Opinion ID: 560522
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Failure to State a Prima Facie Case

Text: 48 The Magistrate concluded that Ang failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination under Title VII. The Magistrate explicitly found only that Ang was within a protected class and that he had been subject to an adverse employment action. The Magistrate made no explicit findings regarding Ang's qualification for the job and his replacement by a person outside the protected class. Ang contends that because John Dashiells, a Caucasian, replaced him, and because he performed satisfactorily for fourteen years, he was qualified and replaced by someone outside the protected group and thus had established a prima facie case. 49 When a court is convinced that a plaintiff completely failed to allege circumstances from which discrimination can be inferred, the court need not examine all elements of the McDonnell Douglas analysis. Centner v. K-Mart Corp., 50 FEP Cas. (BNA) 1774, 1775, 1988 WL 73904 (W.D.N.Y.1988). However, even if the Magistrate was bound to consider the issue of qualification, Ang was not qualified for his position because he failed to meet his employer's expectations. As the Sixth Circuit recently explained in McDonald v. Union Camp Corp., 898 F.2d 1155, 1160 (6th Cir.1990): 50 [I]n order to show that he was qualified, McDonald must prove that he was performing his job at a level which met his employer's legitimate expectations. Huhn v. Koehring, 718 F.2d 239, 243 (7th Cir.1983). Moreover, [i]f [McDonald] was not doing what his employer wanted him to do, he was not doing his job.... [McDonald] does not raise a material issue of fact on the question of the quality of his work merely by challenging the judgment of his supervisors. Kephart v. Institute of Gas Technology, 630 F.2d 1217, 1223 (7th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 959, 101 S.Ct. 1418, 67 L.Ed.2d 383 (1981). In this case, McDonald does not dispute, but in fact acknowledges that his supervisors were dissatisfied with his job performance in the summer of 1986 when he was discharged. Instead McDonald argues that Union Camp made too big a deal out of his alleged people problems. However, the aim is not to review bad business decisions, or question the soundness of an employer's judgment. See Wilkens [Wilkins ] v. Eaton Corp., 790 F.2d 515, 521 (6th Cir.1986). McDonald was simply not performing to Union Camp's satisfaction. 51 Like McDonald, Ang was not performing to his employer's satisfaction. Ang devoted a good deal of time to personal grievances and the Deming Conference and his supervisors feared that this interfered with his job responsibilities. Handling Ang's concerns also took a great deal of time away from his supervisors' other responsibilities. Evaluations of Ang also indicate that he had trouble communicating, was late with assignments, used insufficient detail in writing plans, and was a poor long-range planner. Ang, then, was not qualified and thus did not establish a prima facie case. 52 Ang argues, however, that it was not necessary for him to establish a prima facie case because he offered direct evidence of national origin discrimination. Direct evidence of discrimination allows a plaintiff to proceed without meeting the requirements of a prima facie case set forth in McDonnell Douglas. Trans World Airlines v. Thurston, 469 U.S. 111, 105 S.Ct. 613, 83 L.Ed.2d 523 (1985). However, even if Ang is able to bypass the McDonnell Douglas requirements, he still would not succeed because the burden would simply shift back to P & G to show that Ang was terminated for legitimate nondiscriminatory reasons. Because Ang refused to follow supervisors' instructions, devoted inadequate time to his work, and demanded the constant attention of his supervisors to handle his grievances and personal problems, the district court did not clearly err in concluding that P & G articulated legitimate nondiscriminatory reasons for his discharge.