Edwards v. Hiland Roberts Dairy, No. 16-3071 (8th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs filed suits against Hiland Dairy, alleging race discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq., and Nebraska law. The Eighth Circuit held that, because plaintiffs failed to produce direct evidence of discrimination, the court must apply the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework. Applying the framework, the court held that Hiland Dairy satisfied its burden by articulating and presenting evidence of a legitimate and indiscriminatory reason for firing them. In this case, Hiland Dairy cited "theft of time" and dishonest conduct as reasons for termination. The court rejected plaintiffs' claim that they were disciplined more severely than similarly-situated white employees because the reasons Hiland Dairy gave were significant and sufficient distinctions making the situations not similarly situated in all relevant respects. The court rejected plaintiffs' remaining contentions and affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Riley, Author, with Beam and Shepherd, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Employment discrimination. Assuming plaintiffs made a prima facie case of race discrimination, the employer stated a legitimate, non-discriminatory ground for their discharge - falsifying time records - which plaintiffs failed to show was a pretext; incident involving white employees plaintiffs used to support the claim of pretext involved employees who were not similarly situated.
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