Court Opinion

ID: 9619091
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:21:55.588043+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:36.702568
License: Public Domain

Judge Hunter
concurring in the result.
I concur in the result of the majority opinion but write separately to articulate my disagreement with part of the majority’s reasoning. I agree with the majority that petitioner has not satisfied the third element of the prima facie case for his claim that he was demoted and transferred from Wilmington to Asheville due to his political affiliation. The third element required for making a prima facie case of political discrimination is a showing of a causal relationship between the petitioner’s political affiliation and the adverse employment action. Robertson v. Fiore, 62 F.3d 596 (3rd Cir. 1995). The majority found that this element was not satisfied since petitioner had written letters to DMV requesting that he be demoted and transferred to *484Asheville. Thus, the only evidence admitted suggesting political discrimination was mere speculation.
I respectfully disagree with the majority’s conclusion that petitioner satisfied the elements required for making a prima facie case with respect to DMV’s refusal to hire petitioner for the Asheville inspector positions that became available in July and August of 1993. In my opinion, the third element for establishing a prima facie case of political discrimination, the causal connection requirement, was not met and the evidence presented by petitioner on this claim, as the evidence presented for the demotion and transfer claim, was mere speculation. The majority finds that the causal connection requirement was met because of petitioner’s unsubstantiated testimony that Joe Whitt, the person to whom the July inspector position was offered, is the brother of a precinct chairman of the Democratic Party in Buncombe County. Joe Austin, the person eventually hired for the August inspector position, “knows a lot of people,” including several high-ranking officials in the Democratic Party. This testimony was nothing more than mere speculation. In my opinion, the petitioner did not satisfy the causal connection existing between his political affiliation and DMV’s refusal to hire him. Under the majority’s holding, an employee working for a public agency in a non-policymaking position, who has an affiliation with a certain political party, need only speculate as to the causal connection between the political affiliation and the adverse employment action in order to make out a prima facie case for political discrimination. I would hold that this is insufficient to satisfy the causal connection requirement of a political discrimination claim.