Stanbury v. Sioux City Community School District ( 2022 )

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 21-0864
Filed July 20, 2022
DAWN STANSBURY,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
vs.
SIOUX CITY COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, PAUL GAUSMAN, KIM
BURYANEK and BRIAN BURNIGHT,
Defendants-Appellees.
________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Duane E.
Hoffmeyer, Judge.
A plaintiff appeals from a grant of summary judgment against her in her sex-
discrimination case. AFFIRMED.
Jordan Hutchinson of Hutchinson Law Firm, P.L.C., West Des Moines, and
Blake Parker, Clinton, for appellant.
Zachary D. Clausen and Douglas L. Phillips of Klass Law Firm, L.L.P., Sioux
City, for appellees.
Heard by Tabor, P.J., and Greer and Badding, JJ.
2
GREER, Judge.
Missing the tie between her sex and the change in her employment status,
the district court summarily dismissed Dawn Stansbury’s claim for sex
discrimination. Stansbury, a former administrator in the Sioux City Community
School District (the District), asserts she was constructively discharged from her
position on the basis of her sex. At the onset, because she failed to demonstrate
she was subjected to intolerable working conditions, we affirm the district court’s
grant of summary judgment on her constructive discharge claim. Even taking the
record in the light most favorable to Stansbury, we agree with the district court that
she provided only indirect evidence that the District took adverse employment
action against her on the basis of sex. And, even assuming she established a
prima facie case of sex discrimination, she could not show the reasons the District
provided for her transfer were pretextual.
I. Facts.
Stansbury began teaching in the District in 2001 and was promoted to
principal at an elementary school in 2005. By 2008, Stansbury starting serving as
principal of Washington Elementary School. Then, in 2014, the District decided to
merge Washington with Whittier Elementary School to form Morningside
Elementary, with Stansbury at the helm. The shift was not smooth, and the
schools’ populations and employees struggled to adjust to the change in location
and melding of staffs.
To make matters worse, a growing concern at Morningside was violent
student behavior, such as students throwing chairs or biting other students and
teachers. Stansbury attempted to discuss the issue with District administrators but
3
was told only that her teachers should not try to restrain students. To help, the
teachers and administrators were also expected to complete MANDT training,
which is a de-escalation and physical-restraint training. As of March 2017, the
Morningside employees, including Stansbury, had completed no such training.
The District’s director of learning supports sent an email to Stansbury on March 28
and included Brian Burnight, the District’s director of elementary education and
Stansbury’s supervisor, in the message to relay concerns about the lack of training.
In March 2017, Stansbury was placed on a plan of awareness—a precursor
to a plan of assistance, which can result in disciplinary action. The plan served to
address a barrage of deficiencies, including mismanaging communication with
staff before a planned leave, missing a professional development meeting because
she was double-booked, and failing to correct the school’s declining reading
scores. When Stansbury and Burnight went over the plan, Stansbury told Burnight
she felt there was a “target on her back,” and Burnight responded that he
understood why she would feel that way. Stansbury completed her plan within
three months.
During the following school year, Stansbury disciplined a special-education
teacher who had failed to keep state-required data relating to students with
individual learning plans. The teacher filed a harassment complaint against
Stansbury, which the District investigated before concluding it was unfounded.
Stansbury met with Associate Superintendent Kim Buryanek; the District’s director
of student services and equity education, Jen Gomez; and Burnight to go over the
results of the investigation. Buryanek told Stansbury at that meeting there were
concerns among the Morningside staff, including that Stansbury showed favoritism
4
to those who had worked at Washington over those from Whittier—Buryanek went
as far as to say the principal position was no longer the best fit for Stansbury. The
complaints were discussed vaguely, so Stansbury requested a more in-depth
survey of the staff be conducted in 2018 to gather feedback. The feedback was
not all positive and identified problem areas with Stansbury’s role as principal.
In March of 2018, Burnight told Stansbury she had a choice—she could take
a reassignment as a middle school assistant principal or resign. The new position
would have the same pay and work the same hours, though with less responsibility
and control. According to Stansbury, Burnight informed her that as long as Paul
Gausman was superintendent, she probably would not be restored to a head-
principal position and he did not expect her to receive a raise. Burnight denied
making these statements. Seeing this as a demotion, Stansbury continued
working as principal until June, when she took leave until she eventually resigned
in August.
