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Employment — race discrimination

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//June 16, 2014//

Employment — race discrimination

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//June 16, 2014//

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U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit

Civil

Employment — race discrimination

Where an employee failed to meet his employer’s reasonable expectations, his termination was not race discrimination.

“All three of Huang’s arguments are meritless. First, employers are entitled to determine their scheduling needs, see Foster v. Arthur Andersen, LLP, 168 F.3d 1029, 1035 (7th Cir. 1999), and decide whether employees are satisfying them, see Collins v. American Red Cross, 715 F.3d 994, 1000 (7th Cir. 2013); Naik v. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharm., Inc., 627 F.3d 596, 600 (7th Cir. 2010). Huang’s offer to work Sundays could not satisfy CNA’s needs because the company needed him on call throughout all of Sunday and Saturday, and he refused to comply. Second, although a longing to spend more time with family is understandable, it does not undermine the legitimacy of a work schedule that cuts into family time. Grube v. Lau Indus. Inc., 257 F.3d 723, 729 (7th Cir. 2001). Nor does Huang’s preference for home life invalidate CNA’s conclusion that Huang did not meet the company’s work expectations. See Robin v. Espo Eng’g Corp., 200 F.3d 1081, 1091–92 (7th Cir. 2000). Finally, CNA need not have memorialized its pager duty in a job description to make it a valid employment expectation. Renken v. Gregory, 541 F.3d 769, 773 (7th Cir. 2008) (explaining that ‘[d]etermining what falls within the scope of an employee’s duties is a practical exercise that focuses on the duties an employee actually is expected to perform’ because ‘[f]ormal job descriptions often bear little resemblance to’ those duties) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).”

Affirmed.

12-1300 Huang v. Continental Casualty Co.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Lindberg, J., Rovner, J.

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