WENDY BEETLESTONE, District Judge.
Plaintiff Danny Leroy Butler brings this case against his former employer, Defendant Arctic Glacier USA ("Arctic Glacier"), alleging that he was terminated for refusing to submit to a racially motivated drug test.
Plaintiff was hired by Defendant in April 2007 as a Production Associate in Defendant's Twin Oaks, Pennsylvania facility. Joint Appendix ("J.A.") 11. Defendant is a manufacturer and distributor of ice products, and Plaintiff's job responsibilities included operating various ice production machinery, stacking bags of ice on pallets, and using a forklift to move pallets within the warehouse. J.A. 9-10. Since demand for ice is greater in the summer, most of the Production Associates at the Twin Oaks facility — including Plaintiff — were seasonally laid off each fall and re-applied for their positions each spring. J.A. 11. Each spring from 2008 until 2013, Plaintiff was re-hired following an interview with the manager of the Twin Oaks facility, John Stratman ("Stratman"). Id. At the conclusion of the 2014 peak ice season, Plaintiff continued working at the facility throughout the winter to complete various off-season maintenance projects, and he thus did not experience a seasonal layoff in 2013 and was not required to re-apply for his position in the spring of 2014. J.A. 20. Throughout his tenure at the facility, Plaintiff was consistently given excellent performance reviews. J.A. 16, 18-20, 67.
In early July 2014, an individual identifying herself as the mother of Plaintiff's
To conduct the investigation, Gravener and Division Production Manager Bob Keen ("Keen") went to the Twin Oaks facility and joined Stratman for interviews with each Production Associate. J.A. 50.
In his meeting with management, Plaintiff denied selling marijuana at work. J.A. 23.
A few days after the interviews, Keen informed Stratman that all of the employees who admitted that they could not pass a drug test would be fired, along with two employees who failed the test. J.A. 53. Stratman believes that this was a change from the original plan to give a two-week grace period, id., but Gravener, who made the final decision to terminate the employees, testified that he had always planned to terminate any employees who admitted they could not pass the test. J.A. 67. In any case, Stratman informed Plaintiff that he was fired. J.A. 23. Plaintiff contends that Stratman told him that he was welcome to re-apply in 2015. Id. Stratman does not recall if he said this. J.A. 53.
In April 2015, Plaintiff applied to return to his seasonal Production Associate position. J.A. 28. He also applied for a driver position, even though he did not have a Commercial Driver's License ("CDL"), which is a requirement for the driver position. J.A. 5, 16. Stratman asked Keen if Plaintiff could be re-hired, and Keen replied that it was "not a good idea." J.A. 55.
In addition to Plaintiff, three of the other employees terminated after the 2014 investigation applied to return to the Twin Oaks facility in 2015. J.A. 54. Stratman did not consult with Keen or Gravener regarding these other re-applicants, and he chose to re-hire one of them, an African-American male older than Plaintiff who had admitted he would fail a drug test, but not to re-hire the other two — an African-American male who had admitted he would fail and a Hispanic male who had tested positive for THC. Id.
"[S]ummary judgment is appropriate where there `is no genuine issue as to any material fact' and the moving party is `entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.'" Alabama v. North Carolina, 560 U.S. 330, 344, 130 S.Ct. 2295, 176 L.Ed.2d 1070 (2010) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)). "By its very terms, this standard provides that the mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment; the requirement is that there be no genuine issue of material fact." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).
"A genuine issue is present when a reasonable trier of fact, viewing all of the record evidence, could rationally find in favor of the non-moving party in light of his burden of proof." Doe v. Abington Friends Sch., 480 F.3d 252, 256 (3d Cir. 2007) (citing Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-26, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248-52, 106 S.Ct. 2505). Material facts are those which "might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing substantive law." Scheidemantle v. Slippery Rock Univ. State Sys. of Higher Educ., 470 F.3d 535, 538 (3d Cir. 2006). In deciding a motion for summary judgment, "[t]he reviewing court should view the facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party and draw all reasonable inferences in that party's favor." Burton v. Teleflex Inc., 707 F.3d 417, 425 (3d Cir. 2013). However, to prevail on a motion for summary judgment, "the non-moving party must present
Although Plaintiff has alleged race discrimination under three different statutes — Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and the PHRA — the parties agree that the same legal analysis applies to race discrimination claims under all three laws. See Brown v. J. Kaz, Inc., 581 F.3d 175, 181-82 (3d Cir. 2009) ("[T]he substantive elements of a claim under section 1981 are generally identical to the elements of an employment discrimination claim under Title VII."); Kelly v. Drexel Univ., 94 F.3d 102, 105 (3d Cir. 1996) ("[Pennsylvania courts] generally interpret the PHRA in accord with its federal counterparts."). Title VII claims, like Plaintiff's, that are based on indirect evidence must be analyzed under the burden-shifting framework set out in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973).
