Opinion ID: 2973902
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Myers’s Race-Discrimination Claim

Text: Myers also claims that she was terminated in violation of Title VII and Ohio law3 because she is white (rather than Hispanic) and is non-Spanish speaking. The district court granted summary judgment to Cuyahoga County because it held that Myers had not established a prima facie case of reverse race discrimination. In order to establish a prima facie case of discrimination, Myers must show that (1) she is a member of a protected class; (2) she was qualified for the job; (3) she experienced an adverse employment action; and (4) she was replaced by a person outside the protected class or she was treated differently than a similarly situated non-protected employee. See Newman v. Federal Express Corp., 266 F.3d 401, 406 (6th Cir. 2001). In reverse-discrimination cases, in order to establish the first step, a plaintiff must demonstrate “background circumstances [to] support the suspicion that the defendant is that unusual employer who discriminates against the majority.” Leadbetter v. Gilley, 385 F.3d 683, 690 (6th Cir. 2004) (internal quotation marks omitted). The district court found Myers’s prima facie case lacking at the fourth step because it correctly concluded that Myers had not addressed whether Cuyahoga County treated differently employees who were similarly situated but not members of Myers’s protected class. The district court failed to consider, however, that Myers could also establish the fourth step of her prima facie 3 Under Ohio law, Myers’s race and sex discrimination claims under Ohio Revised Code § 4112 are analyzed according to the same standards used to analyze federal discrimination claims under Title VII. See, e.g., Cincinnati Bar Ass’n. v. Young, 731 N.E.2d 631, 639 (Ohio 2000) (stating that it is the practice of the Ohio courts, “where appropriate, to refer to federal case law interpreting Title VII” when analyzing discrimination claims brought under O.R.C. § 4112). 9 burden by showing that she was replaced by someone who was outside her protected class. See Newman, 266 F.3d at 406. Considering that approach to the fourth step of her prima facie burden, we conclude that Myers has put forth a prima facie case of reverse race discrimination. First, Myers has presented background circumstances that support her suspicion that Cuyahoga County discriminated against non-Hispanics. Father Ziemba testified at his deposition that “Mr. Vazquez and Mrs. Caraballo were working very diligently to try to have a basically Hispanic welfare office to meet the needs of the Hispanic community in that part of Cleveland.” J.A. at 353-54 (Ziemba Dep. at 22-23). Ziemba also stated that in their efforts “to get this Hispanic office going,” Vazquez and Caraballo “tended to be over zealous.” J.A. at 354 (Ziemba Dep. at 23). Next, the parties do not dispute that Myers was qualified for her position or that she experienced the adverse employment action of being terminated. Finally, Myers has established the fourth step because she claims, both in her complaint and her appellate brief, that she was “replaced by a Hispanic, Spanishspeaking employee” — a fact that has not been disputed by Cuyahoga County. J.A. at 22 (Compl. at ¶ 5); Appellant Br. at 11. As Myers has established a prima facie case of reverse race discrimination, the burden shifts to Cuyahoga County “to offer a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the adverse employment action at issue.” Leadbetter, 385 F.3d at 690. The County has satisfied this burden by offering the legitimate, non-discriminatory reason of the numerous, well-documented disciplinary offenses that Myers committed. These disciplinary offenses were the result of many complaints by Myers’s clients and co-workers about her insulting and unprofessional behavior, including her negative comments about people who are foreign-born. “Once the defendant has articulated a nondiscriminatory reason for its decision, the presumption of discrimination that arises from the 10 plaintiff's prima facie case disappears and the plaintiff must have the opportunity to show that the defendant's proffered explanation is merely a pretext for discrimination.” Weigel v. Baptist Hosp. of East Tenn., 302 F.3d 367, 378 (6th Cir. 2002). Our court has recognized that a plaintiff can establish pretext in one of three ways. “To make a submissible case on the credibility of his employer's explanation, the plaintiff is required to show by a preponderance of the evidence either (1) that the proffered reasons had no basis in fact, (2) that the proffered reasons did not actually motivate his discharge, or (3) that they were insufficient to motivate discharge.” Manzer v. Diamond Shamrock Chems. Co., 29 F.3d 1078, 1084 (6th Cir. 1994) (internal quotation marks omitted). Myers has not shown that Cuyahoga County’s proffered explanation is pretextual in any of these three ways. In the one page of her appellate brief devoted to her race-discrimination claim, Myers does not refute the County’s stated reason for her termination nor does she point to any evidence that the County’s claim that she was terminated because of her disciplinary problems was a pretext for discrimination because she is not Hispanic. Appellant Br. at 21. Although she alleges in her complaint that Caraballo solicited the complaints against her that resulted in the disciplinary offenses, Myers has not presented any evidence whatsoever to support this assertion. Myers has been unable to raise a genuine issue of material fact with respect to whether the proffered reason of her numerous disciplinary offenses is a pretext for unlawful race discrimination, and so we AFFIRM the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Cuyahoga County on Myers’s race-discrimination claim.