Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, DISCRIMINATION—SEX—5th Cir.: University VP, passed over for President position, can pursue Section 1983 claim, (Dec 11, 2025)

By Todd Harrison, J.D.

She established her prima facie case and also named individual board members who were involved in the selection decision.

Affirming a district court’s denial of a motion to dismiss a Section 1983 equal protection claim alleging sex discrimination brought by Jackson State University’s vice president and chief of staff, the Fifth Circuit found that the individual defendants’ claims of qualified immunity were not enough at the summary judgment stage. The VP asserted facts establishing a prima facie case of sex discrimination and, in naming each individual defendant, had pleaded that each defendant individually caused her harm, thus adequately stating an equal protection violation (Jackson v. Duff, No. 25-60020 (5th Cir. Dec. 10, 2025)).

The plaintiff in this case has served as vice president and chief of staff at Jackson State University (JSU) since 2017.

Interim president. On February 10, 2020, JSU’s president stepped down from his role. JSU’s Board then appointed the former president’s special assistant, a male, as interim president. This appointment came despite the fact that the now interim president reported to the VP and despite the Board’s knowledge that the VP was interested in the post. Indeed, she had “regularly run” JSU when its president was absent.

The VP continued to serve in her position at the interim president’s request, who acknowledged that “he was not qualified or prepared to serve.” Soon thereafter, the Board dispensed with a national search, declined to solicit any applications, and voted to appoint the interim president to the head position. The VP filed an EEOC charge in 2021 following this incident.

Passed over again. After a turbulent tenure as president, JSU placed its appointee on administrative leave in 2023, sparking a presidential search process. The VP applied for the position but was denied an interview. Ultimately, the Board selected its deputy commissioner for the role. The deputy commissioner had never applied for the position. The VP alleged that, based on the criteria the Board gave to an outside search committee, she “was clearly more qualified for the President’s position” because the deputy commissioner had received his doctorate less than six months before being named to the position and had no university administrative experience.

Lawsuit. Subsequently, the VP sued the Board and its individual members based on the 2020 and 2023 hiring decisions, alleging sex discrimination. She asserted violations of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and the First Amendment via Section 1983. She also brought sex discrimination and retaliation claims under Title VII. The individual defendants moved to dismiss, asserting qualified immunity.

Granting the defendants’ motion in part, the district court dismissed all claims against the board members save for the Section 1983 equal protection claim based on the 2023 hiring decision. The court held that the VP had established a prima facie case of sex discrimination against the individually named defendants and that she had pleaded a violation of clearly established law, thus rendering a qualified immunity defense inappropriate. The defendants appealed.

Individual actions. In order to prevail on her Section 1983 claim, the court explained that the VP must plead the four factors established by McDonnell Douglas as well as each official’s own individual actions that resulted in the constitutional violation.

Here, court found that the VP had made her case under McDonnell Douglas and thus turned to the individual causation requirement. For guidance, the court looked to its unpublished opinion in Jones v. Hosemann, 812 F. App’x 235 (5th Cir. 2020).

In Jones, the court ruled that the plaintiff did not adequately plead individual causation after he was not promoted. In reaching its decision, the court explained that the plaintiff did “not allege that the [defendants] were the ones who interviewed him, rejected him, or selected someone else for the job.” By not alleging any particular actions taken by the individual defendants, the plaintiff had failed to state a Section 1983 claim upon which relief could be granted.

Turning to the case at hand, the court found that the VP had pleaded what the plaintiff in Jones had not. She alleged that individual JSU search committee members denied her an interview for the president’s position. She further alleged and named each individual board member who voted to name the deputy commissioner president, thus denying her the position.

Individuals or a group? In response, the defendants argued that the VP had failed to reference the individual actions of any of the defendants and continued to lump them together in their entirety based on their service as board members. The court was not moved.

By naming each individual board member and alleging that they voted to hire the deputy commissioner as president, denying the VP’s candidacy, it must be construed that the VP was asserting that each individual member voted and thus proximately caused the alleged constitutional injury, said the court. As a result, her pleading was adequate to state an equal protection violation.

Clearly established law. Having determined the VP pleaded a constitutional violation, the court shifted its focus to whether she had also alleged that the defendants violated clearly established law. Answering this question in the affirmative, the court noted that sex discrimination in public employment has been clearly established as violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Because the VP adequately pleaded a claim of intentional sex discrimination under Section 1983 and pled a violation of clearly established law, qualified immunity was foreclosed at this stage of the proceeding, and the judgment denying dismissal was affirmed.

The case is No. 25-60020.

Judge: Smith, J.

Attorneys: Lisa Mishune Ross (Law Offices of Lisa Mishune Ross) for Debra Mays Jackson. Pope Shannon Mallette (Mayo Mallette) for Tom Duff.

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