Richard Figueroa v. Michael Pompeo

Wilkins, Circuit Judge:

A worker challenging employment discrimination often must demonstrate her employer's illegal intent. That is not easy. Employers ordinarily are not so daft as to create or keep direct evidence of discriminatory purpose.

Decades ago, the Supreme Court devised a three-step process to help the employee make her case through circumstantial evidence. See McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green , 411 U.S. 792 , 802-05, 93 S.Ct. 1817 , 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973). Over the years, we have filled hundreds of pages in the Federal Reporter explaining the first and third prongs of the McDonnell…