Opinion ID: 772410
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: disparate treatment based on race and age

Text: Foss contends that he produced evidence showing that the PAO intentionally discriminated against him on the basis of race and age. First, Foss asserts that the PAO placed a similarly situated Indian male, J. Mike Wood, in a vacant position and, second, that he was denied his election for an early buyout by a manager who knew his position would be abolished. 1 With respect to the first claim, Foss concedes that he did not seek any position other than the two described above. Wood, in contrast, applied for and was assigned a vacant position. The transfer required Wood to take a demotion from GS14 to GS-13. Foss, who was only a GS-12, was not eligible for the position taken by Wood and concedes that the two men were not competitors for that position. What Foss's claim comes down to is that he, unlike Wood who was a Native American, was not told that he could apply for a vacant position. But Foss does not contend, and there is no evidence, that information about vacant positions was not available to the employees and that he himself had no knowledge of them. 2 As for the early buy-out claim, Foss submitted an application a year before the RIF. The evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to Foss, establishes that Daniel Madrano, who was in charge of personnel, told him headquarters had turned down his request but that Madrano did not know why. Any inference that the decision was motivated by age or race animus would be pure speculation. 3 Because Foss has presented no facts to indicate that others outside of his protected class were treated more favorably, he has failed to make out a prima facie case of age or race dis-crimination. Cf. Garrett, 10 F.3d at 1434.