Judge Harold Baer
Noel, a Trinidadian woman "of color", worked at the Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. (IPG) in an administrative capacity for over 20 years. She is currently a legal secretary. Muller, who is white, became executive assistant to IPG’s former general counsel Camera. Noel applied for that promotion in 2011. Noel asserted discriminatory failure-to-promote due to her race and retaliation violating Title VII. Defendants claimed that Noel’s lack of experience interacting with IPG’s board of directors was the deciding factor. The court stayed summary judgment proceedings on Noel’s failure-to-promote claims. Based on various inconsistences, the true significance of "Board experience" was a credibility issue that only a jury can decide. However, the court granted defendants judgment on Noel’s retaliation claims. Even assuming that Noel stated a prima facie case grounded on her transfer to a less senior attorney and reduced workload, nothing in Noel’s amended complaint rebutted IPG’s apparently legitimate explanation that the transfer was necessary because, in her prior role, Noel had access to litigation materials about her own case. Noel offered no evidence that such explanation was pretextual or that retaliatory animus otherwise motivated her transfer.
