Employment Law – Title VII – Wrongful Termination

By: Derek Hawkins//December 1, 2015//

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case No.: 14-2622

Case Name: Robert Smith v. CTA

Officials: EASTERBROOK, SYKES, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges

Pertinent Practice Areas: Employment Law – Title VII – Wrongful Termination

Appellant fails to establish a prima facie case of discrimination.

“But no evidence supports Smith’s theory that the CTA regularly channeled investigations of white employees to the operations departments while keeping investigations of nonwhite employees under the auspices of the EEO Unit. It’s undisputed that the EEO Unit was understaffed in 2006– 2007, and some sexual-harassment investigations were conducted by managers in the operations department. Of the eight identified cases in which this occurred, however, four involved black employees and two involved Hispanics. A jury could not reasonably infer discriminatory intent from this evidence.”

Affirmed.

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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