Opinion ID: 768074
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Was McInnis terminated because of his disability?

Text: 30 In order to make his prima facie showing of discrimination, McInnis must also establish that he was terminated because of his disability. Here the undisputed evidence is that the stated reasons given by Vela for not renewing McInnis's contract (effectively terminating him) were two-fold: (1) a student's allegation of intoxication in the classroom; and (2) concerns over his poor performance as banking coordinator. 31 Neither of these two reasons is supported by the record of this case. By its own admission in its supplemental position statement to the EEOC, ACCD stated that the only allegation related to a 'disability' [the memorandum regarding a student allegation of intoxication while teaching] was investigated and summarily dismissed. The relied upon complaints about McInnis's job performance as AIB/PAC program coordinator were stale, as he transferred to a new position as a teacher some one and a half years prior to ACCD's decision not to renew his contract, and McInnis received only outstanding performance reviews as an instructor during the one and a half years preceding his termination. Moreover, both of the reasons given for McInnis's termination are entirely related to and predicated upon his perceived disabilities. He was in effect terminated for his poor performance as banking coordinator, and his poor performance resulted from his disability or perceived disability. Likewise, the intoxication allegation had, by ACCD's own admission, been summarily dismissed as caused by the symptoms of his disability. 32 McInnis states that he was a disabled employee performing in an outstanding fashion under a reasonable accommodation [who] was terminated as a direct consequence of the symptoms of his disability. Construing all of the evidence in a light most favorable to McInnis, we find that a reasonable jury could have agreed with McInnis's statement and concluded from the evidence presented that McInnis was terminated because his employer regarded him as disabled. We therefore conclude that McInnis has sustained his initial burden of establishing a prima facie case of unlawful disability based discrimination. 2. Reasonable Inference of Discrimination 33 As noted above, under the McDonnell Douglas framework applicable to cases based on circumstantial evidence, once a plaintiff makes his prima facie showing, the burden then shifts to the defendant-employer to articulate a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the adverse employment action. And once the employer articulates such a reason, the presumption of unlawful discrimination disappears and the burden then shifts back upon the plaintiff to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the articulated reason was merely a pretext for unlawful discrimination. See Daigle, 70 F.3d at 396. 34 In Rhodes v. Guiberson Oil Tools, 75 F.3d 989, 994 (5th Cir. 1996) (en banc), we held that in order to sustain a finding of discrimination, circumstantial evidence must be such as to allow a rational factfinder to make a reasonable inference that [disability] was a determinative reason for the employment decision. Id. With respect to creating such an inference, we held in Rhodes that a jury issue will be presented and a plaintiff can avoid summary judgment . . . if the evidence taken as a whole (1) creates a fact issue as to whether each of the employer's stated reasons was what actually motivated the employer and (2) creates a reasonable inference that [disability] was a determinative factor in the actions of which plaintiff complains. Id. 35 McInnis contends that he has satisfied his burden under Rhodes. First, he argues that the summary judgment evidence created establishes that ACCD's two proffered reasons for not renewing his contract were neither legitimate, nor non-discriminatory; he argues that he was terminated for reasons directly related to the symptoms of his disability. Second, McInnis argues that there is ample evidence to establish a reasonable inference that his perceived disability was a determinative factor in the decision not to renew his contract. 36 While the reasons advanced by ACCD for termination (intoxication and poor performance as banking coordinator), may be facially legitimate, we express doubt as to whether they are non-discriminatory. As noted above, neither of the reasons are supported by the record evidence. That is, ACCD conceded that the intoxication allegation was summarily dismissed, and it relied upon complaints about McInnis' poor performance as the AIB/PAC program coordinator which were stale by more than one and a half years without regard to his notably improved performance once transferred to a teaching only position. In our view, there was sufficient evidence presented to create a fact issue as to whether ACCD's stated reasons were what actually motivated the decision to not renew McInnis' contract. 37 Our review of the record also reveals ample evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that ACCD's proffered reasons were nothing more than a pretext for unlawful discrimination based upon McInnis's perceived disability. The following is the evidence proffered by McInnis, which when construed in his favor, supports an inference of discrimination: (1) contradictions between Department Chair Schlegel and President Vela regarding whether they discussed McInnis and the intoxication allegation; (2) contradictions regarding the disposition of the intoxication allegation (summarily dismissed or active complaint serving as primary reason for termination); (3) ACCD's report to the EEOC which it confessed contained false statements regarding committee recommendations on tenure; (4) the admission by Vela that he knew the EEOC statements were false when they were made yet he did nothing to correct them; (5) ACCD's denial that it ever accommodated McInnis's disability versus the statement of then-President Skinner to the contrary; (6) Ms. Talaat being requested by Vela out of the blue to prepare a letter criticizing McInnis' earlier performance in a position he no longer held so that the letter could be used as a trigger only days later to terminate McInnis; 3 (7) the sworn contradictions between ACCD's EEO manager and its ADA coordinator regarding conversations about McInnis and the reasons for his termination; and (8) the testimony of the ADA coordinator that she was asked by the EEO manager to destroy documents which might hurt ACCD's position. 38 ACCD argues that Dr. Vela, the decision-maker in this scenario, was unaware of McInnis's file, his disability, or Skinner's alleged accommodation thereof. Thus, ACCD argues that right or wrong, for all Vela knew, McInnis was still the banking coordinator who performed poorly in the past and who had appeared for a class intoxicated. Yet we find that Vela's ignorance is suspect in light of the evidence that he solicited the third complaint letter from Ms. Talaat specifically to build a case for firing McInnis and that he made no effort to validate the intoxication complaint before making his non-renewal decision. We note that the student's misperception as to McInnis' intoxication was acknowledged as being related to his disability when in its EEOC response, ACCD acknowledged that her perceptions were disability related and affirmatively representedthat the complaint had been summarily dismissed in order to diminish the effects of the complaint. However, Dr. Vela stated later that this admittedly disability related misperception formed half of the basis for his decision to take adverse action against McInnis. 39 We conclude that McInnis has put forth evidence which a reasonable jury could use to determine that the true, driving reason for not renewing McInnis's contract was impermissible discrimination based on his actual or perceived disability. Thus, we also conclude that the magistrate judge erred in finding as a matter of law that McInnis failed to create a genuine issue of material fact as to that issue. A reasonable jury, viewing all of the evidence in a light most favorable to McInnis, could certainly resolve these matters in his favor. As such, and thus, summary judgment was improvidently entered against him.