Discrimination Cases

Race discrimination, gender discrimination, R.C. 4112. Civ.R. 53, employment discrimination, reverse discrimination, gender, race. Plaintiff, a white male, brought claims for race and gender discrimination in violation of R.C. 4112. The case proceeded to trial before a magistrate. The magistrate recommended judgment in favor of defendant after finding that plaintiff failed to prove his claims for race and age discrimination by a preponderance of the evidence. Plaintiff filed two objections: (1) that the magistrate erred in concluding that plaintiff was not comparable to a black female employee, Bailey-Harris, who was treated more favorably than he was and (2) that the magistrate erred in concluding that plaintiff's termination was pretextual for unlawful discrimination. Regarding the first objection, the court determined that the magistrate did not err in concluding that Bailey-Harris was not comparable to plaintiff since plaintiff held a different position, had different job duties, had more experience, and was paid considerably more than Bailey-Harris. Regarding the second objection, the court found that the magistrate did not err in concluding that plaintiff's supervisor would have made the same decision to terminate plaintiff absent any impermissible bias against him because there was sufficient evidence revealing that plaintiff's supervisor had taken issue with plaintiff's performance and determined that he was not right for the position. Both of plaintiff's objections were overruled, and judgment was rendered in favor of defendant.

Arbitration Agreement waiver scope. Trial court properly found that the parties' dispute was not governed by arbitration plaintiff's claims existed independently of the employment relationship and her R.C. Chapter 4112-based claims were not subject to arbitration due to lack of sufficient evidence of assent and/or waiver.

The plaintiff sought to recover damages from the defendants for employment discrimination pursuant to the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act (§ 46a-51 et seq.) following the termination of her employment. The plaintiff, who was employed by the defendants as a certified nursing assistant (CNA), alleged that she was approved for unpaid leave by the defendants in order to undergo knee surgery but, while she was recovering from that surgery, she was terminated for failing to report to work and for failing to report her absences on two dates that occurred approximately one week before her surgery. The plaintiff alleged that prior to these absences, she received a phone call from one of the defendants' employees, who told her not to report to work on those two dates, as the defendants were overbooked with CNAs. Since her surgery, the plaintiff has not sought work as a CNA, because she believed she has not yet recovered sufficiently to perform the essential functions required of that position. The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment and in support thereof, submitted various documents including the defendants' attendance policy, portions of the plaintiff's sworn depo- sition, disciplinary reports warning the plaintiff about her absenteeism and the certified letter sent to the plaintiff, which terminated her employ- ment. The trial court granted the defendants' motion for summary judg- ment and rendered judgment thereon, from which the plaintiff appealed to this court. Held: 1. The trial court erred in rendering summary judgment in favor of the defendants as to the plaintiff's discrimination claims, as there was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the termination of the plaintiff's employment was pretextual and as to whether, at the time her employment was terminated, the plaintiff was qualified to perform the essential functions of her job, with a reasonable accommodation of a leave of absence: the record was devoid of any evidence regarding how

Grant of summary judgment was proper in employment discrimination case where plaintiff failed to show existence of employment relationship between herself and business where she was assigned to work by contractor.