Opinion ID: 804283
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: claim of unlawful retaliation

Text: Title VII and the Tennessee Human Rights Act also both prohibit retaliating against someone who complains about racial discrimination. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3; Tenn. Code Ann. § 4-21-301. To state a prima facie claim of retaliation under Title VII or the THRA, a plaintiff must show that (1) he engaged in conduct protected by Title VII; (2) his protected conduct was known to the defendant; (3) the defendant thereafter took an adverse action against the plaintiff; and (4) a causal connection linked the protected activity and the adverse action. Arendale v. City of Memphis, 519 F.3d 587, 606 (6th Cir. 2008) (applying Title VII framework for THRA claims). The parties concede that the plaintiff has met his burden on the first three elements: Davis’s lawsuit was protected conduct, the defendant knew of the lawsuit, and the plaintiff was terminated after the filing of the lawsuit. The only issue on appeal is whether Davis demonstrated a material issue of fact regarding a causal connection between Davis’s lawsuit and his termination. We employ the same burden-shifting framework to retaliation claims as we do to employment-discrimination claims. Ladd v. Grand Trunk W. R.R., Inc., 552 F.3d 495, 502 (6th Cir. 2009). This means that even if Davis establishes a prima facie case of retaliation, he would still be required to establish pretext because the City has articulated a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for his termination. As discussed above, the City has defeated any inference of pretext because the City has sufficiently demonstrated a reasonably held belief based on particularized facts that Davis had been untruthful. We therefore need not consider whether the district court properly concluded that Davis had failed to make a prima facie showing on the element of causation. Summary 17 No. 11-5040 Davis v. City of Clarksville judgment is appropriate on Davis’s retaliation claims under federal and state law as well. Chen, 580 F.3d at 402.