Chambers v. Burwell, No. 14-5047 (D.C. Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff, a legally-blind, African-American woman, filed suit alleging that she was denied a promotion at the Department because of her race and disability. The court concluded that, as a matter of law, at least where a manager regularly requests and receives upgraded vacancies that are earmarked for his subordinates, his decision not to engage in that process because of an employee’s disability or race can be an adverse employment action under the court's case law. The court nevertheless concluded that plaintiff failed to show that she was denied her promotion because of her race or disability. In this case, no reasonable juror could find from the record that her supervisor contributed to the agency's inaction in creating a GS-11 position for plaintiff. Rather, the record supplies ample evidence that the supervisor made the request for the GS-11 position that plaintiff desired, and plaintiff provides no probative evidence in response. Whatever the reason for the Deputy Assistant Secretary’s denial, it could not have been based on discrimination if, as plaintiff recognizes, he was not aware that the requested position was designed to facilitate plaintiff’s promotion. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment against plaintiff.
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