## Facts

- Francisco Salas, who identified as Hispanic, began working for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) in 1986.
- Salas worked in DOC’s Division of Adult Institutions as a correctional officer, received promotions, and eventually served as a hostage-negotiation team leader.
- In 1995, DOC transferred Salas to its Division of Community Corrections.
- DOC later terminated Salas, asserting that he violated DOC rules and policies in connection with his job duties.
- Salas alleged that DOC terminated him because he was Hispanic and filed a federal Title VII lawsuit alleging discrimination based on national origin and color.
- DOC moved for summary judgment, arguing that Salas had not stated a claim because “Hispanic” is a racial or ethnic label that (in DOC’s view) did not fit Title VII’s “national origin” or “color” categories.

## Issues

1. Whether a Title VII plaintiff who alleges he was discriminated against for being “Hispanic” can state a claim of discrimination based on national origin and/or color.
2. Whether DOC was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the theory that “Hispanic” discrimination is categorically outside Title VII’s protections for national origin and color.

## Decision

- The court denied DOC’s motion for summary judgment.
- The court rejected DOC’s argument that allegations of discrimination against “Hispanics” necessarily fail to implicate Title VII’s protected traits.
- The court held that discrimination described as directed at a Hispanic employee may fall within Title VII’s prohibitions against discrimination based on national origin and/or color, and Salas’s allegations were sufficient to proceed past DOC’s dispositive motion.

## Legal Principles

- Title VII prohibits employment discrimination because of national origin and color.
- Labels such as “Hispanic” may describe an ethnic group commonly associated with national origin and may also be used in ways that relate to color-based discrimination; Title VII does not bar claims simply because the plaintiff uses “Hispanic” to describe the targeted group.
- On a dispositive motion, a court does not grant judgment simply because the plaintiff’s protected status could have been pleaded with more specificity; the question is whether the allegations, taken in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, describe discrimination covered by Title VII.

## Conclusion

The court refused to treat “Hispanic” as a category outside Title VII’s coverage and held that Salas’s allegations of discriminatory termination based on being Hispanic were capable of stating discrimination based on national origin and/or color, so DOC was not entitled to summary judgment on that pleading-based theory.


Salas v. Wisconsin Department of Corrections, No. 05-C-399-C, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21140 (2006)