United States Seventh Circuit

In a case brought under Title VII, the Equal Pay Act and 42 U.S.C. section 1983, dismissal of the action is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) plaintiff included enough facts in support of a claim of sex discrimination under Title VII and the Equal Pay Act to survive dismissal; 2) plaintiff did not plead herself out of court by including additional facts in the complaint that suggested that defendants' actions were motivated by a political power struggle rather than by gender bias; 3) the court properly dismissed plaintiff's Title VII claims for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, but she may proceed on the Equal Pay Act claims; 4) defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity; and 5) plaintiff's First Amendment claim was properly dismissed since her speech was given as an employee and not as a citizen.

Appellate Information

• Argued 01/24/2008
• Decided 05/27/2008
• Published 05/27/2008

Judges

• RIPPLE, Circuit Judge., Before POSNER, RIPPLE and TINDER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Michael W. Condon, Michael D. Bersani, Jason Rose (argued), Hervas, Condon & Bersani, Itasca, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Gino L. Divito, Timothy A. Hudson (argued), Tabet, Divito & Rothstein, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellee Blagojevich., Kenneth M. Sullivan (argued), Sullivan & Associates, Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellees Hamer and Monk., William M. Walsh (argued), Kakacek & Lingner, Steven J. Rosenberg, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellee Illinois Department of Revenue., Rachel A. Hoover (argued), Office of the Attorney General, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellee Illinois Gaming Board.