Opinion ID: 3065021
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Antonia Castron

Text: [1] After complaining of a hostile work environment, Castron was transferred to a new work group and was terminated in a RIF two months later. The critical inquiry is whether Castron’s employment experience, including her transfer and its connection to a subsequent RIF that led to her termination, would allow a jury to find in favor of the EEOC. We conclude the EEOC has established a prima facie case on Castron’s behalf because of direct evidence of discriminatory animus. Cordova, 124 F.3d at 1148. In RIF cases, a plaintiff can “show through circumstantial, statistical or direct evidence that the discharge occurred under circumstances giving rise to an inference of . . . discrimination.” Nesbit v. Pepsico, Inc., 994 F.2d 703, 705 (9th Cir. 1993) (per curiam). [2] Foster testified that Charlton, Castron’s supervisor, frequently made demeaning and derogatory comments about women. These comments, considered along with Charlton’s interactions with Castron over the course of her employment at Boeing, are sufficient to create an inference of discriminatory motive even though the comments were not directed specifically at Castron or made in regard to decisions about her employment. See Cordova, 124 F.3d at 1149; DominguezCurry v. Nev. Transp. Dep’t, 424 F.3d 1027, 1038 (9th Cir. 2005); Chuang, 225 F.3d at 1128. These comments are more EEOC v. THE BOEING COMPANY 11249 severe than “ambivalent” ”stray remark[s]” that we have previously held insufficient to establish such an inference. See, e.g., Nesbit, 994 F.2d at 705; Nidds v. Schindler Elevator Corp., 113 F.3d 912, 918-19 (9th Cir. 1997). Consequently, the EEOC made out a prima facie case in relation to Castron’s transfer. [3] Because Boeing has articulated legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for its decision to transfer and subsequently terminate Castron—her request for a transfer and her subsequent low RIF scores—the EEOC was required to respond with evidence from which a jury could infer that Boeing’s proffered reasons are pretextual. Burdine, 450 U.S. at 256. The discriminatory animus exhibited by Castron’s supervisor constitutes direct evidence of pretext, even though the comments did not refer specifically to Castron. Based on Charlton’s sexist comments, a jury might reasonably infer that Charlton’s decision to transfer Castron, rather than a male coworker about whom she complained, to a new position where her job was less secure, may have resulted from improper motivations, including discriminatory intent, retaliatory intent, or both. There is also “specific and substantial” circumstantial evidence, in addition to Charlton’s comments, on which a jury could rely to support the conclusion that the transfer might have been discriminatory. A jury might credit Castron’s allegations that Charlton (1) initially refused to transfer Castron at all, (2) made promises to transfer her to the department she requested, (3) agreed to transfer her, but only to a different department to which no other engineers from her department had been transferred in recent years, and (4) assured Castron that she would be exempt from the RIF process during her training in order to induce Castron to accept the transfer despite her explicit (and not unwarranted) concern that the transfer might significantly increase her risk of termination. Taking note of all of the direct and circumstantial evidence, a jury might conclude that Charlton deliberately set Castron up to fail because of her sex or because of her invocation of Title VII rights. 11250 EEOC v. THE BOEING COMPANY [4] There is also sufficient evidence from which a jury could find that Castron’s later poor RIF evaluation scores, which led to her termination, were pretextual. Castron’s supervisor in her new department, Hobby, had previously referred to Castron as a “little girl” and made a “joking” inquiry as to whether she “broke a nail.” Although these comments occurred two years prior to Castron’s firing and Boeing argues these comments are mere “stray remark[s],” Hobby’s comments constitute at least some evidence of discriminatory animus. [5] Moreover, Hobby evaluated Castron without asking Castron’s trainer about her progress. Several employees testified that Hobby unfairly ignored Castron’s past performance evaluations and instead focused only on her two months as a trainee in her new department, that Castron’s skills merited higher scores, and that Hobby gave Castron lower scores than those received by other male employees from Castron’s previous department who allegedly possessed skills inferior to Castron’s. [6] Boeing urges us to consider this testimony by other employees irrelevant because Castron’s coworkers’ views do not prove that Hobby’s differing subjective evaluations were either incorrect or pretextual. Although subjective evaluations of an employee’s skills of course may differ for a variety of reasons, specific positive evaluations of Castron’s performance, both by her coworkers and by other managers, critically undermine the credibility of her official evaluation in a manner relevant to determining the existence of pretext. We therefore adopt the Tenth Circuit’s view that “co-workers’ assessment[s]” of a plaintiff’s work should be considered because they can be “clearly probative of pretext.” Abuan v. Level 3 Commc’ns, Inc., 353 F.3d 1158, 1174 (10th Cir. 2003). [7] In light of all of the evidence of pretext introduced by the EEOC, a reasonable jury could infer that Hobby’s evaluaEEOC v. THE BOEING COMPANY 11251 tion of Castron was not worthy of credence and therefore pretextual. Because the EEOC has presented adequate direct evidence and “specific and substantial” circumstantial evidence that Castron’s termination was pretextual, entry of summary judgment was erroneous. A jury could find in favor of the EEOC on all of Castron’s discrimination and retaliation claims regarding both her transfer and termination.