U.S. Supreme Court Finds Flexible Standard in Evaluating Evidence in Employment Discrimination Claims
The U.S. Supreme Court has just handed down a decision in Sprint/United Management Co. v. Mendelsohn that will significantly impact the manner in which a plaintiff may prove a claim of employment discrimination.
In Mendelsohn, the issue was whether the plaintiff could prove his claim of age discrimination by submitting the testimony of other older employees who were fired by different managers than the ones that had fired the plaintiff. The Second Circuit, the Federal appeals court in New York, held that the trial court had improperly issued a per se rule against such evidence.
The Supreme Court determined that it was improper for the Second Circuit to reverse the district court’s order. According to the Supreme Court, “a district court is virtually always in the better position to assess the admissibility of the evidence in the context of the particular case before it.”
The Supreme Court also ruled that there is no per se rule regarding the admissibility of discrimination by other supervisors. The Court held that admissibility of such evidence should be based on many factors, “including how closely related the evidence is to the plaintiff’s circumstances and theory of the case,” a decision best left to the lower court judge.
The impact of Mendelsohn, therefore, appears to be a confirmation of the discretion and authority of the lower courts, placing boundaries on the appellate courts regarding factual determinations.
