Title VII – Retaliatory Dismissal

Listen to this article

Civil

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, FLAUM, Circuit Judge, and KENNELLY, District Judge\

Title VII – Retaliatory Dismissal

No. 14-2621 Chontel Miller v. Polaris Laboratories LLC

Reference to appellant as the “colored girl” and manipulation of appellants work to intentionally impede on performance as against employees of other ethnic backgrounds enough to raise issue of material fact as to whether discrimination has occurred in the work place

“Miller can establish that she engaged in a protected activity by complaining to New and then Culp on September 18, 2008, after Ballard (or someone in the department) had called her “the colored girl.” She also has evidence of racially charged language from Kemp and Ballard. Her accusation prompted an investigation of the relevant parties. In the course of that inquiry, both Kemp and Ballard were inter‐ viewed. Both Miller and Young testified that Ballard’s and Kemp’s subsequent manipulation of Miller’s work occurred after the September 18 incident. Admittedly, neither Miller nor Young placed precise dates on the treatment they allege. But given the evidence of discriminatory statements by Kemp and Ballard, the timing and content of the poor treatment is sufficient to raise the inference that Ballard and Kemp were responding to Miller’s report to New and Culp. It is not beyond any dispute of material fact whether the actions of these workers kept Miller’s productivity scores artificially low. In that sense this case differs from Jajeh v. County of Cook, 678 F.3d 560 (7th Cir. 2012), in which there was far more mathematical and factual certainty about whether an employee would have received a sufficient performance score absent discriminatory meddling. Finally, it is undisputed that Miller suffered an adverse action—the loss of her job—because of her low numbers.”

Full Text

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.