01-2876 Stinnett v. Iron Works Gym

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“Stinnett argues that if there were 20 employees before the relevant time and 20 employees after the relevant time, the court must infer that there were at least 15 employees during the relevant time. But we cannot find that the district court abused its discretion in striking these materials from the record on the ground that they were too remote in time to be relevant. The court was not obliged to stretch this far to infer the requisite number of employees. See Horwitz v. Board of Educ. of Avoca School Dist. 37, 260 F.3d 602, 619 (7th Cir. 2001) (protected speech occurring eighteen months before termination is too remote in time to raise inference that termination was related to speech); Alverio v. Sam’s Warehouse Club, Inc., 253 F.3d 933, 943 (7th Cir. 2001) (court need not infer that termination was retaliatory when allegedly triggering event occurred eighteen months prior to termination); Robin v. Espo Engineering Co., 200 F.3d 1081, 1089 (7th Cir. 2000) (discriminatory comments made two years prior to termination too remote in time to give rise to inference that termination was due to discrimination). Perhaps if Stinnett produced evidence that the number of employees remained fairly constant over time, or if he possessed evidence regarding the number of employees closer in time to the relevant events, the court would have been obliged to find the before-and-after numbers relevant. But evidence of the number of employees two years before or eighteen months after the relevant time is too remote to give rise to an inference regarding the number of employees at the relevant time. This conclusion is bolstered by evidence demonstrating that many of the women working for the Spa, including Carrie Lee, had volatile employment histories marked by frequent departures. The number and identity of workers appears to have been in flux throughout the relevant time period. In those circumstances, we find the district court did not abuse its discretion in striking Lee’s deposition and the Strawberry transcript.

“Without any admissible evidence showing the requisite number of employees, Stinnett cannot maintain his sexual harassment claim. The court was therefore correct to grant judgment in favor of the employer.”

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Reinhard, J., Rovner, J.