U.S. District Judge Mary Lewis said Horry-Georgetown Technical College presented a legitimate non-discriminatory reason not to promote former adjunct faculty member Sharon Williams.
U.S. District Judge Mary Lewis rejected all claims by Sharon Williams in her failure-to-promote and bias case against Horry-Georgetown Technical College in Conway, South Carolina.
According to the decision, the college first employed Williams as an adjunct in 2008. She also worked as a tutor at the center in spring 2009. When a position for coordinator of educational talent search was posted that June, she was interviewed but another woman was hired. She then filed a discrimination complaint against the college.
During the fall of 2009, “several concerns arose with regard to her job performance,” and the college eventually terminated her, Lewis said in her decision.
Lewis tossed out the discharge-related claims because Williams “failed to show that she was performing her job duties at a level that met her employer’s legitimate expectations at the time of her termination.” She cited Williams’ “average evaluation ratings, the sum of the student complaints, the problems noted in the college’s instructor evaluation, written feedback from her fall 2009 students and Williams’ unwillingness to cooperate with the college to rectify its concerns.”
In addition, Lewis found that the college presented a legitimate non-discriminatory reason not to promote Williams, namely communications problems during the interview and difficulties with the technology requirements.
Williams also failed to show any “adverse employment action” had occurred when her teaching schedule was revised and she was assigned to a different campus.