To establish a prima facie case of discrimination under Title VII, a plaintiff must show that he: (1) was a member of a protected class; (2) was qualified for the position; (3) suffered an adverse employment action; and, (4) the circumstances of the adverse employment action imply discrimination. Jones v. Sch. Dist. of Phila., 198 F.3d 403, 410-11 (3d Cir. 1999). A plaintiff may support an inference of discrimination by showing that "similarly situated" employees who were not in a protected class were treated more favorably, see Mandel v. M & Q Packaging Corp., 706 F.3d 157, 170 (3d Cir. 2013), but the employees identified to support this inference must be "similar in `all relevant respects.'" Opsatnik v. Norfolk S. Corp., 335 Fed.Appx. 220, 223 (3d Cir. 2009) (quoting Holifield v. Reno, 115 F.3d 1555, 1562 (11th Cir. 1997)). This standard is case-specific, but generally requires a "`showing that the two employees dealt with the same supervisor, were subject to
Defendant does not dispute, for the purpose of this motion, that Plaintiff is a member of a protected class, that he was qualified for his position, and that he has identified three adverse actions: (1) a drug test,
Plaintiff's primary argument in support of his race discrimination claim is that requiring only the production employees (who are primarily African-American and Hispanic), but not the management employees (who are allegedly Caucasian), to take a drug test suggests that the drug tests were motivated by racial bias. Defendant responds that there is insufficient information in the record regarding the racial disparity between production and management employees to support an inference that Plaintiff was treated differently based on his race.
Setting aside whether Plaintiff's quasi-statistical evidence could support a disparate treatment claim under some circumstances, it is insufficient here for a reason unique to Plaintiff: Defendant had independent information that he was selling and using drugs at work. There is nothing in the record to suggest that it had such information about any other employee. Thus, this inference does not apply to Plaintiff himself because he was not similarly situated to any other employee on the most relevant factor in this case: actual allegations of drug selling and use at work. Since Plaintiff has not identified any other employee who was specifically accused of drug use, but was not asked to take a drug test, nor has he cited other evidence to support an inference of discrimination surrounding his drug test, he has failed to establish a prima facie case of race discrimination with respect to the drug test.
At this juncture, Plaintiff does not appear to argue that his termination itself
Plaintiff has not presented a specific argument concerning Defendant's decision not to re-hire Plaintiff in spring 2015. Indeed, this claim is undermined by the fact that the only employee re-hired in 2015 after being fired as a result of the 2014 drug investigation was, like Plaintiff, an African-American male. Given the lack of a specific argument to support this claim and that the only other employee who was re-hired was the same race as Plaintiff, Plaintiff has failed to make out a prima facie case of race discrimination arising from Defendant's decision not to re-hire him.
Since Plaintiff has failed to establish a prima facie case with respect to any of the alleged adverse actions in this case, Defendant's motion for summary judgment shall be granted with respect to Plaintiff's race discrimination claims under Title VII, section 1981, and the PHRA.
The Court's jurisdiction over Plaintiff's claim for wrongful discharge is based on supplemental jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a), which provides the Court with jurisdiction over state-law claims that "form part of the same case or controversy" as claims over which the Court has original jurisdiction. However, the Court may decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction when it has "dismissed all claims over which it has original jurisdiction." 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(3). Furthermore, "where the claim[s] over which the district court has original jurisdiction [are] dismissed before trial, the district court must decline to decide the pendent state claims unless considerations of judicial economy, convenience, and fairness to the parties provide an affirmative justification for doing so." Borough of W. Mifflin v. Lancaster, 45 F.3d 780, 788 (3d Cir. 1995) (emphasis added).
In this case, none of Plaintiff's federal claims survive, so the Court may decline supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiff's state-law wrongful discharge claim, and must do so under Third Circuit precedent unless considerations of judicial economy, convenience, and fairness affirmatively justify exercising jurisdiction. Neither party has identified any one of these factors that would be implicated by the Court's declining jurisdiction over this claim, nor can the Court identify any reason that judicial economy or convenience would be served by continuing to exercise jurisdiction over this claim that implicates an evolving and complex issue of Pennsylvania law. Accordingly, the Court shall decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiff's wrongful discharge claim, and that claim shall be dismissed without prejudice.
An order follows.