Jeffrey Turner v. Town of Narrows
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Affirmed
The Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the Town of Narrows, holding that Jeffrey Turner failed to show the Town’s stated reason for hiring a younger applicant—superior interview performance—was pretext for age discrimination under the ADEA. The court reiterated that, unlike some sister circuits, the Fourth Circuit does not infer pretext merely because an employer relies on subjective interview impressions.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether the use of entirely subjective criteria in hiring decisions, standing alone, permits an inference of pretext sufficient to defeat summary judgment in employment-discrimination cases.
Circuit Positions
Subjective hiring criteria alone can create an inference of pretext.
Subjective hiring criteria, standing alone, are insufficient to establish pretext; they are merely one relevant factor.
Conflict Summary
The Tenth and Eighth Circuits allow a plaintiff to obtain an inference of discriminatory pretext when an employer relies solely on subjective hiring criteria, whereas the Fourth Circuit holds that subjectivity, by itself, is only a relevant factor and cannot alone establish pretext.