The Eleventh Circuit recently overturned summary judgment in a discrimination case. In Vinson v. Koch Foods, No. 17-10075 (11th Cir. 5/23/2018), the plaintiff sued for discrimination based on her national origin, Puerto Rican and based on race. She had worked for the employer a couple of years in Human Resources as a clerk and as a translator.  Ms. Vinson and two white co-workers took time off to visit a sick co-worker in the hospital. All three workers were placed on suspension when they returned to work. Of the three women, only Ms. Vinson’s duties were changed dramatically afterward. The plaintiff was required to work on the production line, processing chickens and operating machinery. Another Puerto Rican woman filled her job in HR. Later, Ms. Vinson was fired. The explanation varied. Some said her position was eliminated. Some said she was not producing enough.

The lower court granted summary judgment remarkably in part because Ms. Vinson did not mind being on the production line. She received a raise. But, as the Eleventh Circuit noted, her subjective view of the job change is not controlling. That she received a pay raise one month before being fired does not remove the adverse personnel action.

Her new duties included pulling guts from chicken carcasses, sawing chicken carcasses, hanging dead chickens on shackles, cutting and removing damaged meat from chicken carcasses, using sealing machines for packaging, and weighing boxes of meat. This was a major change in her duties. Too, the new job did not exist on any organizational chart for the employer. She had no job description. The job did not exist at other plants. Her supervisor did not know what she was supposed to be doing on the production floor. A jury could conclude, said the court, that the job was created just for Ms. Vinson.

Regarding the termination, the plaintiff presented a mixed motive case for the termination. Among the reasons for the summary judgment was that Ms. Vinson did not discredit the employer’s reasons for firing the woman. This amounted to a requirement that the plaintiff show pretext, said the court. But, this is a mixed motive case, in which the standard is a motivating factor. That is, the standard is whether the improper motive played a motivating role in the decision. So, the plaintiff did not need to show pretext. She only needed to show that there was genuine issue of fact regarding whether race or national origin was one motivating factor in the decision. Even so, the plaintiff did present evidence of pretext. The supervisors’ accounts of the termination did not match.

The lower court also found that the plaintiff presented no evidence that race or national origin played a role in the decision to terminate. But, a union supervisor expressly said he had observed Ms. Vinson’s supervisor disciplining Hispanics more harshly than white workers. The court noted that Ms. Vinson was replaced by another Puerto Rican female. But, that in itself does not show a lack of racial or national origin motive. The court reversed summary judgment regarding this claim. See the decision here.