Shirley J. WILLIAMS, Plaintiff-Appellant v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY, Hansford T. Johnson, Acting Secretary, Joseph Laux, Defendants-Appellees.
No. 05-30080
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.
Decided Sept. 29, 2005.
149 Fed. Appx. 264
Summary Calendar.
Sandra Ema Gutierrez, Assistant U.S. Attorney, William P. Gibbens, U.S. Attorney‘s Office, New Orleans, LA, for Defendants-Appellees.
Before KING, Chief Judge, and HIGGINBOTHAM and PRADO, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Plaintiff-Appellant Shirley Williams appeals the district court‘s order granting Defendant-Appellee‘s motion for summary judgment and awarding Defendant-Appellee costs in this Title VII action. For the following reasons, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Shirley Williams, an African-American female, began working for the U.S. Department of the Navy (the “Navy“) in May 1997 as a civilian in the Primary Care Clinic at the Branch Medical Center, Naval Air Station, Joint Reserve Base in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. The Navy employed Williams as a registered nurse, diabetic educator, and clinical nurse specialist in the Primary Care Clinic.
On July 8, 1998, Petty Officer Joseph Laux, a male coworker of Williams, entered the women‘s restroom while Williams was inside. Williams asked Laux
On July 14, 1998, Williams and Laux had an argument in Laux‘s office after Williams asked Laux for a replacement fax toner. Williams alleges that during this incident, Laux questioned her about why she needed the toner, and when she asked him when she could receive the toner, he told her to get out of his office.
On July 24, 1998, Snow held a meeting with Williams and Laux concerning the July 8, 1998 and July 14, 1998 incidents. On July 28, 1998, Snow wrote a memorandum documenting the sequence of events, calling the incidents “worksite conflicts.” Snow did not, however, place the memorandum in either Williams‘s or Laux‘s official personnel file.
In August 1998, Pruitt advised Williams to contact the civilian EEO office in New Orleans, Louisiana. On or around August 5, Williams spoke with an intake coordinator in the New Orleans office, who told her that someone would contact her. Williams claims that she made several unreturned phone calls to the New Orleans office. On September 17, 1998, Williams faxed a memorandum to the New Orleans office, requesting that an EEO representative contact her. An EEO counselor for naval support activity contacted her in October 1998.
During this time, Williams‘s problems with Laux continued. On September 15-16, 1998, Laux granted leave to two corpsmen assigned to the Primary Care Clinic without notifying Williams. On September 18, Laux closed the Primary Care Clinic, which cancelled Williams‘s patient appointments without her permission.
In November 1998, Snow moved Williams‘s work station to outside of Snow‘s office and assigned Williams telephone triage duties, which prevented her from having any physical contact with patients or other clinic staff. In addition, Laux had to pass Williams‘s new work location on a daily basis to visit Snow in her office. After being in this new location for approximately one week, Williams complained to Captain Ayers about her relocation and change of duties, and she was immediately returned to her original work station in the Primary Care Clinic with her original duties.
In January 1999, the Navy hired a diabetic educator from Keesler Air Force Base to work in the Primary Care Clinic. This decision removed Williams‘s duties as a diabetic educator, which had comprised twenty percent of her overall duties, but it did not reduce her overall salary.
Williams received a letter dated March 13, 1999 from an EEO counselor informing her that the New Orleans office had transferred her informal complaint of alleged discrimination to the Fort Worth, Texas EEO office for processing. This letter also advised Williams that she should contact an EEO counselor within forty-five days of any alleged discriminatory act.1 On August 10, 1999, an EEO counselor issued a report stating that the parties had failed to reach an informal resolution to Williams‘s informal complaint. On December 30, 1999, the Navy accepted for investigation two of Williams‘s claims, including the July 8, 1998 restroom incident with Laux and the claim of retaliation for reporting it.
On July 18, 2003, Williams timely filed suit in federal district court, alleging claims of sexual and racial discrimination, retaliation, and sexual harassment from July 1998 through September 2003. See
On January 30, 2004, the parties consented to have their dispute handled by a magistrate judge pursuant to
On October 26, 2004, the Navy filed a second motion for summary judgment, arguing that: (1) no genuine material facts were at issue regarding Williams‘s claims; and (2) Williams failed to exhaust her administrative remedies concerning the incidents of alleged discrimination. On December 16, 2004, the magistrate judge granted the motion for summary judgment and awarded costs to the Navy. Specifically, the magistrate judge granted the Navy‘s motion for summary judgment for failure to exhaust administrative remedies for Williams‘s claims arising after May 3, 1999.2 As for Williams‘s claims arising before May 3, 1999, the magistrate judge granted summary judgment on the ground that Williams had failed to establish a prima facie case for her sex and race discrimination, hostile work environment sexual harassment, and retaliation claims.
On January 7, 2005, Williams filed a notice of appeal. On appeal, she challenges the district court‘s grant of summary judgment on her Title VII claims for hostile work environment, sex discrimination, and retaliation. She also challenges the district court‘s award of costs.3
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
This court reviews a district court‘s grant of summary judgment de novo, ap-
III. DISCUSSION
A. Title VII Claims
1. Hostile Work Environment
Williams argues that the district court improperly granted summary judgment in favor of the Navy on her hostile work environment claim. According to Williams, she established a prima facie case of hostile work environment. Williams alleges that Laux created a hostile work environment by entering and refusing to leave the women‘s restroom, yelling and displaying anger toward her over the fax machine toner, and circumventing her authority in the Primary Care Clinic on September 18, 1998 by cancelling her patient appointments without consulting her.
