Law, Business, and Society 9th Edition by Tony McAdams

Exercise 37

Rodriguez, a FedEx employee of Hispanic origin, informed FedEx's Regional Human Resources Manager Adkinson that he wanted to obtain a promotion to a supervisory position. After applying and interviewing for an available supervisory position, Rodriguez was rejected. The manager who interviewed Rodriguez found him to be qualified, but did not hire him because of Adkinson's expressed concerns that Rodriguez's "accent and speech pattern" would undermine his ability to rise through the corporate ranks. Another FedEx manager stated that when he asked Adkinson why Rodriguez had not received the promotion, Adkinson made derogatory comments about Rodriguez's "language" and "how he speaks." Is FedEx liable for national origin discrimination based on its failure to promote Rodriguez Decide. Explain. See Rodriguez v. FedEx Freight East, Inc., 487 F.3d 1001 (6th Cir. 2007).