NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION
File Name: 06a0060n.06
Filed: January 23, 2006
No. 04-4407
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
JACQUELINE M. SCOTT, )
)
Plaintiff-Appellant, )
)
v. ) ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED
) STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE
FIRSTMERIT CORPORATION, ) NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO
)
Defendant-Appellee. )
Before: NELSON, DAUGHTREY and SUTTON, Circuit Judges.
SUTTON, Circuit Judge. The district court in this case granted FirstMerit Corporation’s
motion for summary judgment, rejecting Jacqueline Scott’s federal and state claims for disability
and race discrimination arising from FirstMerit’s decision to discharge her for falsification of bank
records. Because Scott has failed to establish a cognizable claim that FirstMerit’s proffered
nondiscriminatory justification for her discharge was a pretext for discrimination, we affirm.
I.
FirstMerit provides banking and other financial services and is based in Akron, Ohio. The
company operates 158 banking offices in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
No. 04-4407
Scott v. FirstMerit Corp.
In 1974, Jacqueline Scott, an African-American, began working for FirstMerit as a file clerk.
In 1997, she became a customer service representative, and in 1998 she accepted a position as a
personal banking representative. D. Ct. Op. at 2.
In May 2000, Scott was forced to take a medical leave of absence following a workplace
injury to her right wrist. The injury developed into a “permanent, painful condition” known as
reflex sympathy dystrophy, which “prevent[ed] Scott from lifting objects as light as a coffee mug
with her right hand.” Scott Br. at 4. When she eventually returned to work, the injury prevented
her from working a full eight-hour day. Attempting to accommodate this restriction, FirstMerit
reassigned her to a customer service position, one that allowed her to work reduced hours. See D.
Ct. Op. at 2. In the new position, she received the same pay and benefits as she had received before
the injury. At some point after she returned to work, Scott claims that the once-amicable
relationship between her and her supervisor, Mark Cicchinelli, changed. In particular, he
“constantly hounded” her to get a medical release that would allow her to return to working an eight-
hour day. JA 457.
On Friday, March 22, 2002, a customer asked Scott to remove an erroneous $34 charge from
his account, requiring Scott to prepare an affidavit to correct the bank’s admitted mistake. While
typing the affidavit and simultaneously speaking with her co-worker, Cindy Smith, Scott claims that
she “unintentional[ly]” and “unconscious[ly]” entered “Cindy Smith” in a space on the affidavit
marked “originated by.” JA 456; D. Ct. Op. at 3. The customer signed the document, another
employee notarized the customer’s signature and Scott submitted the document for processing. D.
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Ct. Op. at 3. Because Scott used a P.O. Box in completing the document rather than a street address,
as required for this kind of transaction, the electronic banking department of FirstMerit did not
process the document. And because Smith’s name appeared on the document as its originator, the
department contacted her regarding the document. Realizing that she had not prepared the
document, Smith reported the incident to Cicchinelli, who referred the matter to FirstMerit’s security
department for an internal investigation.
FirstMerit’s security officer, Lane Orem, conducted the investigation, during which he
reviewed a written statement from the notary about the incident and separately interviewed Smith
and Scott. During Scott’s interview, Orem questioned her about her relationship with the customer
whose erroneous charge had prompted her to prepare the affidavit. Although Scott answered that
she did “not really” know the customer, she revealed that she knew the street on which the customer
lived, even though the false affidavit at issue did not list that address (as required) but instead listed
a P.O. Box. JA 491. Orem did not interview the customer. Orem concluded that Scott knew the
customer “better than she was admitting” and that the use of Cindy Smith’s name was a
misrepresentation because Scott was asked in the affidavit to enter her own name. JA 377 (“How
do you type your wrong name? . . . How do you type somebody else’s name on a form?”); JA
490–91 (“When I asked if [Scott] knew [the customer], [Scott] stated ‘not really,’ but when I asked
her where [the customer] lived, [Scott] stated he lived on Bacon St. in Akron. It was clear at that
point that [Scott] knew [the customer] better than she was admitting [ ] because the affidavit showed
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Scott v. FirstMerit Corp.
a PO Box for the address.”). On April 12, 2002, at the conclusion of Scott’s interview, Orem
suspended her pending a final decision by FirstMerit’s performance review committee.
