Elizabeth F. Warner v. Louis DeJoy, Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service

Concord, New Hampshire, employment law lawyer represented the Plaintiff on a job discrimination claim.



Elizabeth Warner is a federal postal employee who was passed over for two promotions. Believing that she was denied those positions because of her age and sex, she sued her employer, the United States Postal Service (USPS). Warner alleged that USPS discriminated against her in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.



Warner's career with the post office began in 1998. Nine

years later, she became a postmaster, and by 2018 she had risen to

the rank of Level an open Level 20 postmaster position in Durham, New Hampshire,

which would have yielded a higher salary and improved benefits.



At the time, Warner was 58 years old. Kathleen Hayes -- Post

Office Operations Manager for the Northern New England District,

and Warner's supervisor -- interviewed Warner for the Durham

position. Warner did not get the promotion. Instead, the position

went to John Minigan, a 36-year-old man. As the district court

paraphrased, Hayes told Warner that she chose Minigan because he

had "more experience of the sort needed for that particular job."



Seven months later, in August 2018, Warner applied for

a different Level 20 postmaster position, this time in

Somersworth, New Hampshire. Again, Hayes conducted the interview.

During the interview, Hayes said to Warner "that the Somersworth

post office had never had a female postmaster, and she wondered

how that would work." She also questioned whether Warner "had the

energy" to manage the Somersworth office. Once again, Hayes did

not give Warner the promotion. Hayes chose a man slightly younger

than Warner instead: 53-year-old David Adams.



Fearing that she had been denied the promotions because

of her age and gender, Warner complained to an Equal Employment

Opportunity (EEO) counselor. Warner also filed a formal

discrimination complaint with the USPS National EEO Investigative

Services Office on December 21, 2018. Pursuant to the EEO process,

Warner then Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Finally, Warner

withdrew her EEOC discrimination charge. The EEOC dismissed her

case, and Warner sued her employer in federal district court.

Summary judgment granted.



Affirmed in part and reversed in part.