Having multiple persons in termination decision overcomes bias claim

Every employer is faced with having to terminate employees involuntarily and thereby exposing themselves to discrimination claims. There are steps you can take, however, to improve the likelihood the claims will be rejected. A recent decision by the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals (which governs Arkansas and Missouri federal courts) illustrates at least one such step.

Standards for tenure

Melissa Maras was a university tenure-track assistant professor, which meant she would be employed on a year-to-year basis during a probationary period that usually lasted six years. In the ordinary course, she would apply to be an associate professor with tenure in the probationary period's final year. If the university declined to grant tenure, she would receive a one-year terminal appointment.

The university's regulations emphasized the importance of an applicant's scholarship, with productivity in research and other scholarly activities being the most distinguishing characteristic of tenured faculty. Tenure would generally be denied if those activities weren't at the highest level. Guidelines specific to Maras' department provided:

• Tenure applicants must have "begun to establish a national reputation as a scholar" by publishing 10 to 12 "high-quality publications" in "high-quality, refereed professional journals" or writing books or textbooks, among other things;
• The publications must "establish an empirical and programmatic line of research"; and
• "Candidates must show scholarly leadership through first authorship in at least some instances."

Multilayered review process