On April 16, 2002, the performance review committee met to hear Orem’s findings and
recommendation. Comprised of Michael Williams, Joanne Post, Michael Hormula and Earlene
Balestrino, the committee followed Orem’s recommendation and unanimously decided to discharge
Scott for “falsification of bank records.” JA 492 (performance review committee log).
On July 15, 2003, Scott filed this lawsuit in Ohio state court, alleging disability
discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.,
and race discrimination in violation of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. She also claimed that
the bank had violated analogous state laws, see Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 4112.02, as well as a state
law against wrongful discharge in violation of public policy. FirstMerit removed the case to federal
court and moved for summary judgment. The district court granted FirstMerit’s motion, concluding
that Scott had failed to establish a prima facie case of federal or state discrimination based on
disability or race, D. Ct. Op. at 7–17, and alternatively concluding that Scott had failed to show that
FirstMerit’s nondiscriminatory reason for discharging her was a pretext for discrimination, id. at
11–14, 17. The district court also granted summary judgment to FirstMerit on Scott’s state-law
wrongful-discharge claim. Id. at 17–18.
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Scott v. FirstMerit Corp.
II.
On appeal, Scott challenges the district court’s decision with respect to the federal and state
race and disability discrimination claims but does not challenge the dismissal of her state-law
wrongful-discharge claim. We give fresh review to a district court’s summary-judgment decision
and apply the same Rule 56 standard that the district court applied. Wexler v. White’s Fine
Furniture, Inc., 317 F.3d 564, 569 (6th Cir. 2003).
A.
Under Title VII, “[a] plaintiff may establish a prima facie case of discrimination either by
presenting direct evidence of intentional discrimination by the defendant or by showing the
existence of circumstantial evidence which creates an inference of discrimination.” Talley v. Bravo
Pitino Rest., Ltd., 61 F.3d 1241, 1246 (6th Cir. 1995) (citations omitted). Scott concedes that she
has not presented direct evidence of discrimination, see Scott Br. at 15, meaning that her claim must
be analyzed under the familiar burden-shifting framework used to establish indirect evidence of
discrimination. See McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802 (1973). Under that
standard, Scott first must establish a prima facie case of discrimination, which requires her to show
that “(1) she was a member of a protected class; (2) she was discharged; (3) she was qualified for
the position;” and (4) “that for the same or similar conduct [she] was treated differently than
similarly-situated” employees outside the protected class. Mitchell v. Toledo Hosp., 964 F.2d 577,
582–83 (6th Cir. 1992). If she can establish her prima facie case, the burden shifts to FirstMerit to
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Scott v. FirstMerit Corp.
offer a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason for Scott’s discharge. Texas Dep’t of Cmty. Affairs v.
Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 254–56 (1981).
In the event FirstMerit provides a nondiscriminatory reason for the discharge, the burden
shifts back to Scott to prove “by a preponderance of the evidence” that FirstMerit’s proffered reason
was merely a pretext for illegal discrimination. Id. at 252–53. To establish “a submissible case on
the credibility of [FirstMerit’s] explanation,” Scott must demonstrate “(1) that the proffered reason[]
had no basis in fact, (2) that the proffered reason[] did not actually motivate [her] discharge, or (3)
that [it was] insufficient to motivate discharge.” Manzer v. Diamond Shamrock Chems. Co., 29 F.3d
1078, 1084 (6th Cir. 1994) (internal quotation and emphasis omitted). Because a jury “may not
reject an employer’s explanation . . . unless there is a sufficient basis in the evidence for doing so,”
id. at 1083; Noble v. Brinker Int’l, Inc., 391 F.3d 715, 724 (6th Cir. 2004), Scott must produce
evidence from which a reasonable jury could find pretext in order to overcome FirstMerit’s motion
for summary judgment.
We have some doubt that Scott has established a prima facie case of discrimination under
Title VII, primarily because she does not appear to have shown that she “was treated differently than
similarly-situated” employees outside the protected class. Id.; see D. Ct. Op. at 7–11. But we need
not resolve that point because she has not created a triable issue of fact over whether FirstMerit’s
explanation for her discharge was a pretext for discrimination.
