Opinion ID: 169475
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Alternative Reason for the Adverse Employment Action

Text: If a plaintiff establishes that protected speech was a motivating factor in an adverse employment action, an employer may nonetheless demonstrate that it would have taken the same action against the employee even in the absence of the protected speech. Lybrook, 232 F.3d at 1338-39. Here, Defendants have not proffered an alternative reason for their actions against Plaintiffs, much less brought forth evidence sufficient to prove by a preponderance that they were in fact motivated by such an alternative reason. Therefore, this step of the analysis is not a proper basis for summary judgment in favor of the Defendants. See Cragg, 143 F.3d at 1347. Accordingly, contrary to the holding of the district court, Plaintiffs' free speech retaliation claim survives summary judgment at this point, but only with regard to the four specified remaining matters.