Opinion ID: 2971784
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Smith - Failure to Hire as Senior Organizer

Text: The district court held that Smith’s Title VII claim that SEIU unlawfully discriminated against her when it failed to hire her as a senior organizer was time barred. On appeal, Smith pursues this claim only under the ELCRA. We find that Smith did not meet her burden of proving that SEIU’s legitimate nondiscriminatory reasons for hiring her as a senior organizer in training were pretextual. An employee may demonstrate pretext with evidence of how the employer treated similarly situated employees outside the protected class. Lytle v. Malady, 579 N.W.2d 906, 917 (Mich. 1998). To show that an employee was similarly situated, the plaintiff must prove that all of the relevant aspects of her employment situation were nearly identical to those of No. 03-1916 10 another employee’s employment situation. Town v. Mich. Bell Tel. Co., 568 N.W.2d 64, 70 (Mich. 1997). A plaintiff cannot survive summary judgment by relying only on subjective statements that she was more qualified than someone else to receive a certain position. Hazle, 628 N.W.2d at 527-28. Instead, the plaintiff must show that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether discriminatory animus motivated the employer, not whether the employer was wise, shrewd, prudent, or competent. Id. at 527. Smith states that seven other employees were hired or promoted to the senior organizer position with equal or fewer qualifications than she had. Karen Backus, Tanya Boone, Renee Watkins, Mary Beth Tinker, Greg Maron, Joseph Geevarghese, and Robin Clark. SEIU offered unrebutted evidence that Backus, Watkins, and Tinker were not hired as senior organizers. Backus was hired as an international representative; Watkins and Tinker were hired as nurse specialists. All three received these positions because of their experience and training as nurses. Smith argues that it is appropriate to compare the senior organizer position to the international representative and nurse specialist positions because the salaries were all paid out of the same budget. We don’t find this argument to be persuasive. In any event, Smith was not similarly situated to these three employees because she was not a nurse. Smith also was not similarly situated to Boone, Maron, and Clark because they had more professional organizing experience. Smith had only a little more than three years of professional organizing experience. Boone and Maron had five years of professional experience. Clark had four years of professional organizing experience; and, in addition, she had worked with a large national union, as opposed to a local organization. No. 03-1916 11 Finally, Geevarghese, an Asian-American male, had a few months less professional organizing experience than Smith, but he had worked for seven months with the SEIU, as opposed to a local organization, before being hired as a senior organizer. Thus, he also was not similarly situated to Smith because of his prior tenure at SEIU. The district court, therefore, properly granted summary judgment on this claim.