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"Convincing mosaic" of discrimination
overcomes summary
judgment
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Jenkins v. Karl Nell
(11th Cir 03/03/2022)
http://case.lawmemo.com/11/jenkins.pdf
Sent to Custom
Alerts™ subscribers on 03/203/2022
William Jenkins
sued Karl Nell for race discrimination after Nell terminated
Jenkins. Jenkins lost in the trial court because he failed to
present a prima facie case of race discrimination and failed to
show that Nell’s reason for Jenkins’s termination was pretextual.
The 11th Circuit reversed, finding that Jenkins presented
sufficient evidence to establish a "convincing mosaic of
discrimination" to survive summary judgment.
Jenkins, who
is white, was a crane operator. Nell, his boss, is Black. After
Nell and Jenkins had a heated meeting regarding Jenkins's request
for a weekend leave, Jenkins was fired.
The court said
Jenkins failed to establish a prima facie case based on the
McDonnell Douglas framework, primarily because the three
comparator employees he cited had not committed the same or
substantially similar misconduct.
However, the court found
that Jenkins presented sufficient evidence to establish a
"convincing mosaic of discrimination" to survive summary judgment.
This was based on the following:
(1) Another
employee committed a violation (like Jenkins) but remained
employed.
(2) No less than 18 white crane operators
retired, resigned, or transferred from the department since Nell
took over.
(3) There was evidence that Nell mistreated
three white crane operators.
(4) Nell had a tight
relationship with HR.
(5) There was evidence of Nell's
racially-biased comments about white crane operators.
(6)
Jenkins declined to change an accident report.
(7) Nell
gave shifting reasons for terminating Jenkins.
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