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Scott v. FirstMerit Corp.
As an initial matter, Scott cannot tenably rely on the first ground for establishing
pretext—that the “proffered reason[]” for the discharge “had no basis in fact.” Manzer, 29 F.3d at
1084. “[A]s long as an employer has an honest belief in its proffered nondiscriminatory reason for
discharging an employee, the employee cannot establish that the reason was pretextual simply
because it is ultimately shown to be incorrect.” Majewski v. Automatic Data Processing, Inc., 274
F.3d 1106, 1117 (6th Cir. 2001). “In order to determine whether [FirstMerit] had an ‘honest belief’
in the proffered basis for the [discharge], this Court looks to whether [FirstMerit] can establish its
‘reasonable reliance’ on the particularized facts that were before it at the time the decision was
made.” Braithwaite v. Timken Co., 258 F.3d 488, 494 (6th Cir. 2001). And while “the key inquiry
is whether [FirstMerit] made a reasonably informed and considered decision,” an employer’s
investigation is not required to leave “no stone unturned.” Smith v. Chrysler Corp., 155 F.3d 799,
807 (6th Cir. 1998).
Consistent with these decisions, FirstMerit has pointed to “particularized facts that were
before it at the time the decision was made” and that legitimately could support its stated reason for
discharging Scott. Majewski, 274 F.3d at 1117. Most particularly, FirstMerit relied on Scott’s
admission that she entered another employee’s name as her own in completing the affidavit. JA 54,
56 (Scott Dep.); JA 490 (investigation report stating: “When I showed [Scott] the affidavit . . . [she]
admitted to typing the document and typing Cindy[] [Smith’s] name on it.”). Performance review
committee member Earlene Balestrino stated in her affidavit that this fact was the basis of the
committee’s decision to discharge Scott. JA 45 (“The only reason [for the discharge] was that
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Scott v. FirstMerit Corp.
[Scott] prepared the affidavit identifying another employee as the originator of the affidavit when
in fact she was not.”). And investigator Orem’s report and testimony indicated that he concluded
Scott committed a misrepresentation when she entered Smith’s name on the affidavit instead of her
own. See JA 377 (“My opinion is she typed someone else’s name on a bank document. She
misrepresented that document, period.”); JA 490–91 (Orem investigation report).
Seeking to counter this conclusion, Scott attacks the adequacy of Orem’s investigation,
claiming (1) that Orem should have interviewed the customer whose account was at issue because
it would have shown that she was attempting to correct another employee’s error and that she did
not have an inappropriate relationship with the customer under bank policy, Scott Br. at 20, and (2)
that Orem should have “asked about Scott’s job duties[,] her 28-year history with the company” and
her “reputation for honesty,” id. at 24. The absence of an interview with the customer does not
advance Scott’s claim. The bank never acted upon the assumption that Scott was attempting to
correct her own mistake in preparing the affidavit. And it is doubtful that the customer could have
shown that Scott did not know him because he in fact filed an affidavit in this case, in which he
never states that he did not know Scott or did not know Scott well. See JA 266–67. Scott also offers
no explanation why further information about her job duties, job history and reputation would have
changed matters. The dispositive fact, according to the bank, was that she admitted to entering
another person’s name as the originator of the affidavit. In the words of the district court, “the law
does not require that the investigation be perfect, only that an honest belief be held for the action.”
D. Ct. Op. at 13.
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Scott v. FirstMerit Corp.
Nor does Nemet v. First Nat’l Bank of Ohio, No. 98-4076, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 31979 (6th
Cir. Nov. 22, 1999), aid Scott in establishing that Orem’s investigation should have included an
interview of the customer. In Nemet, an interview of the customer would have revealed that the
discharged employee could not have been responsible for the act that led to his discharge. See id.
at *16 (investigation would have revealed that the plaintiff could not have erased the security tape
as alleged by the employer at the time of discharge). Scott makes no such claim here and
accordingly has not demonstrated how this alleged gap in the investigation rendered the performance
review committee’s decision to discharge her any less “reasonably informed and considered.”
Smith, 155 F.3d at 807.
