Supervisors and Managers Can Use Subordinates as "Comparators" in Workplace Discrimination Cases

On August 2, 2017, a federal judge ruled that supervisors and managers can use their subordinates as “comparators” for lodging workplace discrimination suits against their employers. A wrongful termination case from a former public safety officer at Swarthmore College, predicated on an alleged incident of racial discrimination, has now survived both a motion for summary judgment and a motion for reconsideration from the College in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson denied Swarthmore College's motion for reconsideration of the College's motion for summary judgment against Shelton O. Sneed, a former public safety sergeant at the college who alleged racial discrimination.  In his decision, Judge Baylson examined a Third Circuit case from 2004, Monaco v. American General Assurance, which the College claimed barred supervisors from using subordinates as "comparators," or employees to which plaintiffs compare their own job situations