Huffman v. Sunbelt Rentals, Inc.

Excerpt

DISCRIMINATION — EMPLOYER/EMPLOYEE —RETALITION: The trial court properly granted summary judgment in favor of defendant-employer on plaintiff-employee's claim for race discrimination where the employee failed to demonstrate a prima facie case of race discrimination: the employee did not demonstrate an inference that he had been replaced by a person outside of the protected class where the employee's former job duties were spread out among remaining employees and where the employer filled the former position a year after the former employee's termination. When evaluating the third prong of a prima facie case of employment discrimination, a court must examine the plaintiff's evidence of his or her qualifications for the position independent of the nondiscriminatory reasons asserted by the employer as its reasons for terminating plaintiff's employment. Where the plaintiff-employee did not demonstrate a prima facie case of retaliation, the trial court properly granted summary judgment in favor of the employer: the employee's evidence that he was terminated more than two months after he had reported "racial tension" was not sufficient, without more, to establish a causal link between the employee's protected activity and the employer's decision to terminate the employee.