In a recent about face, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed an earlier ruling in the case Ash v. Tyson Foods, Inc.

The case at one point involved multiple claims and multiple plaintiffs.  It was later whittled down on appeal to one plaintiff and one claim, and that claim involved John Hithon, an African American, who sued Tyson Foods for racial discrimination for the failure to promote him to shift manager.

As proof of his claim at trial, Hithon presented evidence that a white manager had referred to him as "boy." Hithon also presented evidence that a white individual with less experience was hired over him.  At the conclusion of the trial, Hithon prevailed and was awarded $365,000 in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages. 

What later followed were three additional appeals, including one appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States.  On this last round, the Eleventh Circuit upheld the initial trial award of $365,000 in compensatory damages and upheld the prior decision to strike down the $1 million punitive award.

In upholding the compensatory damage award, the Court noted that Hithon presented sufficient evidence for a jury to find in Hithon's favor.  Perhaps most unusual about the case is the fact that this latest decision is a reversal from a prior ruling on rehearing.  Rarely will a court reverse its own ruling on rehearing. 

The opinion provides an important lesson to employers in that they must have legitimate business reasons for failing to promote an employee, which can uphold scrutiny.  For example, in Ash, the job called for an individual with 3 to 5 years experience and the individual Tyson hired had only 2, while Hithon had 13 years experience.  These facts just don't look good to a jury so employers need to be cognizant of these types of issues.