A federal appeals court has sided with the U.S. Navy in a lawsuit filed by a civilian tech worker who claimed he was passed over for promotions due to his age and ethnicity.
On Tuesday, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the Navy’s victory in a discrimination lawsuit filed by Jose Rosado, a 62-year-old information technology specialist. Rosado, who works at the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast facility in Jacksonville, Florida, argued that he was repeatedly denied promotions because he was Hispanic and in his 50s, but the court found he failed to provide sufficient evidence of bias.
The Legal Battle: Age and Racial Bias Claims Rejected
The panel’s ruling rejected Rosado’s claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. The court found that Rosado had not shown that his supervisors considered his race or age when denying him promotions.
“Rosado has failed to present ‘meaningful comparator evidence,'” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum. “Nor has Rosado shown that unlawful discrimination ‘played any part’ in his nonselection.”
