Title VII Violation – Retaliation Claim

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Charmaine Hamer v. Neighboord Housing Services of Chicago, et al.

Case No.: 15-3764

Officials: EASTERBROOK, SYKES, and BARRETT, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Title VII Violation – Retaliation Claim

Charmaine Hamer worked at Fannie Mae’s Mortgage Help Center from 2010 to 2012. Fannie Mae contracted with Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago (Hamer’s employer) to run the Center but maintained the right to remove individual employees. After Hamer’s application for a promotion was denied and she was removed from the Center, she sued both Neighborhood Housing and Fannie Mae for discrimination and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e to 2000e–17, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 621–34. The district court granted summary judgment in the defendants’ favor, and Hamer appealed the retaliation claims.

To retaliate against a complainant, decisionmakers must be aware of the complaint. Anderson knew of Hamer’s intention to file a charge but didn’t make any employment decisions, and Hamer has not established a genuine dispute about the decisionmakers’ knowledge. Glenn, Coffey, and Green all filed affidavits asserting they were never told of Hamer’s plan to file a complaint with the EEOC, and Anderson asserts that she never told anyone about it. In response Hamer offers only speculation.

Hamer observes that the affiants say they were not “told” about her plan to file a complaint but do not discuss whether they learned of the plan in some other way, as she conjectures they might. Glenn knew that Hamer had met with Anderson; maybe she inferred, when Anderson called the next day to discuss the reasons Hamer wasn’t promoted, that the meeting concerned allegations of discrimination. Or the notes that Anderson took while meeting with Hamer may have fallen into the decisionmakers’ laps. But Hamer did not depose Glenn, Coffey, Green, or anyone else, and she has not offered any support for her speculation. Hamer has not provided even a “scintilla” of evidence, see Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248–52 (1986), to support her conjecture that the notes may have been included in her personnel file and that the decisionmakers looked in it. Speculative assertions about decisionmakers’ knowledge are insufficient to establish a genuine dispute about a material fact. See Nagle v. Calumet Park, 554 F.3d 1106, 1121–22 (7th Cir. 2009).

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.