After Stansbury was informed of her expected transfer, a hiring committee
(Committee) gathered to interview candidates to be the Morningside principal; the
Committee included Burnight. Two women and one man were interviewed. In a
deposition, Stansbury alleged that two committee members told her Burnight said
he preferred the male candidate because “a man would be better at dealing with
student behaviors.” Ultimately, the man was hired.
Following her resignation, Stansbury filed a complaint with the Iowa Civil
Rights Commission alleging demotion, harassment, and undesirable
assignment/transfer due to her age and sex. Then, in February 2019, Stansbury
filed suit against the District, Gausman, Buryanek, and Burnight for sex
5
discrimination alleging a violation of the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA).1 The
defendants moved for summary judgment, asking that Stansbury’s claim of sex
discrimination be dismissed.
The district court found that Stansbury presented sufficient evidence to raise
a question of material fact whether the decision to transfer her to an assistant
principal role was an adverse employment action but that Stansbury failed to show
direct evidence of sex discrimination. In reaching that determination, the court
considered the depositions of the two Committee members Stansbury alleged told
her about Burnight’s comments. In the depositions, one committee member
testified she had no recollection of Burnight saying anything about preferring a
man; the other committee member testified Burnight said no such thing and she
never told Stansbury he did. Concluding she only had indirect evidence, then, the
court granted summary judgment because she had not generated evidence to
show the reasons provided for her transfer were pretext for sex discrimination. The
district court also determined that, while she had generated a factual dispute over
whether her transfer was an adverse employment action, she could not show as a
matter of law that she was constructively discharged.
Stansbury timely appealed.
II. Standard of Review.
Our review of a grant of summary judgment is for correction of errors at law.
Hedlund v. State, 930 N.W.2d 707, 715 (Iowa 2019). A grant of summary judgment
is appropriate when the record, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving
1 Stansbury also had a number of other counts that she voluntarily dismissed.
6
party, “shows no genuine issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to
judgment as a matter of law.” Id.; Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.981(3). “Even if the facts are
undisputed, summary judgment is not proper if reasonable minds could draw
different inferences from them and thereby reach different conclusions.” Hedlund,
930 N.W.2d at 715 (citation omitted). Our review, then, concerns only “whether a
genuine issue of material fact exists and whether the district court correctly applied
the law.” Id. (citation omitted).
III. The Sex Discrimination Claim Under ICRA.
Stansbury pushes the point that summary judgment is inappropriate
because she established genuine issues of fact showing her sex as a motivating
factor for the decision to transfer her to assistant principal.2 Thus our review is
“limited to whether a genuine issue of material fact exists and if the district court
correctly applied the law.” Hedlund, 930 N.W.2d at 715. We first answer the
question of whether Stansbury was constructively discharged as a matter of law.
Then we will turn to her claim of discrimination on the basis of her sex as involved
in what she characterizes as a demotion.
A. Constructive Discharge.
Stansbury resigned from the District on August 14, 2018. In March 2018
she was told about the District’s decision to re-assign her as an assistant principal,
but she never started the new position and never signed her contract. Her letter
2 Stansbury maintains the order to transfer or resign was actually a constructive
discharge. See Haskenhoff v. Homeland Energy Sols., LLC, 897 N.W.2d 553, 591
(Iowa 2017) (“Constructive discharge exists when the employer deliberately makes
an employee’s working conditions so intolerable that the employee is forced into
an involuntary resignation.” (citation omitted)).
7
of resignation noted she resigned “in duress.” The District asserts this is a “quit
and sue” scenario. See Haskenhoff, 897 N.W.2d at 591 (noting an employee
cannot simply “quit and sue,” claiming constructive discharge). The District also
maintains that its reasons for her transfer, to help her “learn and develop in the
areas of culture and climate” from the middle school administrator, are legitimate
and do not support Stansbury’s claim of unfair treatment. On the other side of the
coin, Stansbury claims she was constructively discharged because, with the
transfer to the assistant principal position, she believed she faced the prospect of
never being promoted or receiving a raise.
“Constructive discharge exists when the employer deliberately makes an
employee’s working conditions so intolerable that the employee is forced into an
involuntary resignation.” Haskenhoff, 897 N.W.2d at 591 (citation omitted).
