Additionally, the appeals panel rejected Moses’ “cat’s paw” theory of discrimination. He had argued that two supervisors, motivated by racial bias, reported safety violations that led to his termination under a last-chance agreement. The court found that the connection between Moses’ firing and the supervisors’ reports was too weak to establish racial discrimination as the cause of his termination.
Moses’ lawsuit alleged a pattern of racial bias at U.S. Steel, claiming that his clean disciplinary record was marred by incidents involving white supervisors making derogatory comments about Black people and unfairly disciplining him. Despite this, the court noted that Moses had been under a last-chance agreement at the time of the derailment, with a third-party analysis confirming that the equipment was functioning properly.
U.S. District Judge William S. Stickman IV had previously dismissed the suit in August 2023, citing Moses’ failure to present evidence of racial discrimination. Moses, who worked for U.S. Steel from 2005 until his termination in 2015, had argued that he was unjustly blamed for the derailment, despite following safety protocols.
