Opinion ID: 78563
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Rowe

Text: The appointment of L. Dee Rowe as Division Engineer for the Fifth Division brings us to the first of six promotions for which we cannot discern sufficient evidence of discrimination to support the jury's verdict. The Department does not dispute that Brown established a prima facie case of discrimination with respect to Rowe's promotion on March 25, 2000; Brown clearly did. The sole question is whether the Department provided a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for hiring Rowe. The evidence showed that Rowe was appointed through a backlog process pursuant to Reynolds. As Brown's co-plaintiff Cook-Deyampert acknowledged, backlog appointments required that everybody, plaintiffs, intervenors, and the State[,] had to all agree to the appointment. In fact, the very attorneys representing Brown in this case agreed to Rowe's appointment. Plainly, the use of the backlog process was a non-discriminatory explanation for the promotion of Rowe. Brown failed to carry her burden of demonstrating pretext; she presented no further evidence specific to this promotion.