The opinion of the court was delivered by: ELAINE BUCKLO, District Judge
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Plaintiff Patricia Wade ("Wade") is a bus driver employed by
the Chicago Transit Authority ("CTA"). In the summer of 2003,
Wade's union, Local Union 241 of the Amalgamated Transit Union
(the "union"), and the CTA were engaged in negotiations for a new
labor contract. In support of its position, the union held a
series of protest rallies at the Merchandise Mart in downtown
Chicago. Wade attended a number of these rallies in August, 2003,
during which she carried signs and discussed the labor practices
of the CTA with fellow participants. These rallies were also
attended by CTA managers, including the general manager of the
Chicago Avenue garage where Wade was based, Robert Bravi
("Bravi").
As part of the ongoing protest against the CTA, the idea was
promoted that drivers should engage in a work slowdown in order
to disrupt CTA service. On the morning of August 19, 2003, Wade
drove CTA Bus #6650 on the #70 Division route. Juanita Zimmerman
("Zimmerman") was a passenger on Wade's bus that morning.
According to Zimmerman, she observed that Wade was intentionally
driving slowly and driving past passengers at the bus stop. Prior
to disembarking, Zimmerman confronted Wade about her driving and
questioned her as to why she was driving slowly. Zimmerman states
that Wade answered that she was driving slowly as part of a labor
protest. After disembarking, Zimmerman called the CTA to file a
complaint against Wade and related her version of the interaction
with Wade. The complaint was forwarded shortly thereafter to the
Vice President of Bus Operations, William Mooney ("Mooney"), who
then forwarded it on to the manager of Wade's garage, Bravi. Upon
receiving the complaint that same day, Bravi instructed a
transportation manager, Antonio McFadden, to locate Wade and
bring her back to the garage. At this point, Bravi made a follow
up call to Zimmerman regarding the complaint. In this
conversation, Zimmerman verified the allegations of the original
complaint.
Upon returning to the garage, McFadden met with Wade to discuss
the complaint against her. At this meeting, Wade denied
Zimmerman's accusations. Wade told McFadden that her delay had
been caused by a defective farebox and that she had not made any
remarks regarding a slowdown to Zimmerman. At some point either
during this meeting or shortly thereafter, McFadden informed Wade that she was suspended without pay pending an investigation of
the charges.
Wade had two more meetings with CTA management while she
remained in suspension before having a final meeting regarding
the incident with Bravi on September 23, 2003. At all three of
these subsequent meetings with CTA management, Wade maintained
her innocence and claimed her delay was due to a broken farebox.
At the final meeting, it was determined that Wade would be
reinstated, would be given one year probation, and would be
repaid all lost wages with the exception of five days pay which
would serve as a penalty for her participation in the work
slowdown. Bravi had consulted with Mooney prior to this meeting
to determine Wade's punishment.
On August 5, 2004, Wade filed this complaint against the CTA
and Bravi. Wade's complaint contains four counts: 1) a
42 U.S.C. § 1983 action for violation of her First Amendment Rights; 2) a
state law action for intentional infliction of emotional
distress; 3) a § 1983 action for violation of her Fourteenth
Amendment due process rights; and 4) a state law claim for
respondeat superior and indemnification. Defendants seek summary
judgment on all counts.
Summary judgment is appropriate where the record shows that
there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving
party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Lexington
Ins. Co. v. Rugg & Knopp, 165 F.3d 1087, 1090 (7th Cir. 1999); FED.
R. CIV. P. 56(c). I must construe all facts in the light most
favorable to the non-moving party and draw all reasonable and
justifiable inferences in favor of that party. Anderson v.
Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 91 L. Ed. 2d 202,
106 S. Ct. 2505 (1986). Defendants have also moved to strike certain
paragraphs of Wade's statement of additional material facts and
certain responses made by Wade to their statement of material
facts. To the extent the assertions in these paragraphs and
responses have no basis in the record, they have not been
considered.
