5th Circuit douses Houston firefighter’s race and sex bias claims

On June 9, 2020, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Texas) sent out a reminder to the lower courts about basic but important legal principles for analyzing discrimination claims. The insights are helpful to Texas employers. Read on.

Trouble at the fire station

Carla West, an African-American woman, worked as an engineer/operator paramedic for the city of Houston. She filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging race and sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Overtime allegations. First, West claimed station superiors denied her overtime opportunities because of her race and sex. Instead, she insisted they would select her white, male colleagues for the extra work and pay. The department has two types of overtime pay:

• Holdover overtime occurs when a captain “holds over” an employee from the outgoing shift to fill an unanticipated vacancy on the incoming shift (it isn’t meant to last the entire shift).
• Ride-up overtime happens when an individual ranked directly beneath an absent employee fills the vacant position.

As with many discrimination claims, however, the answer can be found in the details, and West’s charges didn’t survive the court’s scrutiny.