Midland employee’s slam-dunk race bias, retaliation case stalls out

Sometimes a case seems like a surefire winner for the employee, but it turns out not to be one. That’s why understanding the ins and outs of employment law is crucial. (By the way, the same principle holds true when employers think they have a sure winner that turns out to be a clunker.)

Case looks solid

Wendy Foster is black. She began working in December 2014 as a crude logistics scheduler for an oil field services company in Midland, Texas. When she was hired, the company promised her a $15,000 raise after she had been employed for 30 days. The raise never materialized.

Not unreasonably, Foster complained, but the hiring manager told her she wouldn’t get the raise because she was black. To add insult to injury, she trained two white employees, both females, who made $65,000 a year—the same salary she would have earned if she had gotten the raise. All three employees had the same job title.

Foster was terminated on February 15, 2016, in a reduction in force, but not before she complained yet again about not getting the raise. She sued for race discrimination and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She lost, but why?

Case dissolves

Let’s consider the pertinent issues one by one: