Opinion

Teresa Boyd v. U.S. Postmaster General

Court
Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Filed
Dec 3, 2025
Status
Unpublished
Nature of suit
NEW
Cited by
0 cases
Authority
More cited than 37.3%

The opinion

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NOT FOR PUBLICATION

In the

United States Court of Appeals

For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 23-12536

____________________

TERESA BOYD,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

versus

U.S. POSTMASTER GENERAL,

Defendant-Appellee.

____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Northern District of Florida

D.C. Docket No. 4:21-cv-00234-AW-MAF

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2 Opinion of the Court 23-12536

____________________

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and LAGOA and KIDD, Circuit

Judges.

PER CURIAM:

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays

these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed

rounds.”1 This unofficial motto captures the United States Postal

Service’s core function: the uninterrupted delivery of mail. This

appeal involves Appellant Teresa Boyd’s admitted inability, at cer-

tain times following workplace injuries, to perform that function

for the Postal Service.

After the Postal Service refused to assign Boyd to limited

duty due to injuries from two workplace accidents, Boyd filed suit

against Louis DeJoy, in his official capacity as United States Post-

master General, alleging race, sex, and age discrimination under

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16(a),

and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 29 U.S.C.

§ 633a(a); disability discrimination under the Rehabilitation Act of

1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794; and retaliation under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. §

2000e-16(a). At summary judgment, the district court concluded

that Boyd failed to present sufficient evidence to support any of her

claims.

1 United States Postal Service, Unofficial Motto, https://about.

usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/mission-motto.pdf (Oct. 1999).

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23-12536 Opinion of the Court 3

After careful review of the record, and with the benefit of

oral argument, we affirm the entry of summary judgment in favor

of the U.S. Postmaster-General. Boyd’s race, sex, and age discrim-

ination claims fail because the record contains no evidence that any

protected characteristic played any role in the Postal Service’s only

challenged personnel action: its refusal to assign her to limited duty

after her accidents. Her disability discrimination claim fails be-

cause, although she had a disability, she never made a specific re-

quest for a reasonable accommodation and, in any event, could not

perform an essential function of her position during flare-ups of her

injuries. And her retaliation claim fails because, despite alleging

numerous workplace incidents, Boyd presented no evidence that

any protected activity was known to the relevant decisionmakers

at the time or that retaliation played any part in the challenged ac-

tions.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCUEDURAL BACKGROUND

Boyd is a Black female over the age of 60 who has been em-

ployed by the Postal Service since 1998. At the time relevant here,

Boyd was a full-time carrier technician at the Lake Jackson station

in Tallahassee, Florida. As a carrier technician, she organized the

deliveries for her assigned routes and then drove a mail truck to

deliver the mail and packages. She also became a union shop stew-

ard in 2008 and union president in 2018.

Boyd twice suffered injuries in on-duty accidents involving

her mail truck—neck and back strains in February 2015, and finger,

wrist, and ulnar nerve injuries in October 2016. She filed workers’

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4 Opinion of the Court 23-12536

compensation claims based on both incidents. After the second ac-

cident, the Postal Service said there were no assignments that fit

within Boyd’s medical restrictions, and she remained out of work

until October 2017, when she “returned to full-time status with a

25-pound weight lifting restriction.”

After a flare-up of her ulnar nerve injury in May 2019, Boyd

was temporarily restricted from driving a mail truck by her doctor.

By August 2019, however, it appears Boyd had been cleared to re-

sume driving, except during “flare-ups” of her neck strain, during

which her doctors advised that she would be unable to drive or

complete her duties.

In August 2019, for example, Boyd submitted a Duty Status

Report, or “CA-17” form that Boyd’s doctor completed about her

neck injury. The form stated that Boyd “[w]ill require more time

than usual to complete mail delivery route,” and that she “[w]ill

have occasional flare-ups of her neck problems such that she will

not be able to turn her head [and] so will be unable to drive during

the flare-ups,” which “last a few days.” Boyd was also restricted to

lifting no more than 15 pounds intermittently. Her doctor included

this same information in a short letter accompanying the CA-17

form.

