Opinion ID: 770748
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Discrimination by failing to promote

Text: 7 In order to set forth a claim of discrimination, a plaintiff must show that he has suffered an adverse employment action; that is, he must establish that he has suffered a materially adverse change in the terms or conditions of employment because of the employer's action. See Kocsis v. Multi-Care Management, Inc., 97 F.3d 876, 885 (6th Cir. 1996). For the purposes of Title VII, a failure to promote is an adverse employment action. See Hale v. Cuyahoga County Welfare Dep't, 891 F.2d 604,606 (6th Cir. 1989). 8 In order to establish a prima facie case of racial discrimination based upon a failure to promote, the plaintiff must demonstrate that: (1) he is a member of a protected class; (2) he applied for and was qualified for a promotion, (3) hewas considered for and denied the promotion; and (4) other employees of similar qualifications who were not members of the protected class received promotions at the time the plaintiff's request for promotion was denied. See Betkerur v. Aultman Hosp. Ass'n, 78 F.3d 1079, 1095 (6th Cir. 1996); Brown v. Tennessee, 693 F.2d 600,603 (6th Cir. 1982). Alternatively, a plaintiff can establish a prima facie case by presenting direct evidence of discriminatory intent. Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228 (1989) (plurality opinion). For example, a facially discriminatory employment policy or a corporate decision maker's express statement of a desire to remove employees in the protected group is direct evidence of discriminatory intent. Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Thurston, 469 U.S. 111, 121 (1985); LaPointe v. United Autoworkers Local 600, 8 F.3d 376, 379-80 (6th Cir. 1993). In direct evidence cases, once a plaintiff shows that the prohibited classification played a motivating part in the employment decision, the burden of both production and persuasion shifts to the employer to prove that it would have terminated the employee even if it had not been motivated by impermissible discrimination. Price Waterhouse, 490 U.S. at 244-45; Manzer v. Diamond Shamrock Chemicals Co., 29 F.3d 1078, 1081 (6th Cir. 1994).