H. Renee James v. City of Montgomery, Alabama

INTRODUCTION Petitioner H. Renee James is a former police officer with the City of Montgomery, Alabama, who was a fourteen-year veteran at the time her employment was terminated. During her employment, James suffered what she alleged were multiple unfounded or unfair disciplinary actions based on her race (black) or her sex (female), which culminated in her termination from employment with the Police Department, allegedly under the City’s progressive discipline policy, but which James asserted was pursuant to impermissible discrimination and retaliation due to her filing of the instant lawsuit. The district court and the Eleventh Circuit both found that James had failed to meet her burden to survive summary judgment as to either her claim of discrimination or retaliation. In particular, the Eleventh Circuit found that an allegedly insubordinate email James sent to the Chief of Police (and others) shortly before her termination was a “major” employment violation; that James had two prior “major” employment violations; and that James’s termination was therefore “the culmination of the Department’s progressive-discipline policy.” Consequently, the Eleventh Circuit found that James did not establish “but-for” causation in order to survive summary judgment.