Opinion ID: 791723
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Claim of Discrimination for Failure to Promote Against Morris

Text: 13 To establish a prima facie case of discrimination, Davis must show that: (1) she is a member of a protected class; (2) she met the legitimate expectations of her employer; (3) she suffered an adverse employment action; and (4) similarly situated employees that were not members of the protected class were treated differently. Gilmore, 319 F.3d at 1046. 14 Davis, as an African-American, is a member of a protected class. We will assume for purposes of this opinion, as the district court did, that Davis can establish the rest of her prima facie case against Morris, although we are by no means certain that she has done so. Given this assumption, the burden shifts to the employer to proffer a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for not selecting Davis for the graphic artist position. Williams, 14 F.3d at 1309. 15 Morris offered as a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for her non-selection that she was less qualified than the other two candidates. One reason she was not selected was that the station believed that Davis was not as fast at learning how to produce and display graphics. This skill was significant in the station's decision because the station was looking to increase the amount of graphics it used during its newscasts. Rick Iler stated: 16 [p]robably the number one thing that popped out for me from listening to Troy's feedback and just from my observations, was speed. She was not very fast. And I knew that with the new news cast I had to have someone that would be able to pull up several different graphics, you know, at one time, would be able to learn and grasp the ability to build several different graphics because the position has always been, the position that she was in was just running a machine and you ran them from the night before . . . . This now would be actually creating all new graphics for a brand new show every single morning and from my observation and feed back from her direct manager, I did not feel that the speed in which she could get things done was going to work for that position. . . . I also took into consideration, like I said, feedback from Troy. Troy told me she was a good employee but that considering what I needed, knowing what expectations I had of these news shows, that his feedback was simple, she's a good employee but with what you're wanting to do he didn't think that she could do [the job]. 17 Morris also asserted that it did not select Davis for the position because it did not find her to be sufficiently dependable. 18 The burden to articulate a nondiscriminatory justification is not onerous, and the explanation need not be demonstrated by a preponderance of the evidence. Floyd v. Mo. Dept. of Soc. Servs., Div. of Family Servs., 188 F.3d 932, 936 (8th Cir.1999). Morris's stated justifications meet its burden. Accordingly, the burden shifts to Davis to produce evidence sufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact whether Morris's proffered nondiscriminatory reason was a pretext for discrimination. Pope, 406 F.3d at 1007. 19 Davis fails to produce any evidence of pretext. Instead, Davis appears to argue that she was better qualified than the other candidates who were selected. In particular, Davis appears to argue that the people chosen, Pearson and Gatlin, were less qualified because they had spent less time as graphic operators. We cannot sit as super-personnel departments reviewing the wisdom or fairness of the business judgments made by employers, except to the extent that those judgments involve intentional discrimination. Kiel v. Select Artificials, Inc., 169 F.3d 1131, 1136 (8th Cir.1999). Here, there is no evidence that the persons selected were not qualified for the job. Further, seniority was never listed as a consideration in who would perform graphics in the news department. Thus, given the lack of evidence of pretext from Davis, we will not second guess Morris's hiring decision. 20 Davis also appears to argue that discrimination by KARK-TV in training led to the differences in qualifications. This argument fails because Davis does not provide any evidence of a denial of training. Accordingly, we conclude that the district court correctly held that Davis failed to demonstrate that Morris's proffered justification for not promoting Davis was a pretext for discrimination. Pope, 406 F.3d at 1007. 21