United States Fourth Circuit

Summary judgment for defendant-employer on plaintiff's claims alleging racial discrimination and retaliation, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 42 U.S.C. section 1981, is affirmed, where: 1) the district court did not err in excluding plaintiff's answers to interrogatories from consideration as part of the summary judgment record; 2) a coworker's use of the offensive term twice in a period of two days in discussions about a single incident was not, as a matter of law, so severe or pervasive as to change the terms and conditions of plaintiff's employment so as to be legally discriminatory; and 3) plaintiff could not have had an objectively reasonable belief that, in complaining to management about the two related conversations, she was complaining about conduct that was unlawful either under Title VII or section 1981, so her retaliation claim fails as well.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/13/2014
• Published 05/13/2014

Judges

• NIEMEYER

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel