Supreme Court Will Not Review Case On Title VII Liability Based On Animus Of Supervisor Who Influenced Termination Decision But Was Not Decisionmaker
The Supreme Court has refused to review a Seventh
Circuit decision that a university was not liable to an employee under Title VII
based on his supervisor's influence on the office director who decided to
terminate his employment, even if the supervisor failed, because of the
employee's race, to provide the director with information indicating that the
employee was not responsible for the dishonest alteration of a parking permit
that led to his termination. Although the director listened to the information
relayed to her by the supervisor, she did not simply rely on that information,
but instead conducted an independent investigation by examining the parking
permit and determining that it had been altered. Although the director did not
investigate the possibility that the supervisor was holding back relevant
information, she had no reason to suspect that such information had been
withheld, since the employee made no such claim.
The petition for certiorari asked whether an
employer can be held liable under Title VII when the discriminatory animus of an
intermediate supervisor was a factor in the employer's ultimate decision to
impose an adverse employment action, even when there is no evidence that the
formal decision-maker personally harbored bias against the affected employee.
Brewer v. Board of Trustees of University of Illinois