Stansbury directs us to Van Meter Industries v. Mason City Human Rights
Commission, where a woman, Jane Sires, was passed up for a job promotion. 675
N.W.2d 503, 508 (Iowa 2004). Believing she was overlooked because she was a
woman, Sires went first to the person who was leaving the position she had applied
for, then to the director of human resources, and then to the hiring-decision maker
to change the decision. Id. She waited to receive their responses, which were
disheartening. Id. (“During their second conversation, however, [the hiring-
decision maker] told [the plaintiff] that if he had it to do over again, he would still
promote [the male candidate] over her.”). After hearing back from leadership, she
was expected to help train the man hired for the position for which she was passed
up, which convinced Sires she was treated unfairly. Id. at 512–13. The Iowa
Supreme Court found Sires was constructively discharged. Id. at 513.
8
Promoting a similar argument, Stansbury claims she also was constructively
discharged by the District when she was given no choice but to accept the assistant
principal position with no hope of promotion or resign. See Balmer v. Hawkeye
Steel, 604 N.W.2d 639, 641–43 (Iowa 2000) (discussing constructive discharge in
the context of statutory claims, such as employment discrimination); see also
Haskenhoff, 897 N.W.2d at 591 (allowing constructive discharge to amount to
adverse employment action). Yet unlike Van Meter, Stansbury made no attempt
to address her concerns through appropriate channels in the school district—such
as the grievance process.3 And “[c]ourts have consistently required ‘something
more’ for constructive discharge claims than for ordinary discrimination or
retaliation.” Haskenhoff, 897 N.W.2d at 597 (noting the viewpoint is from that of a
reasonable person, not how the plaintiff feels). A successful constructive-
discharge claim requires more than “trivial or isolated acts of the employer.” Van
Meter Indus., 675 N.W.2d at 511. “Rather, the ‘working conditions must be
unusually “aggravated” or amount to a “continuous pattern” before the situation will
be deemed intolerable.’” Haskenhoff, 897 N.W.2d at 591 (citations omitted). And,
the employer must be “given a reasonable chance to resolve the problem.” Van
Meter Indus., 675 N.W.2d at 511. “An employee cannot simply ‘quit and sue,’
claiming he or she was constructively discharged. . . . The proper focus is on
whether the resignation was coerced, not whether it was simply one rational option
for the employee.” Haberer v. Woodbury Cnty., 560 N.W.2d 571, 575 (Iowa 1997).
3 Stansbury had earlier worked with the director of the human resources
department, knew her well, and found her “honest” and “trustworthy.”
9
After giving the employer time, however, an employee need not wait around if they
“reasonably believe[] there is no chance for fair treatment.” Id.But, in the light most favorable to Stansbury, she relied upon the word of
one individual in assuming her pay would be frozen regardless of performance.
See Haskenhoff, 897 N.W.2d at 595 (“To act reasonably, an employee has an
obligation not to assume the worst and not to jump to conclusions too quickly.”
(citation omitted)). And while she claims her supervisor told her that she would
never get a promotion or a raise, Stansbury elected to resign rather than take her
complaints up the chain such as to the personnel office. See Van Meter Indus.,
675 N.W.2d at 511–12 (constructive discharge results when “employee has no
recourse within the employer’s organization.”). Unlike Haskenhoff, Stansbury did
not reach out to the human resources department or the school board—to give the
District a reasonable opportunity to explain how her pay or tenure might be
impacted—before resigning. See 897 N.W.2d at 594-95. Without having taken
the new assistant principal job, she cannot point to conditions so intolerable as to
constitute constructive discharge—as theoretical intolerability premised on
suppositions cannot amount to unusually aggravated working conditions that
would cause a reasonable person to quit. See First Jud. Dist. Dep’t of Corr. Servs.
v. Iowa C.R. Comm’n, 315 N.W.2d 83, 87 (Iowa 1982) (requiring a showing “that
‘working conditions would have been so difficult or unpleasant’ that a reasonable
person in the employee’s position would be compelled to resign.” (citation
omitted)). As a matter of law, considering the record in the light most favorable to
Stansbury, she failed to show she was constructively discharged. Thus, the
10
reassignment to the middle school assistant principal job defines her remaining
claim of adverse employment action in our analysis.
