Takeaway: A Black applicant for a promotion who showed that she was arguably more qualified for the position than the white applicant who was selected raised an inference of racial discrimination and could therefore take her racial bias claim to trial.
A Black employee of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) showed that she was arguably more qualified for a promotion than the white applicant who received the job, and that was enough to raise the inference that the USPS racially discriminated against her by denying her the position, a federal appeals court ruled recently. The plaintiff could take her claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to trial, the court said.
In April 2015, the plaintiff applied for the position of supervisor of customer services at the main post office in Grand Rapids, Mich. Fourteen other candidates applied for the position. A three-member review committee evaluated those applicants' written applications and referred five candidates—including the plaintiff—to the postmaster general for Grand Rapids. After interviewing those five candidates, the postmaster general selected a white applicant for the job.
At the time that the plaintiff applied for the position, she had worked for the USPS for over 27 years, during which she held a variety of positions. She had extensive retail experience, including running a local post office's retail unit for several years. During that time, her unit earned perfect scores for four consecutive years on the only...
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