action taken against Plaintiff, the record also shows that Defendant hired Tanner, a white male, shortly after Plaintiff's employment ended who served as a staff pharmacist, the position Plaintiff asked to return to, and, despite the evidence that Defendant needed someone who could fill the Operations Manager position, Tanner never filled that position. Finally, at the time of Plaintiff's employment with Defendant, she was the only black pharmacist at her location. These facts, considered together, are sufficient to create a jury question as to whether the reasons given for the adverse employment action against Plaintiff were true or were pretext for a discriminatory reason. Therefore, summary judgment is not appropriate on Plaintiff's Title VII and SCHAL race discrimination causes of action.
Plaintiff also alleges in her complaint that Defendant retaliated against her for "complaining that Caucasian employees were being treated with more respect and in a better way than she was." Compl. ¶ 22. Title VII also makes it an "unlawful employment practice for an employer to discriminate against any of his employees ... because he has opposed any practice made an unlawful employment practice by this subchapter, or because he has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this subchapter." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a). To establish a prima facie case for retaliation under Title VII, a plaintiff must show that 1) she engaged in a protected activity, 2) she suffered an adverse employment action and 3) there was a causal link between the protected activity and the adverse employment action.
To qualify as protected activity, the employment practices opposed may be either "actually unlawful under Title VII" or reasonably believed by the employee to be unlawful.
Plaintiff also asserts a state law claim for wrongful termination in violation of public policy. Generally speaking, South Carolina law allows an employer to discharge an employee without incurring liability for good reason, no reason, or bad reason.
Plaintiff alleges that she was discharged because of her opposition to perceived potential criminal activity. Compl. ¶ 33. At some time during Plaintiff's employment
For the reasons discussed above, it is recommended that Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 44) be granted in part and denied in part. Specifically, it is recommended that summary judgment be denied as to Plaintiff's Title VII and SCHAL
The parties are advised that they may file specific written objections to this Report and Recommendation with the District Judge. Objections must specifically identify the portions of the Report and Recommendation to which objections are made and the basis for such objections. "[I]n the absence of a timely filed objection, a district court need not conduct a de novo review, but instead must `only satisfy itself that there is no clear error on the face of the record in order to accept the recommendation.'" Diamond v. Colonial Life & Acc. Ins. Co., 416 F.3d 310 (4th Cir. 2005) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 72 advisory committee's note).
Specific written objections must be filed within fourteen (14) days of the date of service of this Report and Recommendation. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b); see Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(a), (d). Filing by mail pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5 may be accomplished by mailing objections to:
S.C. Code Ann. § 1-13-90(d)(8). This court has held that, while this provision does not require dismissal of a SCHAL claim at the Rule 12 stage when a Title VII claim has also been asserted, the plaintiff must elect a remedy if the claims survive summary judgment.