Palmer v. Indiana University

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Employment Discrimination
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 21-1634
Decision Date: 
April 14, 2022
Federal District: 
S.D. Ind., Indianapolis Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiff-employee’s Title VII action, alleging that defendant failed to promote him on account of his race and paid him less than comparative co-worker, even though plaintiff performed similar work as lecturer at University. Plaintiff’s failure to promote claim was untimely, where: (1) said failure to promote occurred in 2013; (2) Title VII requires that charge of discrimination be filed within 300 days of adverse act; and (3) plaintiff waited until 2019 to file instant charge. Moreover, plaintiff could not rely on doctrine of equitable tolling to render instant case timely, since: (1) equitable tolling clock starts when reasonable person in plaintiff’s position would have been aware of possibility that he had suffered adverse employment action; (2) equitable tolling requires that plaintiff file action within reasonable time of said knowledge; (3) record showed that in 2018 plaintiff made allegation that defendant had discriminated against him due to its failure to promote him in 2013; and (4) instant nine-month gap between said accusation and plaintiff’s filing of his charge was not reasonable time. Ct. rejected plaintiff’s claim that equitable tolling clock started in April of 2019, when proposed comparative had received his promotion. Also, Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment with respect to plaintiff’s unequal pay claim, where: (1) proposed comparative performed different work that involved increased teaching hours and performing second job; and (2) although comparative received higher annual raises than plaintiff, defendant could base said raises on comparative’s increased teaching hours and his success in second position.