Takeaway: Employers should ensure access to training opportunities and the training itself are provided on a nondiscriminatory basis.
A federal appeals court upheld the dismissal of a trainee who did not complete basic operator training and therefore could not satisfactorily perform the job for which he was hired. Opportunities to access and complete the training were provided in a nondiscriminatory manner, according to the court.
In 2017, Exxon Mobil hired the plaintiff and nine others as operators-in-training to work at a polypropylene chemical plant. Under the training program, a trainee must first pass basic operator training—six weeks of classroom instruction followed by written tests.
If the trainee passes basic training, they move on to field training, where they get hands-on experience while shadowing plant staff, track their progress with a "qualification card" and complete reading assignments. After about four months, trainees must pass a test known as a "final walkthrough," which consists of a series of questions about operator safety. If a trainee passes the walkthrough, they become an operator.
During training, the plaintiff, a Black man, "failed 14 tests—the most in his class and the maximum allowed—and scored poorly overall," the appeals court said. Still, he passed and started field training, along with a white classmate. With four months to go until his walkthrough, the plaintiff was assigned a handbook and a trainer. Each day, he had time to go through...
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