Opinion ID: 736305
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Summary Judgment on Discrimination Claim

Text: 19 We review a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Jameson v. Arrow Co., 75 F.3d 1528, 1531 (11th Cir.1996). In analyzing a motion for summary judgment, we must view the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and make all factual inferences in favor of that party. Hairston v. Gainesville Sun Publishing Co., 9 F.3d 913, 918 (11th Cir.1993). 20 In an employment discrimination case, the plaintiff must produce sufficient evidence to support an inference that the defendant employer based its employment decision on an illegal criterion. Jameson, 75 F.3d at 1531. We generally ... eschew[ ] an overly strict formulation of the elements of a prima facie case, particularly in age discrimination cases. Id. 21 In age discrimination cases, once a plaintiff has made a prima facie case, the employer may then rebut the inference of discrimination by providing legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons for its decision. The burden than shifts back to the plaintiff to raise a genuine factual question as to whether defendant's stated reason is mere pretext. Hairston, 9 F.3d at 920. However, The grant of summary judgment, though appropriate when evidence of discriminatory intent is totally lacking, is generally unsuitable ... [where] plaintiff has established a prima facie case because of the 'elusive factual question' of intentional discrimination. Id. at 921 (citing Texas Dep't of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 256, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 1095, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981)). 22 A plaintiff may establish a prima facie case of age discrimination in a reduction-in-force case by (1) demonstrating that he was in a protected age group and was adversely affected by an employment decision; (2) showing he was qualified for his former position or another position at the time he was adversely affected; and (3) producing circumstantial or direct evidence from which a reasonable factfinder could conclude that his employer intended to discriminate on the basis of age in reaching the decision at issue. Verbraeken v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 881 F.2d 1041, 1045-46 (11th Cir.1989). Plaintiffs were all in a protected age group, were adversely affected (Maddow is discussed in part II, infra), and were qualified. Therefore, the question is whether the plaintiffs produced sufficient evidence of age discrimination. 23 Evidence submitted by the plaintiffs satisfies their burden of establishing a prima facie case of age discrimination. The defendants rebutted the prima facie inference with the alleged legitimate, non-discriminatory reason of basing termination decisions on the Recruiting Quality Index. The plaintiffs thus have the burden of establishing that defendants' proffered reason is a pretext. 24 Because this is a summary judgment motion, the plaintiffs need only raise a genuine issue of material fact that the reason was a pretext; they do not need to actually prove it. Hairston, 9 F.3d at 921. The plaintiffs' evidence clears this hurdle. Any reading of prior case dicta to the effect that plaintiffs need to prove pretext at the summary judgment stage is incorrect. 25 Defendants' contention that the evidence used by the plaintiffs to establish the prima facie case may not be used to raise a genuine issue as to pretext, and their implication that a genuine issue as to pretext cannot be raised circumstantially, are unsupportable. Evidence offered in the prima facie case may be sufficient to raise a genuine issue of material fact regarding pretext. Id. 26 The statistical evidence plaintiffs offered is sufficient for a reasonable person to infer discrimination based on age and that the reasons given were pretextual. The plaintiffs' expert testified that the standard deviation for the distribution of terminations based on age was 3.83. This distribution has a less than one in one thousand chance of occurring randomly. A standard deviation of two or three is enough to support an inference of discrimination. Kilgo v. Bowman Transp., Inc., 789 F.2d 859, 871 n. 18 (11th Cir.1986) (citing Castaneda v. Partida, 430 U.S. 482, 496 n. 17, 97 S.Ct. 1272, 1281 n. 17, 51 L.Ed.2d 498 (1977)). The defendants failed to rebut this evidence or the expert. Two reasonable conclusions can be drawn from statistical evidence this strong: the defendants intentionally discriminated or the Recruiting Quality Index system unintentionally favored younger people. Despite defendants' plausible claim that there was no discrimination, the former is a reasonable inference, and satisfies plaintiffs' burden at this stage. 27 In addition to the statistical evidence, there is also circumstantial evidence of age discrimination. This includes the Vice-President of Sales' statement that the new division would have a 'new and young' image and that the original Noxell employees were 'young' while the former Max Factor employees were 'old and mature'; the phone message for Maddow mentioning an 'age factor'; the interviewer's listing Maddow as highly likely to accept an offer and then offering her a position that she had already stated she would turn down; the employment offers to some representatives who scored only fourteen or fifteen; the statement to one plaintiff that he should consider retiring at his age; Noxell's use of an interview procedure for former Max Factor employees that was different from the usual procedure; and Noxell's decision to retain its predominantly young original sale representatives. Taken alone, any one of these may not be enough. However, as a whole, a reasonable person could infer discrimination. 28 Finally, Mary Nelson's statement that she was told Noxell was only hiring representatives under forty and the interviews were only a formality is direct evidence of discrimination. Viewing this evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, it creates a genuine issue of material fact. The statement may not be credible, but that is a decision for the factfinder, not for summary judgment. 29 The defendants' explanation for their termination decisions is entirely plausible. However, the statistical, circumstantial, and direct evidence in the record, when viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, creates a genuine issue of material fact that defendants proffered reason is a pretext and that there was discrimination. Summary judgment against the plaintiffs on the issue of discrimination must therefore be reversed.