Atlanta Employment Attorneys Blog
In a setback for one employee, a federal district court in Georgia recently ruled against her on a summary judgment motion. Kejar Butler had claimed racial discrimination and retaliation for taking time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
In Butler v. SunTrust Bank, Kejar Butler was an African American woman who began working for SunTrust in January 2005. During the fall of 2011, Butler took eight weeks of leave in order to give birth to her child. At the time, Butler was the assistant branch manager of the Thomasville branch of SunTrust, and during her absence, the position of branch manager became vacant. Butler applied for the position, and upon return from maternity leave, was interviewed along with two other internal candidates. Eventually SunTrust hired a different candidate, a white woman.
The area manager who did the hiring had directly supervised and evaluated both Butler and Heather Barnes, the woman who was hired. During the interview process, he interviewed Barnes in person and Butler by telephone. Following her interview, Butler learned that she would not be getting the manager position due to her poor client service scores and inadequate coaching logs. Butler complained to the SunTrust management, then later went on to file a lawsuit on the grounds of Title VII racial discrimination and retaliation against her for exercising her rights under the FMLA. SunTrust responded by filing a motion for summary judgment.