Summary judgment affirmed on former DoD employee's race, sex, and retaliation claims

In King v. Rumsfeld, in an opinion written by Judge Luttig, the Fourth Circuit upheld the dismissal of the discrimination claims brought by an African-American man regarding his employment with the Department of Defense, where the man was a teacher who used too much profanity and not enough lesson planning, or so his employer claimed.

Judge Gregory wrote a separate opinion, dissenting on the question of whether the plaintiff had put forth enough evidence to create a question of fact on pretext with regard to his retaliation claim.

I expect that the opinion will be cited often by employers, to show that the kind of evidence Judge Gregory cited does not defeat a summary judgment motion.