Opinion ID: 56302
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Cheyne Hardin and Laquanda Plantt

Text: Hardin and Plantt both applied to be a server trainer in February or March of 2000. Neither was given the promotion. Hardin was told by manager Sye that they already had enough trainers. Hardin testified that only white servers were hired during the time they applied, though she could not remember the names of the persons hired. When asked whether she believed she was not selected because of her race, Hardin replied that she could not say. Nonetheless, the magistrate assumed that Hardin met her prima facie case, especially because she had no discipline problems in her record. ESPN Zone argues that Hardin’s performance as a server made her unsuitable to be a trainer. This alone is a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason. Hardin cites no evidence to show that this reason is pretext other than Bailey’s inadmissible hearsay testimony that a white server, Andrew Schwartzburg, was later promoted (after Hardin had resigned) with lower scores than Hardin received. We note that ESPN Zone also argues that the decision was not racially motivated because three other African-Americans servers were promoted to trainer around the time Hardin applied. This is strong evidence that the decision not to promote 22 Hardin was not the result of racial discrimination. The magistrate correctly ruled that Hardin had not rebutted ESPN Zone’s non-discriminatory reason for Hardin’s non-promotion. The magistrate also found that Plantt satisfied her prima facie case. ESPN Zone argued that she was not selected for the position because of her “chronic attendance problems.” Plantt replied that the attendance argument was pretext because she did not have attendance problems. The magistrate found that while ESPN Zone misstated the number of times Plantt was tardy, her attendance record was poor enough to make it a legitimate reason not to promote her. In her brief, Plantt argues that Sye’s statement that she had chronic attendance problems is inaccurate because she had only been tardy once when she applied to be trainer. But the record demonstrates that Plannt was absent two days in a row in addition to the day she was tardy at the time she applied to be a trainer. A poor attendance record is a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason to decline to promote Plantt. In response, Plantt argues that Bailey’s testimony regarding the selection of trainers supports her contentions that she was denied the promotion because of her race. However, nothing in Bailey’s testimony concerns the decision to not promote Plantt to server other than his opinion that Plantt (and Hardin) should have been 23 selected as trainers instead of Schwartzberg. As noted above, Schwartzberg was hired and promoted well after Plantt had been denied the promotion. Therefore, according to the undisputed evidence in the record, Plantt has not meet her burden to show her attendance problems were pretext for racial discrimination.