I. Retaliatory Suspension
The crux of Wade's First Amendment complaint is that the CTA
used the Zimmerman complaint of a work slowdown as a pretext for
suspending her in retaliation for her participation in the
protest rallies. Wade does not allege that the Zimmerman
complaint was concocted or a sham, but rather that the CTA
unjustifiedly relied on it in suspending her in light of other
exculpating evidence. Defendants maintain that Wade was
disciplined for the sole reason that she engaged in a work
slowdown.
In order to establish a claim for retaliation in violation of
the First Amendment under § 1983, Wade must show that: 1) her
speech was protected; 2) her speech was a substantial or
motivating factor in the retaliatory action; and 3) the
defendants have an opportunity to establish that the same action
would have been taken in the absence of the employee's protected speech. Spiegla v.
Hull, 371 F.3d 928, 935 (7th Cir. 2004). Assuming, arguendo,
that Wade could establish that her speech was protected, I turn
first to the second and third factors in order to determine if
either is dispositive.
Turning to the second factor, Wade must show that her protected
speech was a motivating factor in her suspension. Wade does not
point to any direct evidence that demonstrates that her
participation in the rally was a factor in the decision to
suspend her. For example, Wade does not show that her
participation in the protest rallies was disapproved of by anyone
in the CTA, or that anyone in the CTA generally viewed
participation in the protest rallies by employees negatively.
Wade also has not presented any evidence from which an inference
of a retaliatory motive could be drawn. For example, Wade does
not show that other participants in the protest rallies were also
disciplined, or that other drivers accused of a work slowdown who
had not attended the protest rallies were treated less harshly.
In fact, when stripped of unsupported factual assertions, the
only evidentiary link proposed by Wade between the protest
rallies and her suspension is that CTA management may have been
aware of her individual presence at the protest rallies which
preceded her suspension. In an attempt to establish a stronger
link, Wade makes claims that the CTA management attended the
rallies in order to keep track of which employees were in attendance and that
"William Mooney testified that he wanted to identify the
employees who attended the rallies. . . ." The cited portion of
William Mooney's deposition, however, provides no basis for these
assertions. Mooney stated in his deposition that the CTA kept no
record of individual employees attending the rallies. Wade has
provided nothing but speculation in support of her claim that the
CTA did in fact keep track of the individual employees attending
the protest rallies.
Generally, a plaintiff may establish a causal link by showing
that adverse action was taken "on the heels of" protected
activity. Spiegla, 371 F.3d 928, 943; But see O'Connor v.
Chicago Transit Auth., 985 F.2d 1362, 1368 (7th Cir. 1993)
(holding that the fact protected activity precedes adverse action
does not alone show motivation). In this case, the significance
of this inferred causal link is greatly undermined by the fact
that in between the protected activity and the adverse action,
Zimmerman, an uninterested third party, filed a complaint of a
work slowdown, which undisputedly constitutes a serious and
actionable violation of CTA policy. A reasonable fact-finder
could not conclude that Wade's participation was a substantial or
motivating factor in her suspension based only on this evidence
of timing and potential awareness. Additionally, a review of the record demonstrates that Wade's
claim also could not succeed under the third factor of the test.
Defendants have adequately met their burden under the third
factor by showing that the same disciplinary action would have
been taken regardless of Wade's participation in the protest
rallies. Defendants have shown that they determined Wade had
performed a work slowdown and that it was CTA policy to
discipline employees found to have conducted a work slowdown.
Having shown a legitimate reason for Wade's suspension, the
burden shifts back to Wade in order to show that defendants'
justifications are pretextual. Vukadinovich v. Bd. of Sch. Trs.
of N. Newton Sch. Corp., 278 F.3d 693, 699 (7th Cir. 2002). A
plaintiff may prove pretext either by offering direct or indirect
evidence. Id. at 699-700. In reviewing the defendants'
decision, it is not the court's function to determine if the
defendants came to the correct decision in suspending Wade
because, even if the defendants' reasons for suspension were
"mistaken, ill considered ...