Kentucky Supreme Court Affirms A Narrow Definition Of Being “Similarly Situated.”
A plaintiff in a discrimination suit generally must offer sufficient evidence that he was treated less favorably than a “similarly situated” employee outside his protected class.
Litigants often dispute what it means to be “similarly
situated.” Today in Com. of Ky., Education Cabinet v. Solly, the Kentucky
Supreme Court clarified that under Kentucky law:
"In order for two or
more employees to be considered similarly-situated for the purpose of creating
an inference of disparate treatment . . . . the plaintiff must prove that all of
the relevant aspects of [her] employment situation are `nearly identical' to
those of the [male] employees who [she] alleges were treated more favorably. The
similarity between the compared employees must exist in all relevant aspects of
their respective employment circumstances ."
The Court further stated,
“Being similarly situated also requires that the employees "have engaged in the
same conduct without such differentiating or mitigating circumstances that would
distinguish their conduct or the employer's treatment of them for it." This is a
fair standard that generally works to weed out meritless claims. This has long
been the federal standard, but it nevertheless is nice that the Kentucky Supreme
Court expressly affirmed the standard in a published opinion.
Click here
to read the decision: http://opinions.kycourts.net/SC/2006-SC-000858-DG.pdf
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Attorney Spotlight
Deborah S. Adams is a member of Frost Brown Todd LLC and practices in the labor and employment law practice group. She represents management in the areas of employment discrimination and wrongful discharge.