Summary Judgment Against Seaman Who Claimed Racial Discrimination Affirmed Since He Did Not Exhaust Administrative Remedies
MARC W. WEBSTER, Plaintiff - Appellant, versus HANSFORD T.JOHNSON, Acting Secretary of the Navy, Defendant - Appellee.
No. 04-1022
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 2965
December 3, 2004, Argued
February 18, 2005, Decided
PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff seaman sued defendant United States Secretary of the Navy (Navy), alleging that he was not promoted on a civilian operated vessel due to a racially hostile environment that produced performance evaluations motivated by racial animus and that the promotion board was racially biased. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria, granted the Navy summary judgment. The seaman appealed.
OVERVIEW: The seaman's racially-motivated hostile work environment claim was barred because he failed to timely initiate administrative remedies. Specifically, he did not contact the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) counselor until 120 days after receiving the allegedly improper evaluations rather than the required 45 days. Equitable tolling of the limitations period was not available as the seaman was familiar with the EEO process and he offered no evidence that his superiors tricked him into sleeping on his rights. The seaman also presented no evidence of a racially hostile work environment as evidence that his superior officer was a strict supervisor did not demonstrate racial animus. As for the promotion board's decision, the seaman failed to rebut the legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the decision not to promote, i.e., the seaman's score in the board's review process was substantially lower than that necessary to be rated "best qualified." In fact, the seaman's score was the lowest of all candidates, even under his own calculation method.
OUTCOME: The district court's judgment was affirmed.
