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Potter v. Ernst & Young2/6/2001
Appellant Thomas Potter challenges the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of respondent Ernst & Young on his reprisal claim. Although the district court also granted summary judgment against appellant on his claims of race and disability discrimination, appellant does not challenge the summary judgment on those claims. Appellant argues that the district court erred in concluding that he did not show a causal connection between his discrimination complaint and his termination. We reverse.
FACTS
The following description of the facts views the evidence in the light most favorable to appellant.
In 1989, appellant, who is Native American and dyslexic, began working for respondent's management consulting group. Appellant had Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science degrees from the University of Minnesota and ten years of work experience. While employed by respondent, appellant developed significant expertise in computers, telecommunications and networking. In October 1994, he was promoted to senior manager. Until late 1996, he continued to have a high "utilization" rate (the percentage of time a professional works for paying clients). His aspiration was to become a partner.
Appellant contends that in late 1996, when Bruce Shoger was assigned to be his counselor, his opportunities at respondent decreased. The role of a counselor at respondent is to advocate for and advance their counselees' careers. Rather than giving appellant career advice and guidance, Shoger had little contact with appellant, seldom advocated for appellant's placement on engagements and, in fact, recommended against his placement on one major engagement. In February 1997, appellant requested a new counselor but that request was denied.
On July 31, 1997, appellant received his annual performance evaluation, indicating that his overall performance "fully meets" respondent's expectations, as did his Service Rating for utilization.
On October 27, 1997, appellant complained to Toni Cornelius, the head of respondent's Chicago-area human resources department, that his career was not advancing. He expressed his belief that this was due to discrimination based on his dyslexia and the fact that he was Native American. Appellant first suggested his complaints be addressed informally, but, when told that the issue was too important not to make it official, he agreed to make it a formal complaint.
Respondent's policies require that discrimination complaints receive appropriate investigation and remedial action. Yet the human resources department did not investigate appellant's discrimination complaint, and neither human resources nor his counselor communicated further with appellant about it. In mid-January 1998, appellant had to contact Cornelius again to inquire about the status of his complaint.
Meanwhile, respondent had decided to cut 200 employees nationally, and approximately 20 from the Chicago region, which included Minneapolis. On January 15, 1998, Scott Henkel, the head partner of the Minneapolis office, added appellant to the list of those to be terminated, on the grounds that his utilization was low and his skills did not match the needs of the firm. However, the human resources department advised Henkel that appellant's personnel files did not support the decision to terminate him. Particularly, Cornelius was concerned that the "paper trail" did not support respondent's claim that appellant's skills were not consistent with the needs of the firm. A meeting was held among Henkel, Shoger, the head of the Chicago area consulting group, and Cornelius to consider taking appellant's name off of the termina
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