To establish a prima facie case of hostile work environment, a plaintiff must show that: (1) she belongs to a protected class; (2) she was subjected to unwelcome sexual harassment; (3) the harassment was based on her sex; (4) the harassment affected a term, condition, or privilege of her employment; and (5) the employer knew or should have known of the harassment and failed to take remedial action. Mota v. Univ. of Tex. Houston Health Sci. Ctr., 261 F.3d 512, 523 (5th Cir. 2001). Because the district court found that only the fourth and fifth elements were in dispute and because no party challenges this finding on appeal, we will not address the first three elements.
“For harassment to affect a term, condition, or privilege of employment, it must be both objectively and subjectively abusive.” Hockman v. Westward Commc‘ns, LLC, 407 F.3d 317, 325 (5th Cir. 2004); accord Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 777, 787 (1998) (“[A] sexually objectionable environment must be both objectively and subjectively offensive, one that a reasonable person would find hostile or abusive....“). This court determines whether a work environment is objectively hostile or abusive by considering the totality of the circumstances, including such factors as the frequency of the conduct, the severity of the conduct, whether the conduct is physically threatening or humiliating, and whether the conduct unreasonably interferes with an employee‘s work performance. Hockman, 407 F.3d at 325-26. We recently held that to survive summary judgment, “the harassment must be ‘so severe and pervasive that it destroys a protected classmember‘s opportunity to succeed in the work place.’ ” Id. at 326 (quoting Shepherd v. Comptroller of Pub. Accounts, 168 F.3d 871, 874 (5th Cir. 1999)). For harassment to qualify as severe or pervasive, the alleged conduct must be more than isolated incidents. Id.; see also Faragher, 524 U.S. at 788 (noting that “simple teasing,
Williams has failed to establish a prima facie case of hostile work environment because Laux‘s conduct was not severe or pervasive. See Hockman, 407 F.3d at 326. Williams‘s sexual harassment claim consists of only three incidents involving Laux. When compared to cases in which this court has afforded relief, these incidents were simply not frequent or serious enough to alter Williams‘s work environment. Compare id. at 328-29 (finding that the defendant‘s actions of making one remark to the plaintiff about another employee‘s body, slapping the plaintiff on her behind with a newspaper, grabbing or brushing against the plaintiff‘s breast or behind, attempting to kiss the plaintiff on one occasion, and standing in the door of the women‘s bathroom while the plaintiff was washing her hands were isolated, non-serious events that did not qualify as a hostile work environment), with Mota, 261 F.3d at 524 (finding that repeated sexual advances in the face of adamant refusals by the plaintiff were sufficiently extreme to qualify as a hostile work environment). Because we find that Williams cannot show that the harassment affected a term, condition, or privilege of her employment, the district court properly granted summary judgment on Williams‘s hostile work environment claim.
2. Sex Discrimination
Williams next argues that the district court improperly granted summary judgment in favor of the Navy on her sex discrimination claim brought under Title VII. According to Williams, she established a “strong discrimination case” by alleging that: (1) Snow relocated Williams to a space outside of Snow‘s office with telephone triage duties for one week; and (2) the Command replaced twenty percent of Williams‘s duties as diabetic educator without a reduction in salary.
The Navy contends, and Williams does not dispute, that the burden-shifting framework of McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973), governs Williams‘s Title VII claim for sex discrimination. Under the McDonnell Douglas framework, a plaintiff carries the initial burden of proving a prima facie case of discrimination by a preponderance of the evidence. McDonnell Douglas, 411 U.S. at 802. To maintain a prima facie case of sex discrimination, a plaintiff must establish that: (1) she belongs to a protected class; (2) she was qualified for her position; (3) she suffered an adverse employment action; and (4) her employer treated others similarly situated more favorably. Urbano v. Cont‘l Airlines, Inc., 138 F.3d 204, 206 (5th Cir. 1998). Because there is no dispute that Williams satisfies the first two elements, we need to consider only the third and fourth elements.
In this circuit, a plaintiff must show that the employer made an ultimate employment decision to establish that the plaintiff has suffered an adverse employment action. Hernandez v. Crawford Bldg. Material Co., 321 F.3d 528, 531 (5th Cir. 2003). Ultimate employment decisions include hiring, discharging, promoting, compensating, and granting leave. Id. This court has found that the loss of some job responsibilities does not qualify as an ultimate employment decision. See Mota, 261 F.3d at 521; see also Hernandez, 321 F.3d at 532 n. 2 (listing cases with activities that this circuit has held do not constitute ultimate employment decisions); Watts v. Kroger Co., 170 F.3d 505, 511-12 (5th Cir. 1999) (finding that a change in the employee‘s
3. Retaliation
Williams next argues that the district court incorrectly granted summary judgment in favor of the Navy on her retaliation claim on the basis that she did not establish a prima facie case of retaliation. According to Williams, the relocation of her work station for one week and the loss of her diabetic education duties constitute retaliation.
This court analyzes retaliation claims under the McDonnell Douglas framework, so Williams bears the initial burden of proving a prima facie case of retaliation by a preponderance of the evidence. Hockman, 407 F.3d at 330. To establish a prima facie case of retaliation, Williams must show that: (1) she engaged in a protected activity as described in Title VII; (2) she suffered an adverse employment action; and (3) a causal nexus existed between the protected activity and the adverse employment action. Mota, 261 F.3d at 519.
For the reasons stated previously, Williams has failed to show that the Navy‘s actions constituted an adverse employment action. Accordingly, the district court correctly granted summary judgment on Williams‘s retaliation claim.
B. Award of Costs
Finally, Williams raises two arguments on appeal relating to the district court‘s award of costs to the Navy. First, she argues that the district court erred in awarding costs because Louisiana law does not allow a court to award costs not originally demanded by a party unless certain criteria are met. Second, she contends that the district court erred in awarding costs because the Navy did not request costs but specifically prayed that each party bear its own costs.
IV. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.