Opinion ID: 741498
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: AAAI's Reason For Discharge

Text: 7 For purposes of this disposition, we can assume that Okorie, an African-American, established a prima facie case under the first stage of the McDonnell Douglas framework. 8 Under the second stage, AAAI was required to articulate a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason for its employment decision. Wallis, 26 F.3d at 889 (internal citations omitted). AAAI satisfied this burden. 9 AAAI established that it fired Okorie because his performance was unsatisfactory on March 21, 1994, the day of an AAAI symposium at Stanford University. Carol Hamilton, Okorie's supervisor, told Okorie that he would be alone in the AAAI office on that day, and asked him to answer the telephones. Okorie nevertheless put the telephone lines on hold for at least twenty minutes while conducting a meeting. When Daphne Black, Okorie's coworker, returned to the office, she noticed that all of the phone lines were on hold. Black subsequently reported Okorie's behavior to Hamilton. As Hamilton's termination letter stated, AAAI's primary reason for firing Okorie was that he put the telephone lines on hold when he was instructed to answer the phones. 10