United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit Nos. 17-2162 17-2170 DIPING Y. ANDERSON, Plaintiff, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. MEGAN J. BRENNAN, Postmaster General, Defendant, Appellee/Cross-Appellant. APPEALS FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS [Hon. Patti B. Saris, U.S. District Judge] Before Lynch and Lipez, Circuit Judges, and Katzmann, Judge.* Emily Smith-Lee, with whom Smith Lee Nebenzahl LLP was on brief, for Diping Anderson. Jennifer Utrecht, Appellate Staff, Civil Division, with whom Chad A. Readler, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Andrew E. Lelling, United States Attorney, Jason C. Weida, Assistant United States Attorney, and Marleigh D. Dover and Andrew Rhorbach, Appellate Staff, Civil Division, were on brief, for Megan Brennan. * Of the United States Court of International Trade, sitting by designation. December 14, 2018 LYNCH, Circuit Judge. In the end in these cross-appeals after a bench trial, we leave the parties just where they were, as we see no error by the trial court. Plaintiff Diping Anderson was a Postal Police Officer (PPO) employed by the U.S. Postal Service and terminated on September 9, 2013. Her Title VII lawsuit alleged that her termination as a PPO was unlawfully discriminatory on the basis of race and national origin, and independently was in retaliation for her having filed earlier Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaints. After a seven-day bench trial, the district court concluded that Anderson was not discriminated against but that the decision to terminate her employment, rather than impose lesser discipline, was in retaliation for her protected conduct -- the assertion of her EEO rights. The Postal Service appeals that ruling here and Anderson appeals from the remedy awarded -- back pay, but not reinstatement or front pay. We affirm the district court's rulings. I. We take the facts as found by the district court, consistent with record support. Nevor v. Moneypenny Holdings, LLC, 842 F.3d 113, 116 (1st Cir. 2016). - 3 - A. Background Diping Anderson was raised in Shanghai, China. She immigrated to the United States in 1990 and became a U.S. citizen in 1993. She began work for the Postal Service in 1995, first as a letter carrier, then as a window clerk. In 2000, she became a PPO. In her first sixteen years of employment with the Postal Service, from 1995 to 2011, Anderson was never disciplined. In 2011, Anderson took time off for a workplace ankle injury. She reported back to work on May 1, 2011, with a doctor's note approving her return. Her supervisor, Captain Gerald Harrington, refused to allow Anderson to return to work, for a reason not specified in the record. On May 12, 2011, Anderson filed a request for EEO pre-complaint counseling, alleging race discrimination by Captain Harrington. Anderson returned to work later, at a time not specified in the record. On May 23, 2011, an EEO dispute resolution specialist emailed Captain Harrington and then-Sergeant Peter Ford to inform them of Anderson's EEO filing. The specialist asked to schedule a redress conference. On May 21, 2011, Anderson had ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals