Opinion ID: 180959
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Discrimination in Hiring.

Text: In this venue, the plaintiffs narrow their disparate treatment claim. They press only one aspect of it: that their employer (through Khatib) engaged in a pro-male pattern of discriminatory hiring. This claim is easily dispatched. The core inquiry in a gender-based disparate treatment case is whether the defendant intentionally discriminated against the plaintiff because of her gender. Rathbun v. Autozone, Inc., 361 F.3d 62, 71 (1st Cir.2004). The plaintiff is not required to adduce direct proof of discrimination. Id. (citing U.S. Postal Serv. Bd. of Govs. v. Aikens, 460 U.S. 711, 716-17, 103 S.Ct. 1478, 75 L.Ed.2d 403 (1983)). She may instead take advantage of a burden-shifting framework to raise an inference of disparate treatment. See McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802-04, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973). A plaintiff who chooses to follow this path first must establish a prima facie case. The elements of the prima facie case depend upon the particular type of employment decision at issue. Sanchez v. Puerto Rico Oil Co., 37 F.3d 712, 719 (1st Cir.1994). Adapted to the instant case, the elements of a failure-to-hire claim are: (i) that the plaintiffs are members of a protected class; (ii) that they were qualified for the position to which they aspired; (iii) that they were not hired; and (iv) that a person possessing similar or inferior qualifications was hired. Morón-Barradas v. Dep't of Educ., 488 F.3d 472, 478 (1st Cir.2007); Keyes v. Sec'y of Navy, 853 F.2d 1016, 1023 (1st Cir.1988). Making this modest showing raises an inference of intentional discrimination. Tex. Dep't of Cmty. Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 253-54, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981). Once raised, that inference shifts the burden of production to the employer to articulate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the challenged employment decision. Id. at 254, 101 S.Ct. 1089; Medina-Muñoz v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 896 F.2d 5, 9 (1st Cir.1990). So long as the employer comes forward with such a reason, the burden of production reverts to the plaintiffs. See Conward v. Cambridge Sch. Comm., 171 F.3d 12, 19 (1st Cir.1999). In order to carry that burden, the plaintiffs must proffer evidence tending to prove that the reason offered by the employer was apocryphal; that is, a pretext for discrimination. Rathbun, 361 F.3d at 72. Unlike the burden of production, the burden of proving intentional discrimination never shifts; it remains with the plaintiff throughout the burden-shifting pavane. See Mesnick, 950 F.2d at 823. In this case, the plaintiffs cannot make out a prima facie case of discriminatory hiring. Although they are members of a protected classwomenthey make no effort to satisfy any of the three remaining elements needed for a prima facie case. None of them appliedlet alone applied unsuccessfullyfor any open position during Khatib's tenure and, thus, none of them can maintain a failure-to-hire claim. See, e.g., Morón-Barradas, 488 F.3d at 478; Gu v. Boston Police Dep't, 312 F.3d 6, 11 (1st Cir.2002). The plaintiffs' effort to demonstrate gender-based discrimination by direct evidence is no more fruitful. This line of attack relies on raw statistics reflecting Khatib's engagement of a cadre of predominantly male contract technologists. Leaving to one side that these numbers lack statistical significance, [3] the plaintiffs' claim is again undone by their failure to demonstrate that the alleged discrimination affected their own employment prospects. Put simply, the plaintiffs had jobs. During the relevant period, none of them sought to be engaged as a contract technologist (or, for that matter, in any other new capacity). Because Khatib did not refuse to hire any of the plaintiffs, the record presents no trialworthy issue as to discriminatory hiring.