Opinion ID: 2976929
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Hall’s discrimination claim

Text: To establish a discrimination claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Hall had to produce either direct or circumstantial evidence in support of his claim. See DiCarlo v. Potter, 358 F.3d 408, 414 (6th Cir. 2004). Direct evidence is proof that, if believed, compels the conclusion that unlawful discrimination was at least a motivating factor in the employer’s actions. Jacklyn v. Schering-Plough Healthcare Prods. Sales Corp., 176 F.3d 921, 926 (6th Cir.1999). If direct evidence of discrimination is produced, then the burden shifts to the employer to show that it would have taken the adverse employment action even in the absence of discrimination. Id. Hall argues that a letter written in 2002 by one of his supervisors, Sergeant Haskin Garland, as well as comments allegedly made by three other officers during the interview process, constitute direct evidence of racial discrimination in connection with his failure to be promoted. The letter -4- No. 06-2116 Hall v. Michigan State Police from Garland, which was written eight months before the initial interviews for the sergeant position, does not provide any evidence that Hall was denied the promotion because of race. In the letter, Garland lodges a number of complaints about the general practices of the Motor Carrier Division with respect to promotions. Garland also writes at some length about Hall’s qualifications for promotion to sergeant, and speculates that Hall had been passed over for promotion because of the lawsuit that he filed in 2000. But Garland was not involved in any way with the interview process for the sergeant position at issue in this lawsuit. Moreover, Garland’s opinion that Hall was wellqualified for promotion does not denigrate the qualifications of the other candidates for the position. Hall also alleges that Lieutenant Ron Crampton, Lieutenant Robert Yorke, and Sergeant Steve Blankenship all made comments to him that convinced him not to proceed through the second round of interviews because he was being discriminated against. First, Crampton allegedly told Hall two months before the first round of interviews that Hall was Crampton’s “choice to be promoted, but she don’t want to promote you.” The “she” in question was Inspector Brenda Dietrich, a member of the selection committee. According to Hall, Crampton allegedly told him that Dietrich was “still upset over the lawsuit you filed . . . [earlier].” Despite this alleged forewarning, however, Hall still initially applied for the promotion. Hall also claims that Yorke told him after the first round of interviews that “the job should have been yours,” and that Blankenship informed him that the selection committee “said they ain’t promoting you.” The problem with all of these statements is that they do not indicate that race was a motivating factor in the decision not to promote Hall. This court has held that “[i]solated and ambiguous comments are insufficient to support a finding of direct discrimination.” White v. -5- No. 06-2116 Hall v. Michigan State Police Columbus Metro. Housing Auth., 429 F.3d 232, 239 (6th Cir. 2005). Even if all of the comments that Hall points to were to be believed, not a single one indicates that it was Hall’s race that was the deciding factor in whether he was to get the job. In the absence of direct evidence of discrimination, Hall’s claims are to be analyzed under the burden-shifting analysis set forth in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973). Hall can establish a prima facie case of racial discrimination in the context of a failure-to-promote claim if he shows “(1) that he is a member of a protected class; (2) that he applied and was qualified for a promotion; (3) that he was considered for and denied the promotion; and (4) other employees of similar qualifications who were not members of the protected class received promotions.” Sutherland v. Mich. Dept. of Treasury, 344 F.3d 603, 614 (6th Cir. 2003). The claim that Hall did not get the promotion to sergeant because of racial discrimination fails for the two specific reasons articulated by the district court. First, during the initial round of interviews for the promotion, the person who was offered the job was an African-American female. Even though she declined the job offer, the fact that the promotion was offered to an AfricanAmerican precludes a finding of racial discrimination in the first round of interviews. Hall, in other words, failed to establish the fourth element of a prima facie case of racial discrimination because the person who was offered the position was a member of the same protected class to which he belongs. See id. (requiring that the promotion go to an employee who is not a member of the protected class in order for the plaintiff to establish a prima facie case). Second, Hall declined to participate in the second round of interviews. This failure to apply means that Hall was unable to establish the second element of his prima facie case. See id. (requiring -6- No. 06-2116 Hall v. Michigan State Police the plaintiff to have applied for the promotion in question). True enough, this court has previously recognized an exception to the general rule that an individual must apply for a position before he can bring a failure-to-promote claim. But that exception exists only when “the employer does not notify its employees of the available promotion or does not provide a formal mechanism for expressing interest in the promotion.” Dews v. A.B. Dick Co., 231 F.3d 1016, 1022 (6th Cir. 2000). That was not the case here, however, because Hall was fully aware of the second round of interviews and declined to participate simply because, as his attorney said at the hearing on MSP’s motion for summary judgment, “he should have been promoted on the first time and there shouldn’t have even been a second interview.” We thus affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the MSP on Hall’s discrimination claim.