Opinion ID: 449050
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: individual claim

Text: 74 Because we affirm the district court's conclusion that defendants did not engage in a pattern or practice of discharging employees on the basis of race, plaintiff Coates was not entitled to any presumption that defendants had unlawfully discriminated against him. The district court concluded that Coates was discharged for legitimate reasons and not because of his race. Coates was discharged when three supervisors found him sleeping on the job, a Group I violation. He had been suspended two days earlier for damaging weight scales while driving a forklift truck, and an investigative agency working for defendants reported that Coates had been selling drugs on company property. The district court found that: 75 [Coates] is the only employee at defendants' diaper plant who within three days committed two serious violations of company rules, was reinstated once and the following day was again suspended pending termination. He is also the only employee at the diaper plant whose work record was considered for possible leniency by a member of his own race [plant manager Williams] but whose judgment was swayed when he was shown reports of activities which disclosed Coates was selling drugs on company property.... Sleeping on the job, as Coates was found in this case, when it is not a pretext for race discrimination, is a legitimate ground for discharging an employee.... There is no evidence in the record to show that any Caucasian employee was permitted to engage in the same or similar conduct as was the plaintiff Coates without discipline or discharge. Further, this court has not seen or heard any evidence which shows that any Caucasian employee who was being considered for disciplinary discharge was cited in reliable investigative reports for selling drugs on company property. The absence of such evidence ... is fatal to [the] claim that plaintiff Coates was a victim of discrimination. 76 Coates (COL 18) (citations omitted). 77 Plaintiffs have not pointed to any evidence in the record or made any legal arguments that would lead us to disturb the district court's findings and conclusions. Accordingly, we affirm the district court's judgment that defendants did not unlawfully discriminate against plaintiff Coates.