It has now become abundantly clear what an employee must allege in order to successfully file an employment discrimination or retaliation claim against an employer, thanks to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.
In April 2009, Dawn Littlejohn (an African American woman) started work as the director of the New York City Administration for Children’s Services’ (ACS) equal opportunity office. Littlejohn was the employee who investigated claims of discrimination and was responsible for staff training, monitoring hiring practices, organizing diversity activities and advising the rest of the staff on equal employment opportunity policies.
About 8 months after Littlejohn joined the team, her boss (also African American) was replaced with Amy Baker, a Caucasian woman. Shortly after joining the Administration, Littlejohn alleged that Baker distanced herself from her and began treating her with a lack of respect. Baker, according to Littlejohn, demanded work to be redone, wrongly reprimanded her and started taking away some of her responsibilities.
Littlejohn also alleged that Baker had an overall attitude when she interacted with her. She quoted Baker as saying that she didn’t “understand the culture” at the ACS.
In 2010, New York City announced that the ACS would merge with the Department of Juvenile Justice. As with any merger, there were multiple changes about to take place. There would be layoffs, demotions, reassignments, transfers, etc. Littlejohn alleged that she asked to be a part of the decision-making process to make sure that there was EEO compliance. Littlejohn claimed that Baker and other white managers worked to prevent this from ever happening.
Littlejohn felt that Baker and other upper management favored other white employees during the merger and continuously mistreated employees of other races.
Littlejohn ended up being involuntarily transferred and demoted. Her old position was then filled by a white female who allegedly had zero previous EEO experience. Littlejohn also revealed that this other woman was getting paid significantly more than she ever was in that position.
Littlejohn sued the city claiming discrimination and retaliation. The city, of course, requested that the court dismiss her claims citing her lack of sufficient evidence. The court agreed and dismissed the case, but Littlejohn appealed to the 2nd Court.
Ultimately, in order for an employee to demonstrate a prima facie case of discrimination the following criteria has to be met: 1) the employee must be a member of a protected class 2) qualified for the job 3) it has to be proven that the employer took an adverse action against the employee 4) a connection must exist between the allege adverse action and the protected class.
The court also clarified that an employee “need not give plausible support to the ultimate question of whether the adverse employment action was attributable to discrimination.”
When it came to Littlejohn’s case, the 2nd Circuit found that the allegations were, in fact, sufficient to support her claims of discrimination and retaliation because she was able to prove everything she needed to. In regards to the retaliation claim, the court rejected the so-called manager rule, which excludes from protected activity any EEO opposition that falls within an employee’s scope of duties. The 2nd Court felt that her complaint was against what she viewed as discriminatory conduct, which was technically protected.
The 2nd Circuit ended up throwing out the order dismissing the claims and sent Littlejohn’s claim back to the lower court.
