PHILADELPHIA -- The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has partially granted and partially denied a motion for summary judgment in a race discrimination case against the City of Philadelphia.
Deanna Pierce, a Native American, filed the lawsuit after two other people were promoted above her.
“Pierce believes the [Philadelphia Police Department] promoted the other employees in an effort to satisfy the city’s goal of building a diverse municipal workforce that 'looks like the City of Philadelphia,'" the court decision stated. "She claims the city discriminated against her on the basis of race, harassed her and retaliated against her for complaining of unlawful discrimination,"
She filed for summary judgment but the court denied it and granted in part and denied in part the motion from the City.
“Notwithstanding Pierce’s myriad allegations, there is no record evidence upon which a reasonable jury could find she was severely or pervasively discriminated against because of her race,” the court decision stated.
“Pierce does not contest that the city has articulated legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for the conduct that she alleges contributed to a retaliatory hostile work environment, and she does not articulate a pretext argument specifically tailored to her retaliatory hostile work environment claim."
However, the court will allow a jury to determine whether retaliation was the motive behind Pierce's claims of a hostile work environment.
“For reasons that support Pierce’s pretext argument in the context of her retaliation claim, however, there is enough evidence in the record upon which a reasonable juror could either find that retaliation was more likely than not the cause of the hostile work environment or disbelieve the city’s stated reasons for creating a hostile work environment,” the court decision stated.
“The alleged harassment is not severe, and while it may arguably have been pervasive, none of the conduct Pierce describes was based on race. There is no evidence (at all) that Albandoz treated Pierce poorly because of Pierce’s race and Pierce fails to satisfy the first element of her hostile work environment claim."
The court noted there was a hint of discrimination in some of the actions of employees of the city.
“On the evidence presented, a reasonable jury could find that Carney applied a discriminatory policy within the [Philadelphia Police Department] by making promotional decisions on the basis of race in an effort to build a workforce in the [Philadelphia Police Department] that reflects the demographics of the city,” the court document stated.