In November 2019, January 2020, and February 2020, Boyd

submitted additional CA-17 forms and letters about her neck in-

jury. They largely repeated the same instructions, apart from even-

tually raising her lifting restriction to 25 pounds. The February

2020 CA-17 forms, for instance, said that, during a flare-up, Boyd

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23-12536 Opinion of the Court 5

“will not be able to turn her head and she will not be able to drive

during the time. Her flare-ups last a few days. She is unable to

drive a postal vehicle.” Her doctor otherwise indicated that Boyd

could drive 4–6 hours per day, as required for her job, and could

work eight-plus hours. According to Boyd, she experiences flare-

ups about four times a year that last two to three days, and she is

aware of the onset of a flare-up before beginning work for the day.

Boyd performed full-time limited duty work from May to

October 2019. On October 22, 2019, however, supervisor Waylon

Morrison ordered Boyd to go home, putting her on unpaid “emer-

gency placement,” after she submitted several requests for infor-

mation as union representative. Boyd left as ordered but forgot her

keys. When she reentered the building to get them, station man-

ager Matthew Staley threatened to call the police. These events

followed a similar incident on August 29, 2019, when Boyd was

given a one-day emergency placement after submitting a request

for information to Morrison. According to Boyd, the union con-

tract stated that emergency placement was limited to three rea-

sons: (a) causing injury to self or other; (b) being intoxicated on

duty; and (c) for the safety of the Post Office.

On October 25, 2019, Boyd initiated an informal EEO com-

plaint relating to the October 22 incident and emergency place-

ment, alleging race, sex, age, and disability discrimination. Morri-

son was interviewed about the events approximately one month

later.

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6 Opinion of the Court 23-12536

Meanwhile, on October 26, 2019, Boyd returned to work,

purportedly for a fact-finding process regarding the events on Oc-

tober 22. But Morrison refused to complete the fact-finding, and

he instead informed Boyd that the Postal Service had no assign-

ments that fell within her medical restrictions. Boyd asked to be

allowed to return to her full-time job, but Morrison again said he

had nothing within her medical restrictions.

On November 14, 2019, Boyd received notice that she

would be suspended for two weeks for the October 22 incident.

Morrison accused her of yelling at him on the workroom floor and

acting aggressively in attempting to snatch the requests for infor-

mation from his desk. Boyd filed grievances for both the emer-

gency placement and the suspension, and both grievances were up-

held, expunging all discipline for the alleged misconduct.

On February 11, 2020, Morrison offered Boyd a limited-duty

assignment—casing mail for one of her previously assigned

routes—for 1.5 hours per day. During that meeting, Boyd asked

why he was offering her just 1.5 hours when “[she] could do [her]

job.” Morrison claimed it was the “only work they had available

within [her] medical restrictions.” Acting on the advice of her un-

ion, Boyd took the offer to preserve her employment.

Then, on May 15, 2020, supervisor Paul Steele confronted

Boyd about where her car was parked. Boyd parked in the front

parking lot reserved for Postal Service customers—instead of the

employee lot—even though she had been parking there for 15

years without issue. Several days later, on May 21, acting station

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23-12536 Opinion of the Court 7

manager Vanessa Cobb, against whom Boyd had previously

lodged an EEOC charge, yelled and “scream[ed]” at Boyd that she

needed to park in the employee parking lot and was not allowed to

park out front. The next day, Cobb put Boyd on emergency place-

ment. Boyd amended her October 2019 EEO filing to include these

actions. Then, in July 2020, Boyd was served a notice of removal

for the May 21 incident. Again, though, Boyd filed grievances for

the action, resulting in the expungement of the information from

her personnel file.

Boyd returned to her 1.5-hour limited-duty assignment in

September 2020, but she was ordered to leave the station once her

shift ended, and she was banned from entering any other post office

in Tallahassee.

Later, in February and March 2021, Boyd received three let-

ters from the Postal Service’s District Reasonable Accommodation

Committee, asking her to submit medical documentation and

other forms reflecting her need for an accommodation. The Postal

Service District Reasonable Accommodation Committee is the

Postal Service’s established means of determining reasonable ac-

commodations. Although Boyd was familiar with the Committee

for years before her accidents, she had never reached out to the

Committee with her request for an accommodation. As noted, the

Committee first contacted Boyd, and she ultimately declined to

participate.

Boyd sued the U.S. Postmaster General in June 2021, assert-

ing claims of discrimination based on race, sex, age, and disability,

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8 Opinion of the Court 23-12536

and of retaliation for protected activity. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16(a);

29 U.S.C. §§ 633a(a), 794. Following discovery, the Postal Service

moved for summary judgment.

