Court Opinion

ID: 9622193
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:13:21.755211+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:14.443011
License: Public Domain

ROGERS, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
While I agree with the majority’s conceptual analysis and its conclusion that the appellant established a prima facie case at trial, I would affirm the district court on the alternative ground that FedEx demonstrated a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for Jackson’s termination, and that Jackson failed to show that reason to be a mere pretext for discrimination.
Even though FedEx received a directed verdict at the close of Jackson’s case, it is apparent that each party had a full opportunity to present its evidence on the questions of whether there were legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons for Jackson’s termination, and if so, whether those reasons were merely a pretext for discrimination. Indeed, in its brief to this court, FedEx argued that it should prevail even if Jackson were found to have established a prima facie case because it had proven at trial that it had a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for terminating Jackson. Likewise, Jackson argued in his initial brief, and in his reply brief, that the evidence he presented at trial had proven the appellee’s legitimate, non-discriminatory reason to be a pretext for discrimination. In light of the facts that both parties briefed those issues to this court, and that both parties obviously believe that they presented sufficient evidence at trial for the case to be decided on those issues, it would not be improper for this court to base its decision on those grounds. See Carver v. Dennis, 104 F.3d 847, 849 (6th Cir.1997).
The legitimate, non-discriminatory reason behind Jackson’s termination is that he did not have the necessary experience or skills to be of use to his workgroup, which was engaged in designing and developing software for FedEx’s PowerPad project. That particular assignment was both the short-term and the long-term project for the workgroup. It required experienced programmers and business analysts who could design and develop software in C++, an object-oriented programming language similar to JAVA. Compared to the other people in the workgroup, Jackson did not have nearly the experience to be of assistance in the PowerPad project. Cathy Story, for example, had eleven years of experience in computer programming, with significant experience in JAVA programming; Virginia White had been a computer programmer for the previous 22 years; Glen Parham had received training in C + + programming and had been a programmer for the previous 28 years; Michael Griffith had a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and had been a programmer for 27 years; James Morrison had a bachelor’s degree in computer science and had been a programmer for 21 years; and Mary Brown had been developing software as either a programmer or business analyst for the previous 30 years. Perhaps most importantly, each of these individuals had programmed or analyzed JAVA during the two years prior to Jackson’s termination. In short, these individ*398uals had the skills and experience that the workgroup needed. Mr. Jackson, on the other hand, did not. In contrast to the other individuals in the workgroup, Jackson had not held a day-to-day programming job since the early-1970’s, and his only experiences with object-oriented programming were a four-day C++ class in 1994 and a three-day JAVA class in 1996. In fact, he admitted in his trial testimony that he never programmed in C + + or JAVA after taking those respective classes.
Given Jackson’s lack of the requisite skills and experience, his termination was a legitimate, non-discriminatory decision on the part of FedEx. Because Jackson has presented no evidence that would allow an inference of discriminatory intent to be drawn from that decision, a jury could not reasonably find that FedEx’s legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for terminating Jackson was a pretext for discrimination. Accordingly, I would affirm on those grounds.