B. Proof of Discrimination—General Concepts.
To frame its analysis, the district court set out:
A female employee [such as Dawn] must establish the following
elements in order to set forth a claim for disparate treatment
discrimination, based on sex or gender . . . 1) that she belongs to
class of persons protected by Title VII [ICRA], e.g., sex or gender;
2) that she was qualified for the job, and performing the job
satisfactorily; 3) that she experienced an adverse employment
action; and 4) that similarly situated individuals outside of her
protected class, e.g., sex or gender, were treated more favorably, or
other circumstances surrounding the adverse employment action
giving rise to inference of discrimination.
(Alterations in original) (ellipsis in original).
The district court found “no sufficient direct evidence for a material fact
dispute that the District’s decision was motivated by sex discrimination.” As for the
prima facie case, the district court proceeded under the assumption there was
sufficient evidence to support an inference of the District’s discrimination against
Stansbury because of her sex, but concluded that Stansbury failed to generate a
“fact dispute that the District’s nondiscriminatory reason for the transfer was pretext
for sex discrimination.” To check this conclusion, we start with Iowa’s statute.
Under the ICRA, it is “an unfair or discriminatory practice . . . to discharge any
employee, or to otherwise discriminate in employment . . . because of . . . sex.”
Iowa Code § 216.6(1)(a) (2019).
A plaintiff can prove sex discrimination by direct or indirect evidence.
Hedlund, 930 N.W.2d at 719. As our supreme court said:
The Price Waterhouse method is used when direct or circumstantial
evidence is presented which tends to establish age was a
11
determining factor in the employment decision. Price Waterhouse
[v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228, 258 (1989)]. The McDonnell Douglas
method is an indirect burden shifting framework. McDonnell Douglas
[v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802–03 (1973)].
Vaughan v. Must, Inc., 542 N.W.2d 533, 538 (Iowa 1996). On the direct evidence
track, “[a]fter the direct evidence has been presented [by the plaintiff], the employer
then bears the burden of establishing by a preponderance of the evidence it would
have made the same decision even in absence of the improper motive.” Id.at 538–
39. But direct evidence of a discriminatory motive is rarely trumpeted by the
employer and is almost never available. See Godfrey v. State, 962 N.W.2d 84,
123 (Iowa 2021) (Appel, J., dissenting).
If the plaintiff offers only indirect evidence, courts follow the framework
established in McDonnell Douglas.4 Under this framework, the initial burden is on
the plaintiff to establish a prima facie case of sex discrimination, identifying an
adverse employment action. Hedlund, 930 N.W.2d at 720. “‘The burden then must
shift to the employer to articulate some legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason’ for its
4 Stansbury invites our court to do away with the McDonnell Douglas test, citing a
string of policy reasons. While she believes our court should have no reservations
about ringing the test’s death knell, our supreme court precedent would disagree.
The test was re-affirmed for summary judgments—as opposed to jury
determinations—in Iowa as recently as 2019. See Hedlund, 930 N.W.2d at 719
n.8. (“In Hawkins v. Grinnell Regional Medical Center, 929 N.W.2d 261, 272 (Iowa
2019), where an age discrimination case went to trial, we held that ‘we no longer
rely on the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting analysis and determin[ing]-factor
standard when instructing the jury.’ We did not disturb our prior law as it applies
to summary judgment.”). The supreme court declined to disturb our existing law,
and we will not take up the cause in their stead. See id. at 719 (“The parties
disagree as to the appropriate analytical framework the district court should employ
at the summary judgment stage. . . . We do not need to decide this issue because,
either way, we conclude that Hedlund has failed to raise a genuine issue of material
fact.”); Iowa R. App. P. 6.1101(3) (allowing “[c]ases presenting the application of
existing legal principles” and “[c]ases presenting issues that are appropriate for
summary disposition” to be transferred to our court).
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employment action.” Id. (citing McDonnell Douglas, 411 U.S. at 802). If this
burden is satisfied, the plaintiff has the burden to show the alternate reason
presented is merely pretext for the alleged discrimination. Id. This includes
proving “that the discriminatory motive played a substantial part in the actions
taken.” Vaughan, 542 N.W.2d at 538.
Stansbury claims she proved disputed facts avoiding summary judgment
under both the direct-evidence and indirect-evidence avenues.
Direct Evidence Test.