After a hearing on the motion, the district court granted

summary judgment on Boyd’s discrimination claims. The district

court found no support in the record for Boyd’s claims that her

race, sex, or age played a role in the employment decisions she chal-

lenged. The district court concluded that her disability claim failed

because the undisputed facts showed that Boyd could not drive a

mail truck—an essential function of her position—when she had

flareups of her neck and that Boyd failed to make a specific request

for a reasonable accommodation for her flare-ups.

Regarding her retaliation claim, the district court ordered

Boyd to file a notice that more clearly identified the adverse actions

at issue and denied the Postal Service’s motion without prejudice

to renew. After Boyd filed the ordered notice, the Postal Service

again moved for summary judgment. The district court granted

the motion because the evidence failed to establish a causal con-

nection between Boyd’s protected activity and the alleged retalia-

tion. Boyd now appeals.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review the grant of summary judgment de novo. Anthony

v. Georgia, 69 F.4th 796, 804 (11th Cir. 2023). Summary judgment

is appropriate when no genuine disputes exist as to any material

fact, even when we view the evidence in the light most favorable

to the non-movant. Id.; see Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). A genuine dispute

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23-12536 Opinion of the Court 9

of material fact exists if a reasonable jury could return a verdict for

the non-movant on the issue. Stewart v. Happy Herman’s Cheshire

Bridge, Inc., 117 F.3d 1278, 1284–85 (11th Cir. 1997). But “unsub-

stantiated assertions alone are not enough.” Anthony, 69 F.4th at

804 (quotation marks omitted).

III. ANALYSIS

At the outset, we note that Boyd’s presentation of the facts

both at summary judgment and in her appellate briefing was diffi-

cult to discern. The challenge, as the district court observed, and

as our own review confirms, is that Boyd never clearly identified

which factual events correspond to which legal claims.

During oral argument, however, Boyd narrowed the scope

of her discrimination claims, clarifying that her race, sex, age, and

disability discrimination claims rested on a single adverse action:

the Postal Service’s refusal, from 2016 onward, to grant her a lim-

ited-duty assignment beyond the 1.5 hours of work per day she was

permitted.

A. Race, Sex, and Age Discrimination

To bring a claim under either Title VII or the federal-sector

provision of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Boyd

must prove that (1) her employer took a “personnel action[]”

against her, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16(a), and (2) that “discrimination

tainted the decision-making process.” Buckley v. Sec’y of Army, 97

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10 Opinion of the Court 23-12536

F.4th 784, 794 (11th Cir. 2024). 2 Personnel actions must therefore

be “untainted by any consideration of” the protected ground. Babb

v. Wilkie (“Babb I”), 589 U.S. 399, 402 (2020). If “discrimination

plays any part in the way a decision is made, then the decision is

not made in a way that is untainted by such discrimination.” Babb

v. Sec’y, Dep’t of Veterans Affs. (“Babb II”), 992 F.3d 1193, 1204 (11th

Cir. 2021).

“[A] federal employer violates the law if it allows race [or

other prohibited] discrimination to contribute to any personnel ac-

tion—even if the federal employer would have made precisely the

same decision had it not engaged in race discrimination.” Buckley,

97 F.4th at 793; see also Terrell v. Sec’y, Dep’t of Veterans Affs., 98 F.4th

1343, 1352 (11th Cir. 2024). To show circumstantial evidence of

discrimination, an employee may point to “suspicious timing, am-

biguous statements, and other bits and pieces from which an infer-

ence of discriminatory intent might be drawn,” “systematically bet-

ter treatment of similarly situated employees,” and evidence of pre-

text. Lewis v. City of Union City (Lewis II), 934 F.3d 1169, 1185 (11th

Cir. 2019).

In viewing the record, the district court determined that

Boyd had shown no evidence “from which a jury could conclude

that the [Postal Service’s] refusal to provide a light-duty work

2 “Because the relevant provisions of ADEA and Title VII are materially iden-

tical,” we have interpreted them in parallel. Babb v. Sec’y, Dep’t of Veterans Affs.,

992 F.3d 1193, 1198–1200 & n.4 (11th Cir. 2021).

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23-12536 Opinion of the Court 11

assignment . . . was based on Boyd’s race, sex, or age.” We agree

with that conclusion. Even viewing the evidence submitted in the

light most favorable to Boyd, a reasonable jury could not conclude

that her race, sex, or age played a role in a personnel action against

her. See Babb II, 992 F.3d at 1199.

