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Title VII Violation

By: Derek Hawkins//July 6, 2017//

Title VII Violation

By: Derek Hawkins//July 6, 2017//

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Auto Zone, Inc., et al.

Case No.: 15-3201

Officials:  EASTERBROOK, KANNE, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Title VII Violation

From 2008 to 2012, Kevin Stuckey worked as a sales manager for the auto-parts retailer Auto- Zone, Inc. During his four years with the company, Stuckey was transferred between Chicago-area stores several times. None of these transfers entailed any loss in pay, benefits, or job responsibilities. In July 2012 he was transferred again, this time from a store on Kedzie Avenue that serves a largely Hispanic clientele. This transfer, too, involved no reduction in his pay or responsibilities. Stuckey never reported for work at his new assignment. Instead he filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accusing AutoZone of racial discrimination in violation of Title VII. Stuckey is black; he claimed that AutoZone transferred him out of the Kedzie location in an effort to make it a “predominantly Hispanic” store.

The EEOC filed suit on Stuckey’s behalf alleging that the transfer violated 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(a)(2), an infrequently litigated provision in Title VII that makes it unlawful for an employer “to limit, segregate, or classify his employees … in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” The district judge granted summary judgment for AutoZone, holding that the transfer was not an adverse employment action. The EEOC contests this conclusion, arguing that the statute doesn’t require the claimant to prove that the challenged action adversely affected his employment opportunities or status. That reading cannot be squared with the plain statutory text. The district judge properly entered summary judgment for Auto Zone. We affirm.

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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