Opinion ID: 902274
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Race and National Origin Discrimination Claim

Text: To establish a prima facie case of discrimination, Muor must show that 1) she is a member of a protected class; 2) she met U.S. Bank’s legitimate expectations; 3) she suffered an adverse employment action; and 4) the circumstances give rise to an inference of discrimination. Guimaraes v. SuperValu, Inc., 674 F.3d 962, 973-74 (8th Cir. 2012); Gibson v. Am. Greetings Corp., 670 F.3d 844, 853-54 (8th Cir. -6- 2012). Even assuming that the written warning constituted an adverse employment action and that Muor otherwise can establish a prima facie case, Muor has failed to demonstrate that U.S. Bank’s legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for issuing the warning—Muor’s poor performance—was pretextual. Muor argues that U.S. Bank’s rationale for issuing the written warning has no basis in fact because she was told in June 2008 that she would be evaluated on her collection duties, not her advising work. See Torgerson, 643 F.3d at 1047 (plaintiff may demonstrate material issue of fact concerning pretext by showing that employer’s rationale is unworthy of credence because it has no basis in fact). The evidence she cites to support her argument is a document from Czanstkowski that explained that Muor was being reassigned to collection duties and stated: “At times you might be asked to advise Letters of Credit, but that would be only when staff is not sufficient[.] You are being evaluated on you [sic] new desk job duties and not that of advising.” The document, however, does not establish that U.S. Bank would forgo evaluating Muor on the advising work she had completed prior to her June 2008 change of duties. Nor does it establish that U.S. Bank would forgo evaluating Muor’s work as an advisor if she were to be reassigned to advising letters of credit. Accordingly, this evidence does not create an issue of fact that U.S. Bank’s rationale for issuing the written warning lacked a basis in fact. Muor also argues that Czanstkowski’s discriminatory animus more likely than not motivated the decision to issue the written warning. See id. (plaintiff may demonstrate material issue of fact concerning pretext by showing that discriminatory animus more likely motivated employer). Muor contends that Czanstkowski’s criticism of her performance, as well as Czanstkowski’s alleged discriminatory statements, constitute evidence of U.S. Bank’s discriminatory animus. Although Muor’s 2007 and 2008 performance evaluations may have been more exacting than earlier evaluations, they reiterated the problems that previously had been identified by Staples. As for Czanstkowski’s statements that Muor and another Asian employee -7- had “slanty eyes” and that Muor could not write or speak English and should return to Cambodia, these statements were made in 2003 or 2004, well before Czanstkowski became Muor’s supervisor and several years before she issued the written warning. Moreover, Muor has not set forth evidence showing that the remarks were related to the decision to issue the written warning. See Simmons v. Océ-USA, Inc., 174 F.3d 913, 916 (8th Cir. 1999) (given the “comprehensive objective evidence” of employee’s poor job performance, supervisor’s racially offensive comments directed toward employee but made outside decision making process and two years before employee’s termination were insufficient evidence of pretext to survive summary judgment). In light of the lack of evidence showing that discriminatory animus motivated the adverse employment action and U.S. Bank’s well-documented history of Muor’s job performance, Czanstkowski’s statements and criticism of Muor’s performance do not establish a material issue of fact concerning pretext. Muor further contends that U.S. Bank’s failure to follow its own practices shows that the decision to issue the written warning was pretextual. See Lake v. Yellow Transp., Inc., 596 F.3d 871, 874 (8th Cir. 2010) (plaintiff may show pretext by showing that employer failed to follow its policies). Specifically, she contends that U.S. Bank deviated from its evaluation process when Engen, along with Czanstkowski and Bach, prepared her 2008 performance evaluation. Engen testified that although she does not usually prepare performance evaluations for people in Muor’s position, she helped prepare Muor’s 2008 evaluation because Czanstkowski was new to the management position and because U.S. Bank wanted to document its attempt to accommodate Muor through reassignment. Muor offers no further evidence of a policy violation, nor does she explain how this purported policy violation is probative of U.S. Bank’s discriminatory intent. Finally, Muor argues that Czanstkowski treated non-Asian employees differently than she treated Muor by not disciplining the non-Asian employees for their mistakes. “At the pretext stage, ‘the test for determining whether employees are -8- similarly situated to a plaintiff is a rigorous one.’” Bone v. G4S Youth Servs., LLC, 686 F.3d 948, 956 (8th Cir. 2012) (quoting Rodgers v. U.S. Bank, N.A., 417 F.3d 845, 853 (8th Cir. 2005), abrogated on other grounds by Torgerson, 643 F.3d 1031). To succeed with this argument, Muor must show that she and the non-Asian employees were “similarly situated in all relevant respects.” Id. (quoting Rodgers, 417 F.3d at 853). That is, the employees “used for comparison must have dealt with the same supervisor, have been subject to the same standards, and engaged in the same conduct without any mitigating or distinguishing circumstances.” Wierman v. Casey’s Gen. Stores, 638 F.3d 984, 994 (8th Cir. 2011) (quoting Cherry v. Ritenour Sch. Dist., 361 F.3d 474, 479 (8th Cir. 2004)). In support of her contention that Czanstkowski treated her differently, Muor relies on testimony by several non-Asian employees who worked at U.S. Bank under Czanstkowski’s supervision. Although the employees discuss making errors in general and not receiving written warnings for them, Muor has not established that these other employees were similarly situated to her in all relevant respects. Muor offers no evidence that the comparator employees made similar errors, made errors as frequently as she, or that their level of experience was commensurate to hers. We thus conclude that Muor has not met her burden of demonstrating pretext. Accordingly, summary judgment in favor of U.S. Bank on Muor’s discrimination claim was proper.