Stansbury contends statements made by Burnight during the hiring process
of her successor, after Stansbury was told she needed to take the job in the middle
school or resign, is direct evidence of sex discrimination against her. A party can
avoid summary judgment with proof of direct evidence. See Fjelsta v. Zogg
Dermatology, PLC, 488 F.3d 804, 809 (8th Cir. 2007). Evidence is direct when it
“show[s] a specific link between the alleged discriminatory animus and the
challenged decision.” Hedlund, 930 N.W.2d at 719 n.7 (alteration in original)
(citation omitted). In other words:
the plaintiff must present “evidence of conduct or statements by
persons involved in the decision-making process that may be viewed
as directly reflecting the alleged discriminatory attitude . . . sufficient
to permit the factfinder to infer that that attitude was more likely than
not a motivating factor in the employer’s decision.”
Radabaugh v. Zip Feed Mills, Inc., 997 F.2d 444, 449 (8th Cir. 1993) (citation
omitted). “‘[D]irect’ refers to the causal strength of the proof, not whether it is
circumstantial evidence.” Griffith v. City of Des Moines, 387 F.3d 733, 736 (8th
Cir. 2004). “‘[S]tray remarks in the workplace,’ ‘statements by nondecisionmakers,’
and ‘statements by decisionmakers unrelated to the decisional process’ do not
13
constitute direct evidence.” King v. United States, 553 F.3d 1156, 1160 (8th Cir.
2009) (quoting Ramlet v. E.F. Johnson Co., 507 F.3d 1149, 1152 (8th Cir. 2007)).
For her direct evidence, Stansbury offers her deposition where she
describes how two separate Committee members told her Burnight made
comments during the hiring process for her replacement that “a man would be
better at dealing with student behaviors.” She speculates the decision to transfer
her came because Burnight felt a man would better handle the student discipline
at the elementary school—thus this direct evidence shows she was discriminated
against because of her sex. Stansbury argues Burnight’s discriminatory attitude
surely played a part in her transfer. But see Price Waterhouse, 490 U.S. at 251(“Remarks at work that are based on sex stereotypes do not inevitably prove that
gender played a part in a particular employment decision. The plaintiff must show
that the employer actually relied on her gender in making its decision.”). The
district court concluded Stansbury showed no evidence of a similar statement in
the earlier decision-making process over her transfer or, even if true, no evidence
connects sex as a motiving factor for Stansbury’s change of assignment.
We dig deeper into this theory. At best, Stansbury offers hearsay
statements made by women serving on the Committee for her replacement. Yet
Stansbury testified only Committee members Kim Brown and Susan Jordan
confirmed the statement to her. When those women were deposed, Brown denied
telling Stansbury that Burnight made the statement and affirmatively stated that
Burnight cut off any reference to hiring a man by saying “it was not appropriate.”
Jordan’s memory, while less clear, did not specifically point to Burnight, but did
address feelings that she believed she voiced that a male might be best for the
14
school at that time.5 But two other female members of the Committee, Becky Gaul
and Lori Evers, confirmed that while such a statement was made by a committee
member, Burnight shut down that consideration. Gaul also offered that Burnight
never voiced an opinion about any candidate but let the committee talk about each
applicant. And the committee members closely scored the two women candidates
and the male candidate after the interviews and before the discussion. 6 If, as all
Committee members testified, persons other than Burnight made the statement
about a male choice, Stansbury has not connected the person making the decision
about her transfer with the discriminatory statement she offers as direct evidence.7
Where there are competing narratives, “one of which is blatantly
contradicted by the record, so that no reasonable jury could believe it, a court
should not adopt that version of the facts for purposes of ruling on a motion for
summary judgment.” Schoonover v. Schneider Nat’l Carriers, Inc., 492 F. Supp.
2d 1103, 1126 (S.D. Iowa 2007) (citation omitted). Instead, it takes two or more
sides of a factual dispute each supported by evidence to metamorphose a generic
factual dispute into a “genuine” one. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S.
242, 248 (1986) (rejecting a motion for summary judgment requires that “the
evidence [must be] such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the
nonmoving party”). And the hiring process and these statements occurred after
5 Jordan did not take part in making the decision to transfer Stansbury to assistant
principal, so Jordan’s stated belief that a man might be better suited for the job
would not reflect a discriminatory attitude that was involved in the adverse
employment decision.
6 Burnight scored the male candidate only one point higher than his scores for the
female applicants.
7 All three candidates scored so closely that they all were interviewed by Gausman
before the male candidate, who scored the highest across the group, was chosen.
