In the underlying action, employee Whitfield alleged that the defendant failed to hire him for an electrician position because of his race, African-American. The Seventh Circuit held that the District Court:
(1) gave an implausible explanation for why the term "black” was contained in cover sheet of Whitfield's personnel file, as the company's "own human resources manager, Jeff Thatcher, admitted that he did not know of any reason why 'black' was written on Whitfield's file and that it must have been a mistake" and
(2) improperly ignored extensive evidence of a racially hostile work environment. The fact that the defendant had hired one African-American electrician near time of Whitfield's application did not matter because: (a) the other applicant, who had extensive experience, was finally hired after her application had been pending for two years; (b) 11 white electricians had been hired during same period; and (c) the other applicant was first African-American electrician that defendant had hired in decades.