Wood v. New York City Transit Authority, 699 F. App'x 76

Jeffrey Wood, a New York City bus driver, sued NYCTA under Title VII alleging racial discrimination (failure to promote) and retaliation after not being promoted to dispatcher.
Wood had a prior 30-day suspension for a 2006 “major preventable accident” (bus collision into a house, multiple injuries); NYCTA considered this in promotion decisions.
NYCTA promoted other candidates who had better driving and disciplinary records; some comparators had suspensions but for different or less serious misconduct.
Wood requested reconsideration and later filed an EEOC complaint; the reconsideration denial occurred before the EEOC filing.
The District Court granted summary judgment for NYCTA; Wood appealed. The Second Circuit affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Failure to promote — prima facie and pretext	Wood argued he was qualified and promotable and that race motivated the decision	NYCTA relied on a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason: Wood’s 30-day suspension for a major preventable accident	Wood made a prima facie showing but failed to show NYCTA’s reason was pretext; summary judgment for NYCTA affirmed
Disparate treatment — similarly situated comparators	Wood identified promoted candidates (e.g., Candidate 18, 63) as treated better	NYCTA showed comparators’ misconduct and discipline were not materially comparable to Wood’s severe accident and suspension	Wood failed to prove any comparator was similarly situated in all material respects; claim dismissed
Retaliation — adverse action causation/timing	Wood claimed denial of reconsideration was retaliation for EEOC complaint	NYCTA pointed out reconsideration denial preceded EEOC filing, so it could not be retaliatory	Court held denial occurred before EEOC complaint; retaliation claim failed
Appealability of reconsideration denial	Wood sought review of denial of reconsideration	NYCTA noted procedural rule: appeal must be amended to include post-judgment orders	Court declined to review the reconsideration denial because Wood did not amend his notice of appeal

McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973) (framework for burden-shifting in discrimination cases)
Byrnie v. Town of Cromwell, Bd. of Educ., 243 F.3d 93 (2d Cir. 2001) (standard for proving employer’s reason is pretext in promotion cases)
Vega v. Hempstead Union Free Sch. Dist., 801 F.3d 72 (2d Cir. 2015) (plaintiff must show employer’s proffered reason is pretext by preponderance)
Terry v. Ashcroft, 336 F.3d 128 (2d Cir. 2003) (elements of prima facie failure-to-promote claim)
Ruiz v. Cnty. of Rockland, 609 F.3d 486 (2d Cir. 2010) (definition of similarly situated employees)
Graham v. Long Island R.R., 230 F.3d 34 (2d Cir. 2000) (plaintiff must show comparators similarly situated in all material respects)
Selevan v. N.Y. Thruway Auth., 711 F.3d 253 (2d Cir. 2013) (summary judgment standard restated)
Davis v. New York, 316 F.3d 93 (2d Cir. 2002) (conclusory allegations insufficient to defeat summary judgment)
Burg v. Gosselin, 591 F.3d 95 (2d Cir. 2010) (de novo review of summary judgment and inference rules)
Sorensen v. City of New York, 413 F.3d 292 (2d Cir. 2005) (procedural rule on appealability of post-judgment orders)