15
the decision was made to transfer Stansbury to the assistant principal position—
so there is not a direct link between the adverse employment decision and the
comments. For the new position, two of the candidates interviewed were women,
with only one male candidate. All three made it through to the final interviews. The
scoring of the finalists for the elementary principal post was extremely close
between the candidates, irrespective of sex and; in particular, Burnight ranked the
women only one point lower than the male candidate where some of the female
members votes showed a wider spread.
In its summary judgment order, after reviewing the contradicted evidence
provided, the district court found the statement, if made, was insufficient to show
sex was a motivating factor in the earlier decision to transfer Stansbury to the
middle school job. Stated another way, Stansbury provided no direct evidence
linking the decision to transfer her to a different position to her sex. See
Richardson v. Sugg, 448 F.3d 1046, 1058 (8th Cir. 2006) (noting “stray remarks,
statements by nondecisionmakers, or statements by decisionmakers that are
unrelated to the decisional process” do not meet the required causal link of proof).
We agree with the district court and do not find sufficient direct evidence, of the
strength required, that Stansbury’s sex motivated the employment decision to
transfer her.
The District argues that, even if Stansbury provided direct evidence, we
should afford it the benefit of the same-decision defense.8 See Vroegh v. Iowa
8 Stansbury argues the District did not preserve error on the same-decision
defense because, though the District raised the issue to the district court, the
district court’s decision does not address it. See Meier v. Senecaut, 641 N.W.2d
532, 537 (Iowa 2002) (“It is a fundamental doctrine of appellate review that issues
16
Dep’t of Corr., 972 N.W.2d. 686, 696 (Iowa 2022) (“[T]he same-decision defense
permits the employer to avoid liability if it proves by a preponderance of the
evidence that it would have made the same decision even if it had not taken the
protected characteristic into account. In other words, notwithstanding evidence
that the employer impermissibly took the employee’s protected characteristic into
account in its decision, the employer may avoid liability if the employer can show
it had a second, separate reason unrelated to the employee’s protected
characteristic that provides a lawful basis for the decision.” (internal citation
omitted)). On this defense, the District lists several reasons for its decision to
transfer Stansbury to the middle school position. First, Stansbury received four
“True Speaks,” which the District characterizes as disciplinary write-ups, in the two
years before the transfer.9 Ultimately, the District placed her on a plan of
awareness involving issues over her leadership and the school’s performance.
While investigating an employee’s harassment claim against Stansbury, the
District obtained negative feedback about Stansbury from several staff in the
building. After Stansbury requested an evaluation be conducted from her staff on
her performance, those responses supported the testimonial complaints. Lastly,
the District observed Stansbury’s administrator evaluations showed declining
must ordinarily be both raised and decided by the district court before we will
decide them on appeal.”). But, “[a] successful party, without appealing, may
attempt to save a judgment on appeal based on grounds urged in the district court
but not considered by that court.” Moyer v. City of Des Moines, 505 N.W.2d 191,
193 (Iowa 1993).
9 The True Speaks included a note on April 4, 2016 for a failure to communicate
with staff, on November 15, 2016 for failing to attend a professional development
meeting, and on March 28, 2017 for failing to complete MANDT training for staff
and administration. Also in March 2017, the district placed Stansbury on a Plan of
Awareness, addressing low reading scores and Stansbury’s work hours.
17
performance on several criteria, including the culture of learning standards and her
management skills. Because of these factors, the District argues it had a
performance-centric rational for the transfer decision. The district court found with
that background, the District met its burden to show legitimate reasons for
transferring Stansbury—unmotivated by any discriminatory factor. We agree.
Indirect Evidence: Burden-Shifting Test.
Even if Stansbury could not show direct evidence of sex discrimination, her
burden to prove a prima facie case could be met using indirect evidence. See
Logan v. Liberty Healthcare Corp., 416 F.3d 877, 881 (8th Cir. 2005) (observing
that the proof threshold to establish a prima facie case is minimal). Even after
affording her the benefit of the doubt that she established a prima facie case of sex
discrimination, the district court examined her theories but determined Stansbury
failed to generate a fact dispute that the District’s nondiscriminatory reasons were
pretext for sex discrimination.
