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Heiat v. Eastern Montana College3/4/1996
s in Title VII and ADEA actions is to enable the district courts to identify meritless suits and dispense with them short of trial. Id., at 393-94; [Douglas v.] Anderson, 656 F.2d
at 535, [(9th Cir. 1981)]. Summary judgment, judiciously applied, is an appropriate vehicle for accomplishing this objective.
Foster, 772 F.2d at 1459.
While the majority's new standard appears to simplify the summary judgment procedure in discrimination cases by eliminating the initial McDonnell Douglas element, it necessarily abandons the precedence established by this Court as well as numerous other state and federal courts in this area. The traditional standard has worked well in Montana and other jurisdictions and this Court should be reluctant to abandon the process.
The adoption of the new standard, while simplifying the steps to be followed by the parties, leaves unchanged the analysis of the final McDonnell Douglas element — whether the plaintiff can produce evidence to raise an inference that the employer's proffered reasons are pretextual. Here I differ with the majority as to what suffices as evidence to establish the inference in this case.
The majority finds three geniune issues of material fact: (1) Nafisseh and Abbas were not advised by EMC that it considered Abbas' position an "anchor position"; (2) EMC has given two reasons for Nafisseh's lower pay — budgetary concerns and the "anchor position" rationale; and (3) Abbas was never assigned any additional duties one would expect of an "anchor position." These three assertions are merely speculative or conclusory and are insufficient to raise a genuine issue of material fact. See Farm Credit Bank of Spokane v. Hill (1993), 266 Mont. 258, 265, 879 P.2d 1158, 1162.
In this case, EMC established that when Abbas was hired in 1987 the school had just lost the only faculty member in the information systems discipline who possessed a Ph.D. The administration felt it was important to the credibility and reputation of the discipline to immediately find another Ph.D. to "anchor" the discipline. The term "anchor position" merely referred to the need for a Ph.D. and there was absolutely no evidence in the record that the term envisioned any additional duties or responsibilities. EMC was willing to pay a premium to recruit a high quality applicant with a Ph.D. and did so when they hired Abbas.
In 1988, however, when EMC advertised for an assistant professor in the information systems discipline, a Ph.D. was already on staff so there was no reason to pay a premium. The job advertisement did not require that applicants have a Ph.D. Nafisseh, who had a Ph.D., applied for and was hired for the position at a salary level higher than the salary schedule the union agreement called for, but lower than the salary paid to Abbas the year before. EMC's articulated reason for the salary differential was that there was no need to pay a premium for a second Ph.D. in the same discipline, a reason the District Court found to be legitimate and nondiscriminatory.
In the affidavits filed in opposition to EMC's motion for summary judgment, the Heiats stated that they were not aware of EMC's proffered reasons for the salary differential when they were hired. Nafisseh stated in her deposition that she was told when she was hired that the college was experiencing "budget problems," but that statement does not conflict with EMC's position that they were not willing to pay a premium for a second Ph.D. in the information systems discipline. The Heiats' affidavits do not create any genuine issues of material fact, but merely reflect the Heiats' understandable lack of knowledge as to the basis for
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