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A federal judge in Pennsylvania has thrown out a lawsuit filed by a retired deputy commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Prisons claiming he was passed up for a promotion because of his race, and faced retaliation when he complained.

U.S. District Judge Jan DuBois of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted the city of Philadelphia's motion for summary judgment on plaintiff Robert Tomaszewski's claims.

Tomaszewski, a white man, argued the city considered his race and gender based in part on a discriminatory diversity initiative when it failed to promote him to commissioner and ultimately appointed an African American woman, Blanche Carney, to that position, according to DuBois' opinion.

The city said that it had a nondiscriminatory reason for denying Tomaszewski a promotion: "that the Public Safety Transition Committee did not recommend plaintiff for a second-round interview, which effectively terminated his candidacy several months before Carney even applied for the position," DuBois said.

Additionally, members of the committee "testified that they had concerns about plaintiff's relatively limited experience in rehabilitation and reentry, his ability to bring a new vision to PDP, and the quality of his interview," DuBois said.

The judge said that based on the evidence, the burden of showing discriminatory pretext shifted to the plaintiff, Tomaszewski.

"Plaintiff argues that the city has a policy of considering race in hiring decisions and a 'stated interest' in appointing women, both of which establish pretext. The court rejects this argument. Plaintiff has produced no evidence connecting the city's diversity initiative, or any purported racial or gender preferences, to the Public Safety Transition Committee's recommendation not to hire plaintiff and the Kenney administration's adoption of the committee's recommendation in December 2015."

According to DuBois, Tomaszewski claimed the city retaliated against him by auditing and investigating the "locker fund," a PDP account that he managed; requesting medical documentation in connection with his medical leave requests; criticizing his work performance; and assigning him additional work responsibilities when a colleague was out.

However, DuBois said that none of the claims constituted a prima facia case of retaliation. The judge said that there was no evidence that the city took adverse employment actions in any of the four circumstances Tomaszewski presented.

Tomaszewski is represented by Laura Mattiacci of Console Mattiacci, who did not respond to a request for comment. Alan Epstein of Spector Gadon & Rosen represents the city, and did not respond to a request for comment.