A jury will decide whether a state employee was subjected to racial discrimination when she was repeatedly passed over for promotions for reasons a federal judge deemed “incredible” and “flat out wrong.”

Deanna Butler, who has worked for the government for 30 years, filed suit against the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment based on multiple instances of applying for a higher-level position, only to see the jobs go to younger, White applicants. Butler, who is Black, argued she then had to train the less-experienced hires and wound up performing the duties of one position anyway, despite being denied the promotion.

Although U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney found the evidence did not support some of Butler’s claims, she agreed after a hearing on Tuesday that Butler could proceed to trial over one specific instance of non-promotion. When a younger, White man was hired in 2019 instead of Butler, Sweeney concluded the department’s representation of his qualifications and characterization of Butler’s interview were so questionable as to raise a credible case of discrimination.

“I do find that poses a question of fact whether the decision to hire him over her was valid,” Sweeney said.

Butler is a contracts administrator within the department’s disease control and public health response division. Beginning in 2019, she applied to two higher-level positions – Nos. 1637 and 513, both of which had supervision over contracting. Due to departmental reorganization, no candidates ended up being selected for job 1637, although Butler argued she took on many of the duties of that position before its formal elimination.

Butler applied and was passed over multiple times for job 513, with the positions going to White candidates who did not last long. She perceived them as less experienced and wound up training them to do their jobs.

“She had been in that position for almost six years doing that work. And when people were quitting, she was taking over those roles,” Butler’s attorney, Danyelle Semjonovs, told Sweeney. “And you won’t find a negative performance review with respect to how she was running that division by herself.”

Butler alleged a series of offensive or racially charged comments were made toward her, but the claim that gained the most traction was the hiring of Paul Young for job 513 over Butler.

Butler scored higher than Young in a comparative analysis by subject matter experts, but the department believed Young provided “more information in his interview” than Butler. Specifically, one of the members of the hiring panel recalled Butler answering a question about what she would do with her good ideas by saying, “I don’t have good ideas.”

The department also claimed Butler’s job application “did not demonstrate prior supervisory experience for this supervisory position.” Young, in contrast, did not have a master’s degree, but his application indicated he did – through what a department employee characterized as a “forced” software error.

The parties disputed whether Butler filed her claim of discrimination in time with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a prerequisite for a lawsuit. Sweeney, in ruling from the bench, decided it was unclear when Butler should have known about any hiring discrimination for job 513. Assuming Butler met the deadline, Sweeney believed a jury could find circumstantial evidence of discrimination.

For Butler’s alleged interview answer that she did not have good ideas, “I find the potential that she answered that interview question that way particularly incredible,” Sweeney said.

Moreover, she continued, the department’s reasons for hiring Young over Butler “were flat out wrong. She did have supervisory experience. Mr. Young’s qualifications, regardless of what stage, have been overemphasized or over-escalated, if not completely exaggerated.”

At the same time, Sweeney tossed Butler’s other claim relating to job 1637, which was abolished after she applied.

Butler has also filed an additional discrimination claim with the EEOC over the hiring of another White man for position 513 early this year. Sweeney indicated that claim will be incorporated into Butler’s lawsuit once the EEOC takes action, and she will evaluate those allegations separately. No trial date has been set.

Should she prevail, Butler is seeking promotion into a supervisory position, back pay for additional duties she has performed and $300,000.

The case is Butler v. State of Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.