Opinion ID: 2995471
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Prima Facie Case of Age

Text: Discrimination In ruling on Caterpillar’s summary judgment motion, the district court concluded that Bennington failed to establish a prima facie case of age discrimination by Caterpillar. Bennington has conceded that he presented no direct evidence that Caterpillar discriminated against him because of his age./1 Accordingly, his claim must be analyzed pursuant to the indirect burden-shifting approach set forth under McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973). Under the McDonnell-Douglas test, in order to establish a prima facie case of age discrimination, a plaintiff must prove that he was: (1) in a protected class; (2) performing his job satisfactorily; (3) the subject of an employment action that was materially adverse; and (4) that other substantially younger and similarly situated employees were treated more favorably than the plaintiff. See Gonzalez v. Ingersoll Milling Machine Co., 133 F.3d 1025, 1031 (7th Cir. 1998). The district court determined that Bennington failed to state a prima facie case because he could not satisfy the fourth element of the above test: that other substantially younger and similarly situated employees were treated more favorably than the plaintiff. Having reviewed the record below, we agree with the district court’s decision. At the outset, we state that the record is bereft of facts supporting Bennington’s claims of age discrimination. We must base our review only upon those facts that were a part of the record before the court below. Plakas v. Drinski, 19 F.3d 1143, 1147 (7th Cir. 1994). When we examine that record, we find that Bennington has offered proof that only one other similarly situated and younger employee was given preferential treatment. That employee, Perry Lubber, took over Bennington’s responsibilities when he was transferred to the Special Projects Unit and was only five years younger than Bennington./2 Generally, when both the plaintiff and those allegedly favored over him are within the same protected class, the prima facie case under the ADEA require[s] a sufficient disparity in ages. Hartley v. Wisconsin Bell, Inc., 124 F.3d 887, 892 (7th Cir. 1997). This court consider[s] a ten year difference in ages (between the plaintiff and [his] replacement) to be presumptively ’substantial.’ Id. at 893. In Hartley, this court concluded that a seven-year difference between the plaintiff and the employees allegedly favored over her was not significant enough to present a prima facie case under the ADEA. Just as in Hartley, the five-year difference in age between both Bennington and Lubbers is not substantial enough (in and of itself) to set forth a prima facie age discrimination case. In cases where the age difference between the plaintiff and the individual treated more favorably is less than ten years, the plaintiff still may present a triable claim if [he] directs the court to evidence that [his] employer considered [his] age to be significant. Id. Bennington has not presented any evidence that Caterpillar’s decisions affecting his employment were motivated by his age. Even assuming, as we must, that the Special Projects Unit to which Bennington and other managers were assigned had been derisively referred to as waste management by Caterpillar higher-ups, or that Bennington’s review was changed improperly, such comments or actions do not (without more facts) evidence hostility on the basis of age. The insubstantial difference in age between Bennington and Lubbers and the absence of discriminatory animus by Caterpillar supports the district court’s grant of summary judgment on this claim.