Gonzales v. MetPath, Inc.

In an employment discrimination case, Helen Gonzales appeals from the summary judgment entered in favor of respondent MetPath, Inc.

*424 The operative facts are quite straightforward and not in dispute. MetPath operates a clinical laboratory for analysis of medical samples and provides door-to-door delivery service for its physician customers. Gonzales, whose previous employment involved delivering baked goods to bakery customers, applied to MetPath for a job. MetPath hired her in April 1980 as a professional service representative in Los Angeles at an annual salary of $12,000. In January 1982 Gonzales became administrative assistant to the operations manager. In April 1982 Gonzales became sales secretary. Though Gonzales’s salary history at MetPath is not made entirely clear by the record, it appears agreed that her annual salary at that point was $14,200.

In October 1982 Gonzales was asked to serve temporarily as acting operations manager, an important opportunity for her to show her qualifications for promotion into management. Her performance in the temporary assignment was excellent, and on December 14, 1982, MetPath offered to make her the operations manager, at…

I concur in the holding affirming the judgment of the trial court, and also in the observations about the limited role of the courts in overseeing personnel decisions made in the private sector. I do not fault plaintiff for filing this action, however, because plaintiff undeniably made a prima facie case of unlawful discrimination by proving that after she turned down MetPath’s offer, MetPath offered the same promotion to War-dell, a nonminority male, at a substantially higher salary.

*429 MetPath came forward, however, with a full and satisfactory reason for its higher offer to Wardell. It then became plaintiff’s burden to show what facts she would prove at trial to undermine the justification MetPath advanced. It was plaintiff’s total failure to meet this burden that resulted in dismissal of her case without trial. Unless she shows the motion is premature because she needs additional discovery, a plaintiff facing a summary judgment motion is not permitted to take the position that she will prove her case at trial by proof of facts which she is not yet ready to reveal. By way of overcoming MetPath’s showing, all plaintiff was prepared to offer was (i) her opinion that she…

In an employment discrimination case, Helen Gonzales appeals from the summary judgment entered in favor of respondent MetPath, Inc.

The operative facts are quite straightforward and not in dispute. MetPath operates a clinical laboratory for analysis of medical samples and provides door-to-door delivery service for its physician customers. Gonzales, whose previous employment involved delivering baked goods to bakery customers, applied to MetPath for a job. MetPath hired her in April 1980 as a professional service representative in Los Angeles at an annual salary of $12,000. In January 1982 Gonzales became administrative assistant to the operations manager. In April 1982 Gonzales became sales secretary. Though Gonzales's salary history at MetPath is not made entirely clear by the record, it appears agreed that her annual salary at that point was $14,200.

In October 1982 Gonzales was asked to serve temporarily as acting operations manager, an important opportunity for her to show her qualifications for promotion into management. Her performance in the temporary assignment was excellent, and on December 14, 1982, MetPath offered to make her the operations…