Opinion ID: 2318487
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Separation from Employment

Text: Kumar's final claim is that appellees' decision to separate him from his employment was based on his race or national origin. The trial court agreed with the appellees that Kumar had failed to provide evidence from which to infer discriminatory animus sufficient for a prima facie case, and, alternatively, that WASA had legitimate reasons for its actions that Kumar could not show to be pretextual. In so ruling, the trial court found that the only evidence that could be construed as ethnically-based was Mr. Carter's alleged greasehead comment in reference to Kumar. The trial court ultimately concluded that Kumar could not show that WASA's assertion that its decision to terminate Kumar was based on his failure to send the filters out on time and his execution of a contract he was not authorized to sign was a pretext for discrimination. Even were we to agree with Kumar that the term greasehead was derogatory in terms of race or national origin, we would be satisfied that the trial court did not err in concluding that Kumar could not show that WASA's proffered reason for his termination was pretextual. Ultimately, despite the animus Kumar perceived on Carter's part, Kumar's evidence raised no inference of pretext to rebut appellees' proffered reasons for terminating him. His own testimony established that WASA's rationale for terminating him was the issue on the filters, and also that the general manager never delegated to him the authority to sign the contracts that he signed. Though he argues that the filter incident was not in fact his fault, this is insufficient to establish pretext because he could not show that appellees could not reasonably believe that it was his fault, such that their proffered reason would seem phony. Fischbach v. District of Columbia Dept. of Corr., 86 F.3d 1180, 1183, 318 U.S.App.D.C. 186, 189 (1996); see also Waterhouse v. District of Columbia, 124 F.Supp.2d 1, 10 (D.D.C.2000) (While plaintiff's argument that the failure... was not her fault may constitute a possible explanation for appellees' criticism of her job performance, it does not constitute evidence that appellees' reasons for her termination were either false or pretextual.). The Supreme Court has stated that: an employer would be entitled to judgment as a matter of law if the record conclusively revealed some other, nondiscriminatory reason for the employer's decision, or if the plaintiff created only a weak issue of fact as to whether the employer's reason was untrue and there was abundant and uncontroverted independent evidence that no discrimination had occurred. Reeves, supra, 530 U.S. at 148, 120 S.Ct. 2097. Accordingly, we see no error in the trial court's finding that Kumar could not establish that the reasons appellees proffered for terminating him were pretextual. Having determined that the trial court did not err with regard to any of the grounds that Kumar alleged in support of his discrimination claim, we affirm the trial court's grant of judgment as a matter of law to appellees.