Neung Kang v. PB Fasteners

MEMORANDUM **

In this wrongful termination action, Neung Kang appeals the district court’s decisions to (1) grant summary judgment for his former employer, PB Fasteners (“PBF”), and (2) strike his motion to amend his complaint. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

I

Even assuming that Kang established a prima facie case of employment discrimination under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 , McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 , 93 S.Ct. 1817 , 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), the district court correctly concluded that Kang failed to raise a triable issue of fact as to whether PBF’s proffered legitimate non-discriminatory reasons were pretextual. PBF asserts that it reopened the night shift in January 2003 to increase efficiency and selected Kang to fill the slot because he had the experience necessary to run a shift by himself, his language difficulties made it harder for him to interact with customers during the day, and the night shift manager, II Kil, was a Korean speaker. PBF terminated Kang in June 2003 when it laid off three of the five members of Kang’s NDT department. The department lost most of its work when PBF lost its necessary government…