Rather than identifying direct or circumstantial record evi-

dence, Boyd merely asserts in conclusory terms that “younger,

white employees and men have been assigned to full-time limited

duty tasks,” while Boyd has been refused the same assignment, and

that younger, white, or male (or some combination of these char-

acteristics) employees were otherwise treated more favorably than

she was. These conclusory assertions are insufficient to create a

genuine dispute of material fact to preclude summary judgment in

favor of the Postal Service.

Although Boyd need not rely on the McDonnell Douglas bur-

den-shifting framework 3 by pointing to comparators similar to her

“in all material respects,” Lewis v. City of Union City (Lewis I), 918

F.3d 1213, 1227 (11th Cir. 2019) (en banc), Boyd failed at the sum-

mary judgment stage to develop any argument that a potential

comparator was similarly situated to her, or even similar at all. In-

stead, Boyd simply relied on undeveloped assertions that others

outside her class were treated better with no record evidence to

support those assertions.

3 McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973).

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12 Opinion of the Court 23-12536

The same is true on appeal. Boyd’s speculative argument

that several potential, unidentified comparators were given lim-

ited-duty assignments or generally treated more favorably does

not, without more, show that the Postal Service’s challenged ac-

tions were “tainted” by race, sex, or age discrimination. After all,

we have no means of determining from these generalizations

whether the Postal Service treated like employees differently be-

cause we have no way of assessing whether the alleged compara-

tors were, in fact, like employees for purposes of performing a com-

parison.

In sum, Boyd presented only unsubstantiated assertions of

race, sex, or age discrimination, which are insufficient to raise a

genuine issue of material fact necessary to avoid summary judg-

ment. See Anthony, 69 F.4th at 804; Stewart, 117 F.3d at 1284–85.

B. Disability Discrimination

The Rehabilitation Act “prohibits federal agencies from dis-

criminating in employment against otherwise qualified individuals

with a disability.” Mullins v. Crowell, 228 F.3d 1305, 1313 (11th Cir.

2000); see 29 U.S.C. §§ 791, 794(a). Because the Rehabilitation Act

adopts the standard for determining liability under the Americans

with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), “cases involving the ADA are prece-

dent for those involving the Rehabilitation Act.” Owens v. Gover-

nor’s Office of Student Achievement, 52 F.4th 1327, 1333–34 (11th Cir.

2022); see 29 U.S.C. § 794(d).

A “qualified individual” under the ADA is “an individual

who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the

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23-12536 Opinion of the Court 13

essential functions of the employment position.” 42 U.S.C.

§ 12111(8). “[E]ssential functions are the fundamental job duties of

a position that an individual with a disability is actually required to

perform.” Holly v. Clairson Indus., L.L.C., 492 F.3d 1247, 1257 (11th

Cir. 2007) (quotation marks omitted). Essential functions “do not

include the marginal functions of the position.” Samson v. Federal

Express Corp., 746 F.3d 1196, 1200 (11th Cir. 2014) (quotation marks

omitted).

To make a “prima facie case of discrimination,” Boyd must

show that “(1) she had a disability; (2) she was otherwise qualified

for the position; and (3) she was subjected to unlawful discrimina-

tion as the result of her disability.” Garrett v. Univ. of Ala. at Birming-

ham Bd. of Trs., 507 F.3d 1306, 1310 (11th Cir. 2007). To prove that

she was “otherwise qualified for the position,” Boyd must show

that she “could perform the essential functions of the job with or

without reasonable accommodations.” Lucas v. W.W. Grainger,

Inc., 257 F.3d 1249, 1255 (11th Cir. 2001). An accommodation is

reasonable “if it allows the disabled employee to perform the es-

sential functions of the job in question.” Frazier-White v. Gee, 818

F.3d 1249, 1255 (11th Cir. 2016). Employees bear the burden of

“identifying an accommodation and demonstrating that it is rea-

sonable.” Id.

There is no dispute that Boyd had a disability due to her two

workplace vehicle accidents. The record reflects two limitations

on Boyd’s ability to perform her original job of carrier technician.