If the party offers only indirect evidence, courts follow the framework
established in McDonnell Douglas. Under this framework, the initial burden is on
the plaintiff to establish a prima facie case of sex discrimination, identifying an
adverse employment action. Hedlund, 930 N.W.2d at 720. “‘The burden then must
shift to the employer to articulate some legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for its
employment action.” Id. (citing McDonnell Douglas Corp., 411 U.S. at 802). If this
burden is satisfied, the plaintiff has the burden to show the alternate reason
presented is merely pretext for the alleged discrimination. Id.Even if we assume, as did the district court, that Stansbury met the
elements of a prima facie case of discrimination, we still see legitimate reasons for
18
the transfer. With the concerns over her evaluation and disciplinary issues, the
decision to transfer Stansbury to the middle school for training and guidance over
culture and climate represents a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason for the
employment change. After the reason for the action is articulated as
nondiscriminatory, Stansbury must show the reason is merely pretext for the sex
discrimination by the District. To show the discriminatory motive played a
substantial part in the actions taken against her, Stansbury describes a “pattern of
discrimination” in the District.10 She faults the District for not allowing her additional
chances or not supporting her requested needs as well. But we are not a “super-
personnel department.” See Hutson v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., 63 F.3d 771,
781 (8th Cir. 1995) (noting that in discrimination matters courts have no power “to
sit as super-personnel departments reviewing the wisdom or fairness of the
business judgments made by employers, except to the extent that those judgments
involve intentional discrimination.”). Instead, we focus our inquiry here on whether
the facts raised by Stansbury are sufficient to allow her to submit her claim to a
jury because they suggest the District’s proffered reasons for the transfer were
fabricated. Part of her claim characterizes the treatment of male principals in the
District as more favorable than that of the women principals.11 With several
comparators identified, Stansbury argues the males were similarly situated
10 In the summary judgment briefing, the District noted that 60% of the District’s
principals are women.
11 Stansbury produced affidavits from various women who worked for the District
in years past, but those individual situations did not rebut the hiring pattern
evidence that from 2008-2018, of the forty-six administrators hired by the District,
twenty-six were female and twenty were male. Ten were elementary school
principals, with seven being female, and eleven being male.
19
coworkers that were not subject to the same standards as her. But the standard
for determining whether employees are similarly situated is rigorous at the pretext
stage. See Bone v. G4S Youth Servs., LLC, 686 F.3d 948, 956 (8th Cir. 2012).
Furthermore, “[t]o be probative evidence of pretext, the misconduct of more
leniently disciplined employees must be of ‘comparable seriousness.’” Harvey v.
Anheuser-Busch, Inc., 38 F.3d 968, 972 (8th Cir. 1994) (citation omitted). We
agree with the district court that the situations involving the male counterparts did
not involve similar circumstances, were easily distinguishable from her situation,12
and were not conclusive evidence of disparate treatment of women principals as
opposed to the male principals.
Finding no obvious connection that Stansbury’s sex motivated the transfer,
we look to see if the District’s reasons are mere pretext. As noted above, during
the harassment investigation, the District received complaints about Stansbury
from several employees that included a laundry list, including these comments:
Things have to be swept under the rug
Phrase things a certain way
People pleaser/does not hold others accountable
Communication is poor
Lack of understanding
No clear processes
Fear of retaliation
No leadership/not effective
Disengaged/unsupportive
Just wants to look good/puts on a show
Does not hold staff accountable/no follow through
Climate is bad
12 Some of the identified comparators had not been in the District as long as
Stansbury, were overseeing schools with higher reduced lunch populations (thus
getting more help than Stansbury’s school), or had other factors supporting the
District’s human resource decisions regarding those employees. And two of those
named by Stansbury were reassigned from a principal role to that of assistant
principal.
20
Cliques/Favoritism
No trust
No motivation
Not uplifting
Dark place to work
After compiling those comments and after Stansbury requested the 2018
evaluation, the District confirmed problems with Stansbury’s approach to culture
and climate in the building and with her management of staff. Thus, the transfer
decision represented a performance-centric choice to address the information
gleaned from the evaluation. With the record viewed as a whole we cannot find
that the reasons given by the District were pretextual or that the decision to transfer
was based upon unlawful criteria. See Woodbury Cnty v. v. Iowa C.R. Comm’n,
335 N.W.2d 161, 166 (Iowa 1983) (finding as a matter of law there was substantial
evidence in the record of other legitimate reasons for not hiring complainant).
We find Stansbury’s evidence insufficient to support her claim of pretext.
IV. Conclusion.
We affirm the district court ruling on summary judgment, dismissing
Stansbury’s claim of sex discrimination.
AFFIRMED.