Dive Brief:
- Employment actions taken against a female police officer were motivated by her job performance, not bias or retaliation, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, upholding summary judgment for the employer (Callahan v. City of Jacksonville, Florida, No. 19-11432 (11th Cir. Feb. 26, 2020)).
- Trudy Callahan sued her employer, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, alleging discrimination and retaliation. Specifically, she said she was subjected to harsher discipline because of her gender and was transferred off the night shift (which she preferred because it allowed her to care for her mother) after filing a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint.
- A district court granted summary judgment for the employer and on appeal, the 11th Circuit affirmed. "Far from being singled out and harassed, Callahan’s disciplinary treatment seems fairly run-of-the-mill," the court said. The court also declined to revive her retaliation claim, saying that the transfer wasn't so close in time that is showed retaliation, that it was undertaken to move her to a shift with more supervision and that it was eventually reversed.
Dive Insight:
Uneven application of discipline can serve as evidence of discrimination or retaliation in lawsuits. Employers cannot take into account protected characteristics such as a person's race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetic information when making decisions about discipline, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Still, employers are entitled to make legitimate, nondiscriminatory personnel decisions, even when protected activity is involved. Documentation of performance or conduct issues can be important, as can be evidence that discipline was applied evenly. A Philadelphia code inspector, for example, was unable to persuade the 3rd Circuit to reinstate his race bias suit alleging that non-white inspectors escaped termination for offenses similar to his. The court said the city offered "numerous, legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons for terminating him." In another instance, the 11th Circuit upheld the firing of a hospital employee for violating its prohibition against discourteous treatment of patients because he failed to show that others were treated more favorably when disciplined.
HR can work to ensure that policies are enforced evenly, and that managers are trained in proper application.