Nichols

MEMORANDUM **

Willie L. Nichols appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the Secretary of the Department of Transportation in Nichols’ action brought under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000 (e), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), 29 U.S.C. § 621 . Nichols alleged that defendant failed to promote him to supervisory engineer positions because of his race, African American, and his age. The district court found that Nichols had not raised a genuine issue as to a material fact in relation to two specific vacancies, because he failed to proffer specific and substantial circumstantial evidence to show that the reasons given for his failure to obtain promotion were pretextual. It also ruled that Nichols had failed to establish a prima facie case with regard to other job vacancies. We affirm.

I.

In a case involving an unlawful failure to promote claim, the parties’ respective burdens are well settled in this circuit. Once the defendant employer has presented a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for its decision not to promote the plaintiff, the presumption of unlawful discrimination initially raised under McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411…