What happened
The Third Circuit affirmed a New Jersey federal court’s summary judgment win for Bank of New York Mellon in a former employee’s race discrimination and retaliation suit, ruling that Robert Lynn did not produce enough evidence for a jury to find that the bank eliminated his role for unlawful reasons.
Lynn, a Black former BNY employee, alleged that his move out of a portfolio manager position and later termination were racially discriminatory and retaliatory. The panel said his termination claim failed at the prima facie stage because his position was eliminated in a reorganization and no one was hired to replace him, even though some of his responsibilities went to existing employees.
The court also pointed to what it described as same-actor evidence: Laura Rogers, the manager who later selected Lynn’s position for elimination, had hired him only months earlier and had chosen him over a white woman. Without more, the panel said, no rational jury could find that Rogers eliminated Lynn’s position because of racial animus.
Lynn also argued that he was effectively demoted when he left a portfolio manager role under Daniel Shawe for a project manager role on Rogers’ team. The panel rejected that theory, saying the record did not show working conditions so unpleasant or difficult that a reasonable person would have felt compelled to transfer, and noting that Shawe had given Lynn positive reviews and bonuses and helped him pursue the new role.
On retaliation, the panel agreed that Lynn had engaged in protected activity when he told Rogers after an EEOC charge that he believed he was continuing to face race discrimination and retaliation. But the court held that he did not show BNY’s nonretaliatory explanations were pretextual, emphasizing that performance criticism came from multiple employees, including some who did not know about his protected activity.
The panel also rejected Lynn’s hostile work environment appeal, finding that he did not meaningfully address the elements required to preserve that claim. The ruling leaves intact judgment for BNY on Lynn’s Title VII, Section 1981 and New Jersey Law Against Discrimination claims.