Justia U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Rahn, a white male who earned a PhD in Industrial Engineering from the University of Illinois, was hired as a visiting professor at NIU. His wife, Regina, was hired as a tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering for that same school year. During that year, a tenure-track assistant professor position opened up in the Department. Rahn applied. Despite her husband’s status as an applicant, Regina was a voting member of the search committee. She claims that one committee member stated that he would not hire a white man into the department if qualified minority candidates were available. After another applicant was hired, the Rahns alleged reverse discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 701 42 U.S.C. 2000e, and copyright infringement, based on use of teaching notes and slides. The district court granted the defendants summary judgment on all claims. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. That testimony did not support indicate that an evaluation metric was a subterfuge for eliminating Rahn on racial grounds. A university employer may properly preference academic experience; Rahn did not present evidence that such a preference was inconsistent with the initial description of the position and the preferred qualifications. View "Rahn v. Bd. of Trs. of N. Ill. Univ." on Justia Law

Bisluk, a conservative who votes Republican, was a special agent working in Chicago for the Illinois Department of Revenue’s Liquor Control Commission under former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s Democratic administration. She purchased a home in southern Illinois and asked her employer about transferring duty assignments from Chicago to southern Illinois, but failed to submit a transfer request or apply for the job. She did not get a position. She sued several state officials alleging that she was denied a transfer to southern Illinois because of her political association, in violation of the First Amendment and because of her gender in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of the defendants. The undisputed evidence showed that Bisluk did not receive the transfer because she did not submit the proper transfer paperwork or apply for the job. View "Bisluk v. Hamer" on Justia Law

Libertyville Toyota is a 140-employee car dealership with an 80-person service department. In 2011 Libertyville’s owner, AutoNation, became aware of interest in unionization and held meetings with the affected staff, the last of which was surreptitiously recorded. Around the same time, Libertyville suspended an automotive painter, Huerta, after receiving an anonymous voicemail accusing Huerta of promoting the union cause and of receiving a charge of driving under the influence. Huerta was ultimately fired. The Union filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board. An administrative law judge concluded that certain comments by the AutoNation executives at the recorded meeting violated the National Labor Relations Act, but did not uphold the accusation that AutoNation had unlawfully suspended and discharged Huerta because of his union activity. The Board affirmed as to the meeting but reversed as to Huerta’s discharge. The Seventh Circuit determined that the decision was supported by substantial evidence and entitled to enforcement. View "AutoNation, Inc. v. Nat'l Labor Relations Bd." on Justia Law

Michels is a member of the Pipe Line Contractors Association (PLCA), a trade association that negotiates collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) on behalf of its employer members with unions. In 2006, the PLCA and the Union entered into a CBA in “effect until January 31, 2011, and thereafter from year to year unless terminated at the option of either party after sixty (60) days’ notice.” The CBA required contributions to the Central States multiemployer pension plan, 29 U.S.C. 1000(2), (3), (37). In August 2010, the PLCA informed the Union that it intended to terminate the 2006 CBA on January 31, 2011, and begin negotiations for a new agreement; the parties signed eight extensions, the last ending November 15, 2011. Michels contributed to the pension plan throughout those extensions. The parties agreed that the employers would cease making contributions to the plan as of November 15, 2011; that they would make comparable payments to an escrow fund until a “mutually acceptable” fund was designated; and that they would otherwise extend the terms of the 2006 CBA until December 31, 2011. The fund claimed that the obligation to make contributions had not ended. The Seventh Circuit reversed the district court holding that this was not sufficient to end the duty to contribute. View "Michels Corp. v. Cent. States, SE & SW Areas Pension Fund" on Justia Law

Secrease sued his former employer and some of its supervisors, alleging unlawful discrimination and retaliation, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e–2 and 2000e–3(a). The employer moved to dismiss the suit as untimely, arguing that Secrease had tried to make his Title VII claims look timely by attaching to his complaint a charge of discrimination, filed with the EEOC in April 2013, but mismatched to a right-to-sue letter dated March 2014 that addressed a different EEOC charge. Secrease had filed three charges of discrimination with the EEOC. In response, Secrease submitted a document that he claimed was his employment contract and that contained an arbitration clause. After examining the employer’s evidence that the document had been falsified, the district court dismissed his suit with prejudice. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, finding that the fraud finding was not clearly erroneous and the sanction of dismissal was appropriate. View "Secrease, v. Western & Southern Life Ins. Co." on Justia Law