First, she cannot lift more than 25 pounds. There is no dispute that

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14 Opinion of the Court 23-12536

the lifting restriction can be and has been accommodated. Second,

Boyd is unable to turn her neck—and so cannot drive a postal ve-

hicle—during a flare-up of her neck injury. It is not disputed that

driving a mail truck is an essential function of Boyd’s position.

Boyd testified that a flare-up occurs approximately four times per

year and lasts for two to three days, and that she was aware of the

onset of a flare-up before arriving for work. Construing that testi-

mony in her favor, Boyd would be unable to drive a vehicle for

approximately eight to twelve days per year.

Boyd maintains that she could have performed the essential

functions of her former position through the accommodations of

using her leave or being reassigned during flare-ups. The district

court concluded that reassignment would not be a reasonable ac-

commodation, because “an employer is not required by the ADA

to reallocate job duties in order to change the essential functions of

a job,” Earl v. Mervyns, Inc., 207 F.3d 1361, 1367 (11th Cir. 2000), or

to “create a permanent light-duty position,” Frazier-White, 818 F.3d

at 1256. That is true. But ultimately, the fatal flaw with Boyd’s

discrimination claim is that she cannot point to any evidence that

she actually requested an accommodation from the Postal Service.

To trigger an employer’s duty to provide a reasonable ac-

commodation, an employee must make a “specific demand for an

accommodation.” Gaston v. Bellingrath Gardens & Home, Inc., 167

F.3d 1361, 1363 (11th Cir. 1999). That request must include a

“demonstrat[ion] that such accommodation is reasonable.” Owens,

52 F.4th at 1334. And this demonstration requires an employee to

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23-12536 Opinion of the Court 15

“identify her disability and suggest how the accommodation will

overcome” it. Id. Although Boyd identified her disability and ex-

plained why it rendered her unable to do her job without accom-

modation, she did not make a “specific demand” for any accommo-

dation. Id. Boyd’s CA-17 forms did not propose that Boyd could

take leave on days she could not drive. And although Boyd avers

that she asked for a “reasonable accommodation” in person in Oc-

tober 2019 and February 2020, her request was limited to being able

to “come back to work” rather than identifying a specific, reasona-

ble accommodation.

Additionally, Boyd’s late-requested accommodation would

not allow her to perform the functions of her job. Boyd contends

that the Postal Service could accommodate her by “allowing [her]

to temporarily work in another role or use her leave during flare-

ups.” But moving her to another role would not “allow[] [Boyd]

to perform the essential functions of the job.” Earl, 207 F.3d at

1365.

We thus turn to Boyd’s ability to take leave as a proposed

reasonable accommodation. In support of her argument that leave

is sufficient, Boyd tells us that between November 2017 and May

2019 she performed her full-time job with “use of her own leave

time as an accommodation.” But Boyd does not cite any record

evidence for this fact. Neither Boyd’s deposition nor her declara-

tion discuss her use of leave during this period. Boyd’s deposition,

in fact, suggests that her neck and back troubles did not require her

to avoid driving on certain days during that period. And when she

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16 Opinion of the Court 23-12536

had to stop driving in May 2019, it was because of her hand injury,

not her neck or back. The record evidence neither establishes her

leave practices nor tells us how many days of leave she had per

year. Further, the lack of record evidence makes it impossible to

determine whether Boyd’s leave requests would amount to peri-

odic absences or whether she would regularly require someone

else to perform the “essential functions of [her] job,” rendering her

no longer qualified for her position. Cramer v. State of Fla., 117 F.3d

1258, 1264 (11th Cir. 1997).

Because Boyd fails to meet her “burden of persuasion” that

a reasonable accommodation exists, Earl, 207 F.3d at 1367, much

less that she requested one in the first place, we affirm the district

court’s judgment on Boyd’s claim for disability discrimination.

C. Retaliation

Title VII protects federal employees from retaliation. Babb

II, 992 F.3d at 1203. “Because we’ve said retaliation falls within the

category [of] ‘discrimination’ under § 2000e-16(a), that means that

‘[a]ll personnel actions’ must be made ‘free from any’ retaliation.”

Buckley, 97 F.4th at 798. So “if retaliation for engaging in a pro-

tected activity under Title VII taints the decision-making process

for any personnel action, that violates the federal-sector provi-

sion—even if the employer would have made the same decision

absent retaliation.” Id.

