Opinion ID: 848723
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the member of a class approach

Text: Some courts have criticized the background circumstances test and have applied their own adaptations of the McDonnell Douglas framework. The adaptation followed by the Third Circuit and the Eleventh Circuit essentially eliminates the first prong of the McDonnell Douglas framework. This adaptation was first applied by the Eleventh Circuit in Wilson, in which the court altered the first prong of the McDonnell Douglas test by requiring the plaintiff to prove that he belonged to a class, not a protected class or a minority class, simply a class. The same standard was applied by the Third Circuit in Iadimarco. The Third Circuit, held that a plaintiff who brings a reverse discrimination suit under Title VII should be able to establish a prima facie case in the absence of direct evidence of discrimination by presenting sufficient evidence to allow a reasonable fact finder to conclude ... that the defendant treated plaintiff less favorably than others because of [his] race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Furnco [Construction Co. v. Waters, 438 U.S. 567, 577, 98 S.Ct. 2943, 57 L.Ed.2d 957 (1978)]. [ Iadimarco, supra at 163.]