Scott also argues that the “‘honest belief’ rule is [ ] not available when an employer tosses
out a number of reasons to support an employee’s termination in hopes that one will stick” and that
these changing reasons presented a “moving target.” Scott. Br. at 24. As the district court made
clear, however, FirstMerit’s reason for discharging Scott has uniformly been that she was guilty of
falsifying a bank document. That various communications from FirstMerit to Scott called the
offense by slightly different names or that Orem noted in his deposition and report that he was
troubled by Scott’s lack of candor about her relationship with the customer does not support Scott’s
assertion that the underlying justification for the dismissal was a “moving target.” In this respect,
we again agree with the district court (D. Ct. Op. at 14) that “[t]here is no evidence that [FirstMerit]
has offered changing reasons for [Scott’s] termination”: From beginning to end, the bank’s
overriding concern was Scott’s use of a name other than her own in completing the affidavit.
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Scott v. FirstMerit Corp.
Scott next invokes the last two Manzer factors, claiming that the unreasonableness of the
discharge decision, see Scott Reply Br. at 1 (“In order to fire Jacqueline Scott, FirstMerit had to
make a mountain out of a molehill.”), creates a triable issue of fact over whether the “proffered
reason” for the discharge “actually motivate[d]” it or was “insufficient to motivate” it, Manzer, 29
F.3d at 1084 (emphasis omitted). In support of this argument, she cites Wexler, 317 F.3d at 576,
which notes that “[a]n employer’s business judgment . . . is not an absolute defense to unlawful
discrimination” and that “the reasonableness of an employer’s decision may be considered to the
extent that such an inquiry sheds light on whether the employer’s proffered reason for the
[discharge] was its actual motivation.”
Viewed in isolation, FirstMerit’s decision to discharge Scott seems unmercifully
draconian—given Scott’s lengthy tenure with FirstMerit, the small amount of money involved and
the fact that it remains unclear how she could have benefitted financially from her actions. But Scott
did not stand alone in this respect. So far as the record shows, FirstMerit was equally unforgiving
with many other employees when it came to falsification charges. And the fact remains that Scott
worked for a bank, which has ample reason for requiring that its employees ensure the accuracy of
bank documents for which they are responsible. FirstMerit has several policies aimed at “preserving
the accuracy and integrity of its bank documents,” JA 46 (Balestrino affidavit), 493–98, and its
commitment to these policies is evidenced by the dismissal of 24 employees, including Scott, for
committing offenses involving falsification during 2001 and 2002. See JA 347–48 (summary of
dismissals for falsification). Several of these dismissed employees, we should add, claimed that the
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Scott v. FirstMerit Corp.
falsification for which they were discharged stemmed from a mistake or an equivalently minor
transgression. See JA 80–83 (employee discharged for falsification of a mileage-reimbursement
claim (for 36 miles) where the employee claimed that she “didn’t worry about changing the
[incorrect mileage entry] because [she] did [make the trip] just not on the day the sheet said”); JA
92 (employee discharged despite her claim that the falsification was “only . . . a mistake”); JA 99
(employee discharged for “forcing” her money drawer to balance when it was short $8 even though
she believed it was actually $2 over); JA 347 (employee discharged for “contribut[ing] $141 of her
own money to cover overpayment to customer” at her “supervisor’s direction”); Id. (employee
discharged for “forcing” her money drawer to balance when the total amount at issue was
approximately $25).
Nor, as the above actions suggest, can Scott show that “other employees, particularly
employees not in the protected class, were not fired even though they engaged in substantially
identical conduct to that which [FirstMerit] contends motivated its discharge of [Scott].” Manzer,
29 F.3d at 1084. While Scott points to two employees who were not fired after they “failed to
adequately check a signature card, thereby allowing an imposter access to a dead customer’s safe
deposit box,” Scott Br. at 19, she has not alleged (or shown) that they made a misrepresentation on
an internal bank document. See Ercegovich v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 154 F.3d 344, 352 (6th
Cir. 1998) (holding that an “employee with whom the plaintiff seeks to compare . . . herself must
be similar in all of the relevant aspects”) (internal quotation omitted). And while Scott points to the
employee who notarized the customer’s signature on the affidavit, “did not find Scott’s error” and
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Scott v. FirstMerit Corp.
