Jenkins v. Caddo-Bossier Ass'n for Retarded Children, CADDO-BOSSIER

• Decision Date: 06 April 1978
• Docket Number: CADDO-BOSSIER,No. 76-1878,76-1878
• Citation: 570 F.2d 1227
• Parties: 17 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1271, 16 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 8226 LeEthyl JENKINS and Roosevelt Harrison, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v.ASSOCIATION FOR RETARDED CHILDREN, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 1227

570 F.2d 1227

17 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1271, 16 Empl. Prac.

Dec. P 8226

LeEthyl JENKINS and Roosevelt Harrison, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CADDO-BOSSIER ASSOCIATION FOR RETARDED CHILDREN, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 76-1878.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

April 6, 1978.

Frank E. Brown, Jr., Shreveport, La., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Thomas J. Wyatt, Shreveport, La., for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

Before, HILL, RUBIN, and VANCE, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

The trial court having rejected plaintiffs' claims of racial discrimination in connection with their employment, based on 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983, and Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, petitioners appeal. We agree with the trial court's finding that the evidence does not support appellants' charges of racial discrimination, and we therefore affirm.

The three plaintiffs, all Black, alleged that their employer, the Caddo- Bossier Association for Retarded Children (C-BARC), had discriminated against them on account of their race. C-BARC, a non-profit corporation, operates a sheltered workshop for mentally handicapped adults at which the persons who participate in the program perform paid contract work for private businesses. It employs approximately 26 people to operate the workshop and instruct participants. Each of the plaintiffs was employed as a "supervisor" or "instructor" in the sheltered workshop. Two of the original three plaintiffs are before us on appeal.

Mrs. LeEthyl Jenkins alleges she was subjected to harassment on the job, and was subsequently discriminatorily discharged on March 15, 1973. C-BARC's Executive Director testified that he made the decision to terminate Mrs. Jenkins because of her inability to get along with her fellow employees and her poor work performance. The trial court concluded that there was no evidence to support Mrs. Jenkins' claims that she had been either harassed or discharged because of her race. This conclusion was supported, in part, by the fact that Mrs. Jenkins was replaced by a black employee and the additional fact that a white employee had been discharged for similar reasons.

Appellant Roosevelt Harrison contends that, because of his race, he was denied promotion on three separate occasions. The trial court found that Harrison did not establish he was discriminated against because of his race and that racial considerations played no part in the filling of the jobs in question.

The criteria for proof of discrimination in employment have been set forth by this court in a number of opinions. As summarized in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 1973, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668, and recently applied in this circuit in Corley v. Jackson Police Dept., 5 Cir. 1978, 566 F.2d 994, and in Adams v. Reed, 5 Cir. 1978, 567 F.2d 1283, p. 1285 (1978), the complainant must carry the initial burden of establishing a prima facie case of racial discrimination by showing he belongs...