Gloria Fields v. Board of Education of the City
Gloria Fields v. Board of Education of the City
Opinion
Gloria Fields, a 63-year-old African-American woman, retired in 2016 from her job as a teacher with Chicago Public Schools. She sued the Board of Education and the principal of the school where she worked, alleging that they discriminated against her because of her race and age and retaliated against her for filing this lawsuit, in violation of
I. Background
Fields was a teacher at Edgebrook Elementary School from 2002 until May 2016, when she retired. Chad Weiden became the principal of Edgebrook in July 2013, and he required all teachers to submit weekly lesson plans to him. Weiden provided feedback on teachers' plans during the 2014-15 school year, and he informed *624 Fields that her lesson plans were too scripted and too long.
Weiden also conducted informal observations of teachers, including Fields. He observed often that Fields's teaching was disconnected from her lesson plans and that students were not engaged with the material. Weiden suggested ways for her to improve, but Fields incorporated his suggestions sporadically and refused later offers to assist with her lessons. Based partly on Weiden's observations, Chicago Public Schools rated Fields's job performance for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years as "developing," which ranks below a "proficient" rating.
Beginning in 2014, Weiden responded to several incidents by issuing Fields "pre-meeting notices" informing her that she had to attend a meeting to develop a performance improvement plan. First, Fields did not attend an evening "open house" in February 2014-despite working at the school that day-that she acknowledges Weiden would have wanted her to attend. She also did not inform the school's administration that she would not attend. Next, without notifying Weiden, Fields did not attend a mandatory "professional development session" in November 2014. Then, in 2015, Fields did not submit request forms for a field trip on time and completed the forms only after several requests from Weiden. Fourth, Fields did not attend a "principal-directed preparation period" in September 2015. Fields also received notices for failing to turn in lesson plans and failing to properly notify the school about requested leave. The notices stated that Fields could receive a "formal warning" or a "final warning" after the meetings, or that Weiden could recommend her dismissal to the Board.
When Fields accrued three performance improvement plans, she faced possible disciplinary action. The teachers' union and the Board agreed to mediate the dispute with Fields in January 2016, and both Weiden and Fields attended. The Board's opening position was that Fields could retire with a "do not hire" designation, preventing her from being rehired. The mediator, however, asked Weiden if he objected to Fields's performance-improvement plans being downgraded. Weiden did not object because he wanted Fields to improve her performance, so Fields received no discipline as a result of the performance-improvement plans.
After the mediation, Fields took a leave of absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act. She retired in May 2016 without ever returning to work.
Fields then sued Weiden and the Board of Education for discriminating against her based on her race and age; she later added a retaliation claim for filing this lawsuit. (She also sued Weiden for intentional infliction of emotional distress, but she abandons that claim on appeal so we do not address it.) The district judge entered summary judgment for the defendants, reasoning that Fields's discrimination claims failed because she could not show that she suffered an adverse employment action. The court added that Fields had "little to suggest that considerations beyond individuals' job performance entered into the Defendants' calculations, and even less to suggest that Weiden's nondiscriminatory explanations for his behavior was 'mere pretext.' " And the defendants were entitled to judgment on Fields's retaliation claim, the court said, because she did not prove that she had suffered a materially adverse employment action. Fields was not constructively discharged, the court reiterated, and the possibility of discipline or termination following the pre-meeting notices was not serious enough to dissuade a reasonable employee from engaging in protected activity.
*625 II. Analysis
We review the district court's entry of summary judgment de novo, construing all facts and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of Fields, the opponent of summary judgment.
See
Abrego v. Wilkie
,
A. Discrimination Claims
We examine all the evidence when reviewing employment discrimination claims to determine whether the defendants' adverse employment actions were motivated by a proscribed factor such as race or age.
See
Ortiz v. Werner Enters., Inc
.,
The Board contends that Fields's discrimination claims fail because she did not suffer an adverse employment action, but Fields maintains that she was constructively discharged. We have recognized two types of constructive discharge. The first occurs when a plaintiff resigns due to discriminatory "working conditions even more egregious than that required for a hostile work environment claim."
Wright v. Ill. Dep't of Children and Family Servs.
,
Fields cannot show that she was constructively discharged. She has no evidence that she was subjected to a threat of violence or other conditions that are more severe than those required to establish a hostile work environment.
See
Wright
,
Further, Fields cannot point to any actions that would put a reasonable employee on notice of her imminent firing.
See
Wright
,
Fields also suggests that the negative performance reviews and performance improvement plans constitute adverse employment actions. She is incorrect.
See
Boss v. Castro
,
B. Retaliation Claim
Fields's retaliation claim fares no better. To survive summary judgment Fields needed evidence that would permit a reasonable factfinder to conclude that her engagement in protected activity caused a materially adverse employment action.
See
Madlock v. WEC Energy Group, Inc.
,
Without evidence that she suffered an adverse action, Fields's discrimination and retaliation claims must fail. The judgment of the district court, therefore, is AFFIRMED.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Gloria D. FIELDS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. the BOARD OF EDUCATION OF the CITY OF CHICAGO & Chad P. Weiden, Defendants-Appellees.
- Cited By
- 64 cases
- Status
- Published