Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Against Humana Reinstated

A federal appeals court has reinstated a putative class action racial discrimination case brought by a former Humana Inc. employee in a technical legal ruling.

According to The July 2 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Kathryn Keys vs. Humana Inc., Keys, a former director at the Louisville, Kentucky-based health insurer who is African-American, stated that after two reorganizations, her role and responsibilities had been diminished unlike those of Caucasian directors.

Humana terminated Keys’ employment in June 2008, citing a 2006 negative performance assessment and ignoring a 2007 favorable performance appraisal, according to the ruling. Keys filed a lawsuit against Humana in October 2009.

A district court dismissed the suit in July 2010, concluding that Keys had failed to establish a prima facie case of racial discrimination under the McDonnell Douglas framework.

This framework, which stems from a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision in McDonnell Douglas Corp. vs. Green, states that to establish a prima facie case, a plaintiff must establish that she is member of a protected class; that she was qualified for her job; that she suffered an adverse employment decision; and that she was replaced by a person from outside the protected class, or treated differently than similarly situated nonprotected employees.

The district court found Keys had failed to meet the last qualification.

However, the appellate court said the district court had incorrectly applied the McDonnell Douglas framework in its ruling because it should be used as a standard to evaluate evidence, not merely to plead a case.