Turner v. Kansas City Southern Railway Co.

In this employment discrimination case, the EEOC and Thomas D. Turner (collectively, plaintiffs), appealed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant, dismissing all plaintiffs' claims that the decisions to discipline Turner and three other African American employees for putative work-rule violations were based on race in violation of federal and state law. The court affirmed with respect to the claims based on the decisions to discipline Jesse Frank and Clarence Cargo because the court concluded that the EEOC had failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination with regard to those decisions. However, the court reversed with respect to the claims based on the decisions to discipline Turner and Lester Thomas because the court concluded that plaintiffs have established a prima facie case of discrimination; and that defendant failed to produce admissible evidence of legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for those decisions. Thus, a jury question existed as to whether the decisions to discipline Turner and Thomas were impermissibly based on race. View "Turner v. Kansas City Southern Railway Co." on Justia Law