Article appeared in The Daily Record
A magazine employee’s sex and age discrimination retaliation claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and Connecticut state law may proceed, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut ruled, nothing that a jury could find that the employee was fired shortly after a promotion because she had complained that the company was a “boys club”, Blumenschine v. Prfo’l Media Group LLC, (D. Conn. No 3:02-CV2244, 11/9/05).
Lisa Blumenschine began working for Professional Media Group in 2000 as a national advertising sales manager. Two years later, she was fired at age 51. She claimed that the publisher hired two younger men to replace her. Given her allegations of a “boys club” work environment, the appearance of having been replaced by younger males conforms to the context of exclusion.
Less than four months before she was fired, Blumenschine was promoted to associate publisher. The general manager sent out an e-mail to all employees praising Blumenschine for a “terrific job.”
The use of company-wide e-mal to announce internal promotion may boost morale while becoming future evidence of recognition by management of an individual’s contributions. If, as in this case, a firing follows a promotion in close proximity of time, pretext may be established.
Thereafter, Daniel Shannon became publisher and vice president of the company and Blumenschine’s direct supervisor. She claimed that he made sexist comments and excluded her from meetings and important lunches. She complained, telling Shannon that he was creating a “boys club”. She also noted that because ProMedia had no human resources department, she could only report to Shannon.
From a risk management perspective, a workplace devoid of proper channels for filing a complaint exposed management to liability. Had Blumenschine been able to complain to human resources, most likely an investigation would have ensued.
After she complained, Shannon treated her “disrespectfully” and disregarded any ideas she had about the magazine, she said. Finally, he told her that he was going to hire, “two bright young energetic guys”. Blumenschine claimed that the two men took her place.
Blumenschine established a case of age and sex discrimination by showing that she was a member of protected class, qualified for the position, sustained an adverse employment action, and the circumstances gave rise to an inference of discrimination, that court stated.
She also established her retaliation claim, showing that she participated in a protected activity, sustained an adverse action, and a causal connection existed between the two, the court noted. However, the court also accepted ProMedia’s argument that Blumenschine was fired for poor sales as a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason that met the company’s obligation “at this state of analysis”
The burden then became Blumenschine’s to prove that ProMedia’s reason was pretextual and that the company discriminated against her, the court noted. “Blumenschine may be able to meet her ultimate burden” the court stated concluding that a jury could find in Blumenschine favor on each of her discrimination claims. Blumenschine could prove that Shannon decided to fire her because she complained about ProMedia’s being a “boys club” and not because of her sales performance. “Further evidence could show that when ‘University Business’ and two of its younger male salespersons became available, Shannon decided to remove Blumenschine in favor of the two younger men,” the court stated.
Certainly Shannon made his intentions clear after Blumenschine complained about the “boys club” atmosphere he created at work. Evidence of her being excluded from business meetings and lunches could defeat the argument that Blumenschine suddenly became a poor performer. The previous publisher who promoted Blumenshine may play a key part in establishing pretext. Retaliation often occurs as punishment for complaints made – and depending upon the specific fact of a case may support the underlying claim of discrimination.
Managers and executives should be aware that their actions in response to complaints about them may be transparent – especially in a boys club.
