Third Circuit holds that an employer's consistent use of efficiency ratings as a basis for determining which employees would be laid off mandated dismissal of plaintiff's claims of reverse race discrimination and retaliation.

The Third Circuit upheld summary judgment in favor of an employer in three employees' claims of reverse race discrimination and retaliation. The plaintiffs alleged that Asian employees were treated more favorably than non-Asian employees and that the plaintiffs' terminations were the result of race discrimination. In upholding the dismissal of their claims, the Third Circuit noted that the employer used a software program that calculated an individual employee's efficiency rating based on the number of items serviced by that employee in a given time period. As a result, when the company initiated reductions in force—which were necessitated by a steady decline in the volume of work at its facility—it conducted a "Reduction in Workforce Analysis," which ranked the employees based on their efficiency ratings, regardless of race. In holding that the employees' failed to demonstrate that the employer's reason for their terminations was a pretext for racial discrimination, the court reasoned that during each reduction in force, both Asian and non-Asian employees were laid off, an Asian employee was likewise laid off for low efficiency ratings within three weeks of the alleged adverse employment decision at issue in the lawsuit. The employees admitted that they could not dispute the efficiency ratings at issue. In addition, in upholding dismissal of the plaintiffs' retaliation claims, the court noted that the employees complained several times over the years and, as a result, the complaint prior to the layoff was "merely coincidental."

Case Law Alert - 2nd Qtr 2012