Hankinson v. Thomas County Sch. System, No. 07-11948 (11th Cir. Dec. 3, 2007)
In an unpublished per curiam decision (one issued by the court without identifying the authoring judge), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (AL, GA, FL) has ruled that a female high school softball coach failed to state a valid employment discrimination claim under Title VII because she was unable to show that the employer’s nondiscriminatory reason for her dismissal was a pretext for sex discrimination. Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. However, the court found her claim of violation of the federal Equal Pay Act (EPA) based on the disparity between her salary and the male baseball coach’s salary could go forward. When Thomas County School System (TCSS) in Georgia began receiving complaints about Cara Hankinson’s performance as coach, officials informed her by letter that she needed to improve and warned her to avoid specific behaviors, such as disparaging players. Because of the complaints and pressure from school board members with relatives on the team, she was discharged from coaching. She sued, claiming the discharge was because of her gender in violation of Title VII and that she had received a lower salary than the male baseball coach in violation of EPA. The district court granted summary judgment for TCSS on both claims.
On appeal, the Eleventh Circuit addressed the EPA claim first, concluding that the district court had erred in finding that Ms. Hankinson had failed to show that coaching softball was substantially similar to coaching baseball. There was sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury might infer that the two positions were substantially similar, the appeals court found. In addition, there was a factual question about whether the baseball coach’s field maintenance and revenue producing duties were primary duties―to the extent they were not, it was improper for the district court to consider them. Turning to the Title VII claim, the court assumed Ms. Hankinson had established a prima facie case of sex discrimination, but it found she failed to present sufficient evidence to rebut TCSS’s legitimate, nondiscriminatory justification for her firing: the complaints about her performance. In fact, Ms. Hankinson herself believed complaints from one player’s parents were behind her termination, and she admitted to receiving anonymous complaint letters and having a problem with another parent. In addition, after Ms. Hankinson was fired, the position initially was offered to another female.
Hankinson v. Thomas County Sch. System, No. 07-11948 (11th Cir. Dec. 3, 2007)