Opinion ID: 790139
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Failure to promote in violation of Title VII and the MHRA

Text: 21 Pope first argues that the district court erred when it held that, with respect to ESA's decision not to promote him to the position of district manager in training, Pope failed to present evidence of discrimination sufficient to create a question for the jury. We conclude that the district court did not err. Although Pope established a prima facie case of race discrimination in the context of failure to promote, he has failed to present any material evidence calling into question ESA's proffered legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for not promoting him. 22 In order to establish a prima facie case of race discrimination in a failure-to-promote case, the plaintiff must show that: (1) he is a member of a protected group; (2) he was qualified and applied for a promotion to an available position; (3) he was rejected; and (4) a similarly-situated candidate, not part of the protected group, was hired for the position instead. Shannon v. Ford Motor Co., 72 F.3d 678, 682 (8th Cir.1996). Pope has established a prima facie case. It is uncontroverted that Pope is black, that he applied for and was denied the position of district-manager-in-training, and that ESA hired Hulet, a similarly-situated white applicant. Further, Pope met the minimum qualifications for the position. See Turner, 336 F.3d at 720-21. 23 With the burden of production having shifted to ESA, it proffered two reasons for the decision to hire Hulet instead of promoting Pope. First, relying on the advice of Dulka, Rumsey concluded that Pope had not shown superior performance as a general manager and that Pope was not ready to manage multiple hotels. Second, Rumsey hired Hulet because he thought Hulet had the right qualifications for the position; most importantly, he had experience managing multiple grocery store locations. 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. State of Missouri Dept. of Soc. Servs., Div. of Family Servs., 188 F.3d 932, 936 (8th Cir.1999). Accordingly, the ultimate burden falls on Pope to produce evidence sufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether ESA's proffered nondiscriminatory justifications are mere pretext for intentional discrimination. 24 In his brief, Pope argues that ESA's proffered justifications are mere pretext because of the fact that Rumsey treated only white managers to lunch and refused to socialize with any black managers. This simply does not cast doubt on ESA's proffered nondiscriminatory justifications for hiring Hulet instead of promoting Pope. First, the statement that Rumsey refused to socialize with any black managers, is not supported by any evidence in the record. Second, Pope puts forth no evidence that Rumsey treated white managers to lunch at the Chicago conference. That Rumsey went out to lunch with other white managers at the conference is not sufficient to raise a material issue of disputed fact about whether the true reason behind Rumsey's decision not to promote Pope was racial discrimination. Finally, the record reflects that Rumsey's decision not to promote Pope was influenced primarily by Dulka's recommendation that Pope was not ready for a promotion. Pope has provided no evidence showing that the true reason behind Dulka's recommendation was racial discrimination. 25