Does a sex discrimination claim fail simply because an employer does not discriminate against every member of the plaintiff's sex. "No," the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit answered recently in Strickland v UPS, No 07-1082 (February 24, 2009). The court's ruling indicates how widely misunderstood this simple point is among judges and some lawyers.
Strickland was a sales representative for UPS. Her supervisor, Roten, suggested that she take leave to deal with personal issues, a suggestion that she took. However, when she returned to work she was chastised for having "let down the company," compelled to attend numerous and frequent meetings with her supervisor and district manager, Donnell, which interrupted her sales work, compelled to draw up sales plans that other salespeople were not even though she had higher sales figures, and subjected to constant performance evaluations. She had five male co-workers and one female co-worker, Harper. All testified that Strickland was treated differently than they were, although Harper testified that she was not treated differently than the men. She was compelled eventually to leave her employment and filed suit charging sex discrimination.
The court ruled that Strickland's sex discrimination claim "does not fail simply because an employer does not discriminate against every member of the plaintiff's sex." Such evidence may weaken the claim, the court ruled, but does not defeat it.
Robert L. Abell
