Eric White v. Duke Energy-Kentucky, Inc., 603 F. App'x 442

Eric D. White, an African‑American employee, worked at Duke Energy’s East Bend Station; he was promoted in 2009 to a non‑union Work Management Planner (management) position and had no direct reports.
On Nov. 23, 2011 White witnessed/learned conflicting accounts of a physical altercation between two white coworkers (Doyle and Duty), later served as an intermediary and did not report the incident to HR immediately.
An internal investigation found White initially withheld information and failed to report the fight/injuries; HR manager Teresa Taylor recommended termination; White was fired Dec. 16, 2011 and replaced by a white employee.
White exhausted internal recourse, filed EEOC charge, then sued under Title VII and the Kentucky Civil Rights Act alleging racial discrimination.
District court granted summary judgment for Duke Energy, finding White established a prima facie case but failed to raise a genuine issue of pretext because he produced no similarly‑situated management comparators.
Sixth Circuit (majority) reverses and remands, holding the record is insufficiently developed on whether management status is a relevant distinguishing trait and that Doyle (a non‑management, white employee) could be a proper comparator; court instructs further factual development.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether White established a prima facie Title VII claim	White: he is African‑American, was terminated, qualified, and replaced by a white employee	Duke: does not dispute prima facie elements	Court: prima facie established (district court and 6th Cir. majority)
Whether Duke proffered a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for termination	White: proffered reason (failure to report) is pretextual	Duke: White failed to report fight, withheld information — legitimate reasons	Court: Duke proffered legitimate reasons; issue shifts to pretext
Whether White raised a genuine issue of pretext via similarly‑situated comparators	White: can compare to non‑management white employees (esp. Doyle) who were not fired	Duke: White was management; no similarly‑situated non‑minority managers who failed to report were retained	Court: disputed whether management status is relevant; record insufficient; Doyle could be a comparator — remand for factual development
Whether Kentucky Civil Rights Act claim differs from Title VII analysis	White: KCRA follows same McDonnell Douglas framework	Duke: no separate defense advanced	Court: KCRA claim analyzed same as Title VII; summary judgment reversed as to KCRA too

McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (U.S. 1973) (framework for burden shifting in discrimination cases)
Texas Dep’t of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248 (U.S. 1981) (employer’s burden to articulate legitimate nondiscriminatory reason)
St. Mary’s Honor Center v. Hicks, 509 U.S. 502 (U.S. 1993) (assessment of employer’s proffered reasons at trial)
Wright v. Murray Guard, Inc., 455 F.3d 702 (6th Cir. 2006) (modified honest‑belief rule and similarly‑situated analysis in disciplinary context)
Mitchell v. Toledo Hosp., 964 F.2d 577 (6th Cir. 1992) (standard for determining similarly‑situated comparators)
Ercegovich v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 154 F.3d 344 (6th Cir. 1998) (comparator relevance and analysis)
Seay v. Tennessee Valley Auth., 339 F.3d 454 (6th Cir. 2003) (prima facie and circumstantial proof discussion)
Clayton v. Meijer, Inc., 281 F.3d 605 (6th Cir. 2002) (elements of prima facie case)
Madden v. Chattanooga City Wide Serv. Dep’t, 549 F.3d 666 (6th Cir. 2008) (use of comparators to show pretext)
McMillan v. Castro, 405 F.3d 405 (6th Cir. 2005) (court’s role in assessing relevancy of comparator attributes)
Hamilton v. General Elec. Co., 556 F.3d 428 (6th Cir. 2009) (Mitchell inapplicable where nonmoving party contests material facts)