Performance Management Through the Lens of Keys

Performance Management through the Lens of Keys v. Humana (2012)

Kathryn Keys, former employee of Humana Incorporated, filed a claim of racial discrimination under the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1991 (Keys v. Humana, 2012). The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky sided with the defendant, Humana Inc., in January 2010 and dismissed the case on the grounds that the facts were insufficient to support a claim of racial discrimination under the McDonnell Douglass framework. The McDonnell Douglas framework requires the plaintiff to show that they are a member of a protected class, were qualified to hold the job in question, were treated differently than others not belonging to a protected class or were replaced by an unprotected person, and were harmed by an employment decision. Specifically, the lower court found that Keys failed to show that Caucasian employees who were not fired were indeed performing the same or similar tasks that were assigned to Keys.

The reason that the appeals court reversed the lower court's decision and remanded it for further proceedings was that the lower court erred when it applied the McDonnell Douglas framework during pleading (Keys v. Humana, 2012). This decision was based on U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence from Swierkiewicz v. Sorema (2002, as cited in Keys v. Humana, 2012), which limited application of the McDonnell Douglas framework to the evidentiary phase of the trial. The Supreme Court's rationale was based on the fact that the McDonnell Douglas framework will not apply to all discrimination suits, therefore its use during pleading was inappropriate and contradicted the liberal pleading requirements under the Federal Rules. In other words, all a plaintiff need do is present their side of the story in plain and simple language during pleading to establish a prima facie discrimination claim. Based on the allegations presented by Keys and her legal team, the appeals court found more than sufficient evidence to support a prima facie claim of discrimination.

The goal of performance management is to provide an assessment of an employee's job performance, in such a way that it reflects not only an employer's expectations, but how well an employee is meeting those expectations (Littler Learning Group, 2009). The optimal performance evaluation will be objective, consistent, job related, and well-documented (Van Bogaert, n.d.). Concerning the latter point, Keys did receive a poor performance evaluation in 2006, despite meeting all performance expectations, and was placed on a program of performance improvement (Keys v. Humana, 2012). Around the same time close to a dozen African-American managers were also placed on performance management, but no Caucasian managers were given a poor evaluation. These performance appraisals eventually triggered resignations and terminations of exclusively African-American employees. Keys responded by filing an internal complaint and the resulting investigation went nowhere. In 2007, Keys requested and received a favorable interim performance appraisal, but the 2006 appraisal was later used to terminate her employment. The appeals court held that these allegations, which were adequately documented, were more than sufficient to support a prima facie claim of discrimination.