Annette Thomas v. City of Beaverton Linda Adlard Sandra Miller

Annette Thomas was the municipal court administrator for the City of Beaver-ton, Oregon. Her supervisor, Sandy Miller, placed her on extended probation after Thomas refused to pass over a subordinate employee, Susie Perry, for a promotion to senior court clerk in 2001 despite Miller’s initial insistence that Perry should not be promoted. Perry, an African American, had previously sued the City for failing to promote her to the same position in 1996 and 1997, and the jury had found that the City had unlawfully retaliated against her for complaining of racial discrimination. After the City terminated Thomas, she sued the City, Miller and other city employees for violations of the First and Fourteenth Amendments, Title VII, Oregon Revised Statute §§ 659A.030, 652.355 and for common law wrongful discharge. The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants.

We hold that Thomas has offered sufficient evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact as to whether her refusal to facilitate Miller’s allegedly unlawful retaliatory treatment of Perry in the hiring process constituted expressive conduct on a matter of public concern. For similar reasons, we hold that Thomas…