Fifth Circuit Silent on Job Bias Test Viability at Hearing (1)

Two federal appellate judges seemed reluctant to revive a White former news anchor’s wrongful termination and racial bias suit, which also challenges a long-standing requirement that plaintiffs must show their employer tried to cover up unlawful discrimination in order to reach trial.

Judges Dana M. Douglas and Irma Carrillo Ramirez of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit didn’t address Barbie Bassett’s request to overturn a district court’s application of “pretext,” the final step of the three-part evidentiary test the US Supreme Court’s 1973’s McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green established to evaluate indirect evidence of workplace bias.

Instead, ...