Brown v. Alabama Dept. of Transp.
597 F. 3d 1160 (11th Cir. 2010)
An African-American employee brought a Title VII action against her employer, alleging that she was denied nine separate promotions due to her race or for retaliatory reason. A jury found for the employee and awarded her back pay on the basis of each of the nine promotions. On appeal, the circuit court affirmed in part and reversed in part, holding that only three of the nine alleged violations were supported by substantial evidence. Although the jury was entitled to reject the employer’s proffered reason for denying the employee three of the promotions, there was insufficient evidence of racial discrimination or retaliation with respect to the other six
promotions. The case was remanded for recalculation of back pay, since the initial award was cumulative for all nine promotions.