Sufficiency of Circumstantial Evidence

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Regina Gwynn Baines v. Walgreen Co.,

Case No.: 16-3335

Officials: FLAUM, KANNE, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Sufficiency of Circumstantial Evidence

This appeal provides an example of circumstantial evidence that allows a reasonable inference that an employer acted with unlawful intent. Plaintiff Regina Baines alleges that when her former employer Walgreens refused to rehire her in 2014, it intentionally retaliated against her for complaining about race discrimination several years earlier. Baines sued Walgreens for retaliation under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The district court granted summary judgment for Walgreens. The court said it found no evidence linking Baines’ protected activity (filing EEOC charges) and Walgreens’ adverse employment actions (failing to rehire her).

We reverse. While Baines did not offer direct evidence of a causal link, she offered sufficient circumstantial evidence to satisfy the summary judgment standard. She offered evidence that the manager who handled her earlier EEOC charges intervened in the 2014 decision not to rehire her, and that she did so in ways that deviated significantly from Walgreens’ standard hiring procedures. Walgreens offers no explanation for this unusual behavior. It insists instead on its own version of events. That approach might work in a trial, but it cannot sustain summary judgment. Other circumstantial evidence includes missing records of Baines’ application and her interview scores, a decision to hire instead someone less qualified, and dishonest answers from Walgreens decision-makers when asked to explain their decisions. If a jury believes Baines’ evidence, it could reasonably find that Walgreens unlawfully retaliated against her.

Baines does not rely on evidence of “suspicious timing” to support her claim. She relies instead on testimony from Lisa Martin and a good deal of other circumstantial evidence. Moreover, unlike many retaliation cases, here the adverse employment action was failure to rehire, not termination or demotion. Because Baines had not worked at Walgreens since 2008, her 2014 application was Walgreens’ first opportunity to retaliate for her 2009 EEOC charge. Under these circumstances, the time gap is understandable and presents a question for a jury at trial rather than a judge on summary judgment. We REVERSE the grant of summary judgment, and we REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Reversed and Remanded

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.