Opinion ID: 6350440
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jungbluth’s involvement

Text: Lam first suggests that Jungbluth was involved in the decision to fire her. Because she clashed with him over the tariffs, Lam believes, a jury could find that she was fired because of her stance on the tariffs. She points out that when Sharkey expressed the same opinion, Jungbluth reached down the chain of command to punish Sharkey. Lam also argues that Oliver’s knowledge of Jungbluth’s disagreement with her No. 21-2665 11 over the tariffs could have influenced Oliver’s decision to fire her. To start, a jury could not infer from Jungbluth’s treatment of Sharkey that Jungbluth encouraged Oliver to fire Lam in retaliation for her stance on the tariffs. A different employment decision, concerning a different employee, made by a different supervisor, is not strong evidence of discrimination. See Coleman v. Donahoe, 667 F.3d 835, 847 (7th Cir. 2012). Sharkey had a different direct supervisor, was not placed on a performance improvement plan, was not fired, and admitted to making an error before her letter of reprimand. Nor is there any evidence that Oliver’s knowledge of the disagreement between Jungbluth and Lam over the tariffs influenced Oliver’s decision. Jungbluth and Lam last spoke about the tariffs five months before Oliver fired her. Lam accepted the company’s decision not to classify the goods as Chinese three and a half months before she was fired. And Oliver was unhappy with Lam over the unrelated inventory matter.