 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
District of Columbia Housing Authority v. District of Columbia Office of Human Rights8/25/2005
Brummell. DPAH's initial Statement of Non-Selection was (to put it charitably) less than clear; as we read it, the only reason it actually offered for not choosing Brummell was its conclusory allusion to his allegedly "limited experience in the awarding of construction contracts." In weighing this Statement, it is significant that DPAH failed to certify as required that Brummell could not perform the duties of the Modernization Coordinator position without causing undue interruption to the agency operation. A fair inference from that glaring omission alone is that Brummell could have performed the duties of the position satisfactorily. The Director also was entitled to discount DPAH's belated and never substantiated assertion, seemingly made solely for litigation purposes, that HUD required Modernization Coordinators to have "technical" degrees -- a requirement that was unrelated to the criterion of experience in the awarding of construction contracts on which DPAH previously had relied. As the Director noted, this supposed educational requirement was not specified as a "Selective Placement Factor" in DPAH's original request to DCOP to authorize the new position, it was not mentioned in the original job description or supporting documents, and it was not cited in DPAH's required justification for not selecting Brummell. The purported HUD mandate that allegedly contained the technical degree requirement was never even produced (and could not even be found). In view of these facts, we think the Director reasonably could view DPAH's invocation of the technical degree requirement with skepticism and conclude that DPAH's shifting and unsupported explanations were not credible.
The Director therefore could find that Brummell proved by a preponderance of the evidence that DPAH's explanations were "pretext for discrimination." To meet his burden, Brummell was not required to present direct proof of intentional discrimination or demonstrate that the employment decision had a disparate impact on members of his protected class. " plaintiff's prima facie case, combined with sufficient evidence to find that the employer's asserted justification is false, may permit the trier of fact to conclude that the employer unlawfully discriminated." Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 148 (2000). To be sure, a trier of fact may not find "pretext for discrimination" on a record which "conclusively revealed some other, nondiscriminatory reason for the employer's decision," or if there existed "only a weak issue of fact as to whether the employer's reason was untrue and there was abundant and uncontroverted independent evidence that no discrimination had occurred." Id. But as the evidence we have summarized shows, that is not this case. Under Reeves, the Director's well-grounded conclusion that DPAH's stated reasons were false is sufficient to find that they were pretext for discrimination. We hold that there was sufficient evidence in the record to support the Director's determination.
V.
In summary, we conclude that DCHA's petition for review of DHR's decision was timely and within the jurisdiction of the Superior Court. We thus affirm Judge Hedge's denial of Brummell's motion to dismiss the petition. We also affirm Judge Braman's decision to deny the petition and uphold DHR's determination that DPAH violated the D.C. Human Rights Act by discriminating against Brummell on the bases of national origin and/or age when it refused to select him for a Modernization Coordinator position. We hold that DCHA forfeited its claim that DHR should have dismissed Brummell's complaint on account of his failure to consult with an EEO Counselor, as well as its claim that DHR should have conducted an eviden
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 District of Columbia Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|