A federal appeals court has upheld dismissal of discrimination charges filed by a fired software firm employee, but has reinstated his retaliation charges.

Howard Vogel began working for New York-based CA Inc. in 2005, according to Tuesday’s ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York in Howard Vogel v. CA Inc.

In late 2009, he was recruited to work on a new team, where each of four U.S.-based account directors, including him, was matched with an India-based counterpart. In January 2010, the person who had recruited him to the team was replaced as supervisor by Steve Pearlman.

In February 2010, Mr. Vogel reported to human resources that he believed his role on the team was being defined in part by his race because he is not Indian, according to court papers.

He testified that for the rest of his time on the team he experienced harsh treatment from Mr. Pearlman. He did not make a single sale that qualified toward his sales quota in 2010, and he was terminated in December 2010.

Mr. Vogel filed suit, charging race and national origin discrimination and retaliation. The U.S. District Court in Hartford, Connecticut, granted CA summary judgment dismissing the case.

A three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit upheld dismissal of the race and national origin discrimination claim. However, it said, “Based on Vogel’s testimony a reasonable jury could conclude that after Vogel reported to Human Resources that he suspected he was being discriminated against on the basis of race, Pearlman singled him out for hostile treatment.

“Vogel testified that from the time of his complaint until his termination, Pearlman was persistently hostile toward him on team conference calls, made jokes about him in front of his colleagues and removed him from meetings,” said the ruling. 

He also testified that during a performance review, Mr. Pearlman yelled at him, called him names, told him his actual performance was irrelevant and that he did not want Mr. Vogel on his team, said the ruling, in reinstating the retaliation charge and remanding the case for further proceedings.