One way to establish a Title VII public-sector retaliation

claim is by establishing a prima facie case of retaliation under the

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23-12536 Opinion of the Court 17

McDonnell Douglas framework. Rosado v. Sec’y, Dep’t of the Navy, 127

F.4th 858, 876 (11th Cir. 2025). An employee must show that (1)

she engaged in protected activity (by, for example, initiating an

EEOC complaint); (2) she suffered an adverse action; and (3) a

causal link exists between the protected activity and the adverse

action. Id. The causal relationship element can be met with evi-

dence that would allow a reasonable jury to find that retaliation

“play[ed] any part” in the employer’s decisionmaking process.

Buckley, 97 F.4th at 798; see also Rosado, 127 F.4th at 876. That re-

quires proof “that the relevant decisionmaker was aware of the

protected conduct.” Patterson v. Ga. Pacific, LLC, 38 F.4th 1336,

1351 (11th Cir. 2022).

Causation can be established by showing close temporal

proximity between the protected activity and the employment ac-

tion at issue, “[b]ut mere temporal proximity, without more, must

be very close.” Thomas v. Cooper Lighting, Inc., 506 F.3d 1361, 1364

(11th Cir. 2007) (quotation marks omitted) (in the context of a but-

for inquiry, holding that a period of three to four months, without

more, was too long to establish an inference of causation); see Buck-

ley, 97 F.4th at 798–99 (in a federal sector case, holding that a period

of seven to eight months was too long to establish an inference of

causation). “Thus, in the absence of other evidence tending to

show causation, if there is a substantial delay between the pro-

tected expression and the adverse action, the complaint of retalia-

tion fails as a matter of law.” Thomas, 506 F.3d at 1364.

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18 Opinion of the Court 23-12536

Here, we conclude that the district court did not err by

granting the Postal Service’s motion for summary judgment on

Boyd’s retaliation claim. See Anthony, 69 F.4th at 804. Boyd failed

to sufficiently establish causation between any of her protected ac-

tivities and the allegedly retaliatory personnel actions. Nor did

Boyd point to other evidence that retaliation “played any part” in

the Postal Service’s decisions.

The events leading to Boyd’s emergency placement on Oc-

tober 22, 2019, and Staley’s associated threat to call the police, pre-

dated Boyd’s October 25, 2019, initial EEO contact, so they could

not have been in response or reaction to it. See Thomas, 506 F.3d at

1364. Although the October 26, 2019, incident and her November

14, 2019, suspension closely followed that initial EEO contact,

Boyd failed to show that Morrison, the relevant decisionmaker,

was aware of that activity at the time. See Patterson, 38 F.4th at

1351. Morrison denied having knowledge, and it appears his EEO

interview did not occur until November 25, 2019, i.e., after the

events at issue.

Nor does the record support a reasonable inference of cau-

sation between Boyd’s protected activity and the remaining actions

at issue. The February 11, 2020, modified job offer occurred more

than three months after Boyd’s October 25, 2019, initial EEO con-

tact, and predated her February 14, 2020, EEO contact. Similarly,

the May 15 and 21, 2020, incidents happened three months after

Boyd’s February 14, 2020, EEO contact. And the same is true of

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23-12536 Opinion of the Court 19

Boyd’s May 22, 2020, emergency-placement assignment. 4 Without

more, these three-month (or longer) periods are insufficient to rea-

sonably infer a causal connection. See Thomas, 506 F.3d at 1364.

Although it appears Boyd amended her EEO complaint to

include the May 2020 incidents before she was served a notice of

removal on July 8, 2020, nothing suggests that the relevant deci-

sionmakers were aware of that protected conduct. See Patterson, 38

F.4th at 1351. Boyd also claims that she was denied entry to other

stations for union matters and ordered to leave the Lake Jackson

station as soon as her shift ended. But again, the record lacks evi-

dence that the relevant decisionmakers knew of her EEO activity

at the time. See id. In sum, Boyd did not present enough evidence

to show that retaliation played a part in any of the personnel ac-

tions she identified. See Buckley, 97 F.4th at 798–99.

IV. CONCLUSION

For the reasons stated, we affirm the district court’s sum-

mary judgment orders entered in favor of the U.S. Postmaster-Gen-

eral.

AFFIRMED.

4 The evidence that Boyd submitted that some supervisors voiced their sup-

port of the notice of removal does not show that the notice was issued retalia-

torily.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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