Opinion ID: 75924
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Prima Facie Case and Futile Gesture Doctrine

Text: 14 Having reviewed the record, we find no direct evidence of intentional discrimination toward any of the four claimants between August 29, 1990 and June 25, 1991. Thus, the EEOC's case must be premised on circumstantial evidence and the McDonnell Douglas framework. In a traditional failure-to-hire case, the plaintiff establishes a prima facie case by demonstrating that: (1) she was a member of a protected class; (2) she applied and was qualified for a position for which the employer was accepting applications; (3) despite her qualifications, she was not hired; and (4) the position remained open or was filled by another person outside of her protected class. See Schoenfeld, 168 F.3d at 1267. Joe's contends that the EEOC failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination because none of the claimants applied for a job at Joe's during the actionable period. The EEOC, on the other hand, maintains that the issue in this appeal is not whether it established a prima facie case, but whether the district court, having considered all of the evidence as the trier of fact, clearly erred in its ultimate finding that Joe's intentionally discriminated against the claimants. Thus, before addressing the district court's finding of liability, we must determine the exact question before us. 15 The EEOC correctly points out that, when a defendant fails to persuade the district court to dismiss the action for lack of a prima facie case and responds to the plaintiff's proof by offering evidence of a non-discriminatory reason for its actions, the presumption of discrimination established under the McDonnell Douglas framework drops from the case. See Aikens, 460 U.S. at 715, 103 S.Ct. at 1481. Put differently, [w]here the defendant has done everything that would be required of him if the plaintiff had properly made out a prima facie case, whether the plaintiff really did so is no longer relevant. Id., 103 S.Ct. at 1482. In this case, however, Joe's did not satisfy its burden of producing evidence of legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons with regard to the actionable period defined above. Joe's offered no evidence whatsoever to explain why it failed to hire any of the four claimants during the period between August 29, 1990 and June 25, 1991. 6 Rather, throughout these proceedings, Joe's has asserted that the claimants' failure to apply during the 300 days preceding the charge is fatal to the EEOC's claims. The question before us, then, is whether the district court, as the trier of fact, clearly erred in finding that the EEOC's prima facie case as to each claimant is supported by a preponderance of the evidence. See St. Mary's Honor Ctr. v. Hicks, 509 U.S. 502, 509-10 & n. 3, 113 S.Ct. 2742, 2748 n. 3, 125 L.Ed.2d 407 (1993). 7 16 It is undisputed that none of the four claimants applied for a food server position at Joe's during the time period between August 29, 1990 and June 25, 1991. Specifically, none of the claimants applied at Joe's October 1990 roll call, the only time during the actionable period in which Joe's hired food servers. Contrary to the argument advanced by Joe's, however, this is not the end of the matter. Our precedent demonstrates that a non-applicant may nonetheless establish a prima facie case by showing that she refrained from applying due to a justifiable belief that the employer's discriminatory practices made application a futile gesture. See Taylor, 788 F.2d at 1462; Hailes v. United Air Lines, 464 F.2d 1006, 1008 (5th Cir.1972). To have a justifiable belief for purposes of this exception to the application requirement, a person must demonstrate: (1) that she had a real and present interest in the job for which the employer was seeking applications; and (2) that she would have applied for the job but effectively was deterred from doing so by the employer's discriminatory practices. See Hailes, 464 F.2d at 1008. In this case, the EEOC had to show that these criteria were satisfied as to each of the four claimants at issue. 17