“was not terminated for it,” Scott Reply Br. at 6, she has not shown that the notary’s job consisted
of doing anything more than notarizing the customer’s signature, as opposed to notarizing the
accuracy of anything else on the document. For like reasons, Scott has not shown that the bank’s
treatment of employees who failed to complete their time cards accurately was “similar in all of the
relevant aspects,” Ercegovich, 154 F.3d at 352, primarily because it is one thing for a bank to ensure
accuracy about records documenting money flowing into and out of the bank and another to ensure
the accuracy of its employees’ time cards.
Against this backdrop, we cannot say that Title VII gives Scott a right to take this claim to
a jury to determine whether the bank’s “proffered reason[]” for the discharge “actually motivate[d]”
it or was “insufficient to motivate” it. Manzer, 29 F.3d at 1084. Scott worked in an industry where
the need for accuracy in its official documents is self-evident, see, e.g., JA 56 (deposition testimony
in which Scott admits that it is “vital that the information [ ] contained in [the] documents [she
completed] be absolutely correct”), and worked for a bank that discharged a number of employees
during 2001 and 2002 who were outside the two protected classes and who were guilty of similar
falsification offenses. Accordingly, the district court correctly rejected this claim as a matter of law.
B.
As with her Title VII claim, Scott admits that there is no “direct evidence” of discrimination
supporting her ADA claim. Scott Br. at 15. And as with a Title VII claim, an ADA claim seeking
to establish discrimination by indirect evidence is analyzed according to the McDonnell Douglas
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Scott v. FirstMerit Corp.
burden-shifting framework. Hopkins v. Elec. Data Sys. Corp., 196 F.3d 655, 660 (6th Cir. 1999).
To establish a prima facie case of disability discrimination, Scott bears the burden of demonstrating
that: “(1) [s]he is disabled; (2) [s]he [was] otherwise qualified for the position; (3) [s]he suffered
an adverse employment decision; (4) [FirstMerit] knew or had reason to know of h[er] disability;
and (5) after [her discharge], the position remained open, or [she] was replaced by a member outside
the protected class.” Hopkins, 196 F.3d at 660; see also Monette v. Elec. Data Sys. Corp., 90 F.3d
1173, 1186 n.11 (6th Cir. 1996) (listing these elements and indicating that the “precise
characterization of the fifth prong of the test will sometimes vary depending upon the factual
scenario confronting the court”).
It remains unclear, as an initial matter, whether Scott has established a prima facie case of
disability discrimination, most notably because she has not demonstrated that any of the
decisionmakers knew that she was disabled. It is undisputed that neither the investigator (Orem) nor
the four members of the performance review committee (Williams, Post, Hormula and Balestrino)
knew of her disability. The only person who did, Cicchinelli, merely recommended Scott for an
internal investigation, had no other involvement in the investigation and did not participate in the
performance review committee’s decision to discharge Scott.
As with Scott’s Title VII claim, however, we need not rest our resolution of the appeal on
this ground. Even if she had established a prima facie case, Scott has not met her burden of
establishing that FirstMerit’s proffered nondiscriminatory justification was a pretext for
discrimination for the reasons stated above.
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C.
On appeal, neither party argues that the state-law discrimination claims should be analyzed
differently than their federal-law counterparts. Nor can we identify any reason why the state-law
claims should be treated differently, and accordingly we will resolve them in the same way under
the same framework. See Williams v. Ford Motor Co., 187 F.3d 533, 538 (6th Cir. 1999) (“The
Ohio courts have held that the evidentiary standards and burdens of proof applicable to a claimed
violation of Title VII . . . are likewise applicable in determining whether a violation of Ohio Rev.
Code § 4112 has occurred. Thus, the federal case law governing Title VII actions is generally
applicable to cases involving alleged violations of Chapter 4112.”); Brenneman v. MedCentral
Health Sys., 366 F.3d 412, 418 (6th Cir. 2004) (“Because neither party has argued that an action for
handicap discrimination under Ohio law entails a different legal analysis than that for disability
discrimination under the ADA, and because Ohio case law tends to suggest that it entails the same
legal analysis as that under the ADA, we will analyze plaintiff’s state and federal discrimination
claims under Ohio Revised Code § 4112 and the ADA, respectively, solely under the ADA.”).
III.
For these reasons, we affirm.
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