Employment – Race discrimination

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Employment – Race discrimination

Where the Fire Commissioner who demoted a firefighter, and the firefighter who replaced him, were also black, summary judgment was properly granted to the employer on the employee’s race discrimination claim.

“Bates argues that we should not infer that Trotter opposes racial discrimination simply because he is black, and therefore would not discriminate against another black firefighter. Although it is possible for employers to discriminate against members of their own race, Bates provided no evidence that Trotter was racially biased against black firefighters. Instead, the record shows that Trotter promoted many black firefighters to at-will positions in the Chicago Fire Department. He promoted eight black firefighters in the personnel order dated May 24, 2004, and he increased the number of black District Chiefs from two to three. Indeed, Trotter replaced Bates with Russell, who was also a black firefighter. And not only did Russell and Bates share the same race, Russell had been the president of the African American Firefighters League for more than a decade. Trotter was well aware of Russell’s advocacy for the African American Firefighters League, and Trotter and Russell had even been on a television show together and discussed Russell’s work against racial discrimination. Russell’s activism is likely what Trotter referred to as the ‘high energy [and] enthusiasm’ that the Fire Department needed ‘to carry out [his] goals and reflect [his] management style.’ Therefore, we affirm the
district court’s ruling that Bates failed to establish a prima facie case, and even if Bates were able to do so, he would be unable to show that Trotter’s reason for Bates’s demotion was merely pretext.”

Affirmed.

12-1500 Bates v. City of Chicago

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Zagel, J., Manion, J.

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