SAN DIEGO – A federal court agreed last week to dismiss a discrimination suit brought against Sun Community FCU by an African-American former vice president of lending, ruling that behavior of a superior did not qualify as racial discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
In his suit, Orlando Johnson's claimed that the credit union’s white Chief Financial Officer Dale Johnson, with the support of the white Chief Executive Officer, Harold Walk, sought to terminate Johnson because he is black and has superior education and experience.
In dismissing the suit, the judge said the former credit union executive may have provided proof of personal animus on the part of his superior, but not enough proof that the animus was because of his race.
According to Larry Burns, judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, the allegations were based “almost entirely an inference that Johnson draws from various instances of alleged mistreatment once Dale Johnson was hired. He alleges very few direct facts to suggest that his treatment by Dale Johnson and ultimate termination were race-based.”
Among the evidence submitted by Orlando Johnson in the case were harassing emails criticizing his performance; him being stripped of a planning role in the building of a branch; and his being barred from providing input into the credit union’s commercial lending policies.
Orlando Johnson also claims after Dale Johnson was hired, Dale Johnson immediately cancelled regular senior management meetings that included Johnson and a Hispanic woman, and met instead with Walk and Sun's white lawyer; that Dale Johnson stripped him of his responsibilities for facilities administration and hired a white person as Facilities Manager; and that Dale Johnson insisted that only he attend the funeral service for Walk's mother, which guaranteed that no minorities from Sun would be there.
But, in dismissing his case, Judge Burns wrote “Johnson has certainly painted a picture of harsh treatment by Dale Johnson, but that's very different from painting a picture of racial discrimination.”
“So, even though Johnson tries to present independent evidence that Dale Johnson was motivated by racial prejudice, his Title VII claim, on his own pleading, relies simply on the fact that Dale Johnson is white, the fact that Johnson is black, and the allegation that Dale Johnson mistreated him,” wrote the Judge.
In dismissing the suit, Judge Burns denied the Title VII claim and refused to rule six remaining claims brought under state law, saying the federal court declined to exercise jurisdiction over those claims.
