                          I.

          Richard Moore has been an employee of the City of Columbus Police Division since 1967.

From 1974 to 1989, Moore was a Detective in the Burglary Squad. In 1989, he voluntarily



          *
        The Honorable Donald P. Lay, United States Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit, sitting by
designation.
No. 04-3224
Moore v. City of Columbus
Page 2

transferred to the Pawn Shop Squad, where he still works as a Detective. On July 14, 1999, the

Police Division posted an employment opening for acivilian Property Evidence Technician within

the Division’s Crimes Against Property Section. Moore was one of several hundred applicants for

the position. Moore claims that if he had been selected for the new position, he would have retired

from his police officer job so that he could accept the civilian position.

       Lieutenant David Perkins was allegedly given the task of interviewing candidates and given

the authority to select someone for the open position. Perkins arranged a panel to interview the

candidates, which was composed of Nicole Leatherby, the human resources manager for the

Division, Sergeant Jeffrey Blackwell, who was a sergeant in the Crimes Against Property Section,

and himself. It was Perkins’s understanding that the panel would conduct the interviews, but that

he would make a recommendation to the Chief of