Bell alleged that her former employer, PNC Bank, failed to pay her overtime wages in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. 201, and the Illinois Minimum Wage and Wage Payment and Collection Acts, and that the failure was not an isolated incident, but rather part of a PNC policy or practice that affected other employees. Bell claimed that she was evaluated, in part, based on how many new accounts she brought into the bank, and in order to generate new accounts she needed to spend “significant” time outside of her regular work hours visiting prospective clients. Some of the assignments to visit prospective clients came from a PNC vice president who did not work at the Bell’ branch. According to Bell, when she submitted time cards reflecting overtime work, her branch manager and a PNC regional manager told her that “PNC would not permit... overtime for the branch,” and “PNC expected its employees to handle their outside-the-branch work on their own time, without reporting any extra hours that they worked.” The Seventh Circuit affirmed certification of a class of plaintiffs. Many issues remain unanswered and the district court was correct to conclude that a class action would be an appropriate and efficient pathway to resolution. View "Bell v. PNC Bank" on Justia Law

In 1986, Packer, a Ph.D. in physiology, began work as a post-doctoral fellow at Indiana University’s School of Medicine. She was appointed to the tenure-track position of assistant professor in 1994. Packer’s 1999 application for tenure on the faculty was denied, but Packer successfully grieved the denial, and in 2001, was awarded tenure. Faculty members are evaluated based on teaching, research, and service. A faculty member’s overall performance is deemed satisfactory if she meets the minimum requirements in all three areas or if she is rated excellent in either teaching or research. The University represents that Packer, in the years leading up to her termination, repeatedly failed to meet expectations with respect to publication and external funding. Packer contends that her research performance is better than the University claims; that any deficiency was because the department chairman assigned her insufficient and inappropriate lab spaces and interfered with her efforts to obtain grant money; and that male faculty members whose research performance also fell short of expectations suffered no adverse consequences. In her suit, alleging sex discrimination, the University moved for summary judgment. Packer’s counsel did not properly support the elements of her claims with specific citations to admissible record evidence. The Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the University. View "Packer v. Trs .of Ind. Univ." on Justia Law

In 2012, Harden, a Caucasian, sued the Marion County Sheriff’s Department for retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000. He alleged that the Sheriff’s Department terminated him in retaliation for testifying on behalf of African-American police officers in a race discrimination investigation. The Department claimed that he was terminated for taking money from a detainee’s wallet. The district granted summary judgment for the Sheriff’s Department. Harden now appeals that decision. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. Although the evidence of harassment after Harden’s testimony says something about the context in which the theft investigation was initiated, without more, it cannot support an inference that Harden’s termination was retaliatory. No reasonable jury could find that the Internal Affairs investigation into the theft was pretextual. View "Harden v. Marion Cnty. Sheriff's Dept." on Justia Law

Olson worked for Bemis at its Neenah, Wisconsin factory, and was a member of the Union. He was injured on the job and later fired. The Union filed a grievance on Olson’s behalf as permitted under its collective bargaining agreement. Bemis and the Union entered into a settlement under which Bemis agreed to pay Olson $20,000 in exchange for a waiver of all legal claims against the company. Olson did not accept the deal and sued Bemis and the Union, challenging his discharge and the legitimacy of the settlement. He lost on summary judgment. Olson later filed a second suit against Bemis and the Union, this time in state court, arguing that if the settlement was a valid contract, he was entitled to the $20,000 payout. The defendants removed the case. The district court held that it had federal-question jurisdiction over Olson’s state-law claims, which were preempted by the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 185(a), then dismissed for failure to state any valid claim. The Seventh CIrcuit affirmed. Olson breached the waiver-of-claims clause in the settlement agreement by filing his first suit against Bemis, so the company had no obligation to pay him. View "Olson v. Bemis Co., Inc." on Justia Law

Preddie worked as a fifth-grade teacher in the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation during the 2010–2011 school year. After Preddie was absent 23 times, the BCSC did not renew his contract. Preddie, an African-American, is diabetic, and his son suffers from sickle cell anemia. Preddie filed suit, alleging claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, 42 U.S.C. 1981, and the Civil Rights Acts of 1866, 1871, and 1991. The case district court granted summary judgment in favor of the BCSC on all claims. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, except as to Preddie’s FMLA claims. Material issues of fact precluded summary judgment on the FMLA interference and retaliation claims. View "Preddie v. Bartholomew Consol. Sch. Corp." on Justia Law