Court Opinion

ID: 998472
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-04 17:11:40.820546+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:39:37.654947
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

SHAFEKA Z. MOHAMED,
Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.
                                                               No. 98-2341
CREATIVE HAIRDRESSERS,
INCORPORATED, d/b/a Hair Cuttery,
Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Richmond.
James R. Spencer, District Judge.
(CA-97-970-3)

Submitted: March 31, 1999

Decided: April 21, 1999

Before ERVIN and MICHAEL, Circuit Judges, and
HALL, Senior Circuit Judge.

_________________________________________________________________

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

Scott Gregory Crowley, CROWLEY & CROWLEY, Richmond, Vir-
ginia, for Appellant. Steven R. Semler, SEMLER & PRITZKER,
Washington, D.C., for Appellee.

_________________________________________________________________
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
Local Rule 36(c).

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Shafeka Z. Mohamed appeals from the district court's order grant-
ing summary judgment to her employer and dismissing her discrimi-
nation claim, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as amended. For
the reasons that follow, we affirm.

The relevant facts are undisputed. Shafeka Z. Mohamed worked as
a hair stylist for Creative Hairdressers, Inc. ("Hair Cuttery"). At
approximately 8:20 p.m., on November 8, 1996, Mohamed began to
leave the Hair Cuttery shop to go home for the evening. The assistant
manager on duty that night informed Mohamed that she was sched-
uled to work until 9 p.m. and told her not to leave. Despite the manag-
er's clear warning that if she left the store she could be fired,
Mohamed left the shop. Thereafter, Mohamed was terminated for
leaving early in direct violation of her manager's order to stay.
Mohamed alleges she was fired because of her national origin and
race.

Mohamed's claims fail for several reasons. First, the derogatory
comments made regarding her Egyptian heritage were unrelated to
her termination and thus are not direct evidence of discrimination. See
Hopkins v. Baltimore Gas & Elec., 77 F.3d 745, 754 (4th Cir. 1996);
Wilhelm v. Blue Bell, Inc., 773 F.2d 1429, 1433-34 (4th Cir. 1985).
Second, her clear act of insubordination reveals she was not perform-
ing her job in a satisfactory manner, and accordingly, she cannot
establish a prima facie case of discrimination under the McDonnell
Douglas burden-shifting scheme. See Karpel v. Inova Health Sys.
Servs., 134 F.3d 1222, 1228 (4th Cir. 1998). Third, Mohamed has
failed to rebut the employer's legitimate nondiscriminatory justifica-
tion for its action. See St. Mary's Honor Ctr. v. Hicks, 509 U.S. 502,
507-08 (1993).

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Finally, we find no merit in Mohamed's allegation that the district
court was hostile to her claim and unfairly biased against her. Accord-
ingly, we affirm the order of the district court. We grant Hair Cut-
tery's motion to submit the case without oral argument, because the
facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials
before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

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