Section 24 Reduction in Force

• Library: Employment Discrimination 2008

If the plaintiff was terminated as part of a bona fide reduction in force (RIF), the elements of the prima facie case are the following:

1. The plaintiff belongs to a protected group

2. The plaintiff met the employer’s applicable job qualifications

3. The plaintiff was discharged

4. There is “some additional [evidence] that [the prohibited criterion] was a factor in the termination.”

Brown v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., 113 F.3d 139, 141 (8^th Cir. 1997). The fourth element, “though nebulous, stems from the reality that in a[n] RIF the discharged plaintiff’s ability to do the job is less probative because ‘someone...