Opinion ID: 2510361
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Justification and Pretext

Text: {23} Since Plaintiff has made a prima facie case for retaliation under the McDonnell Douglas formulation, the burden then shifts to Intel to come forward with a valid justification for the adverse treatment. See McDonnell Douglas, 411 U.S. at 802-03, 93 S.Ct. 1817. Once Intel provides a justification, the burden shifts back to Plaintiff to show the justification is merely pretext for a retaliatory motive. See id. at 804-05, 93 S.Ct. 1817. At the outset, we note that whether a proffered justification is legitimate, or is merely an excuse to cover up illegal conduct, is largely a credibility issue and often requires the use of circumstantial evidence. It is rare a defendant keeps documents or makes statements that directly indicate a retaliatory motive for terminating an employee. Issues such as this should normally be left exclusively to the province of the jury. Judges should not make credibility determinations or weigh circumstantial evidence at the summary judgment stage. {24} Intel claims Plaintiff was terminated pursuant to its guidelines that provide for termination of an employee upon the receipt of three written warnings in a rolling twelve-month period. It argues Plaintiff received three written warnings within this period, and two of the warnings were solely related to his work performance, thereby justifying Plaintiff's termination. Intel goes on to argue that Plaintiff has failed to show a genuine issue of material fact that Intel's justification was pretext. We disagree. {25} Plaintiff is not required to show disputed issues of fact for every element of the claim, Bartlett v. Mirabal, 2000-NMCA-036, ¶ 17, 128 N.M. 830, 999 P.2d 1062, and, in any case, Plaintiff has provided evidence from which a jury could conclude Intel's justification was pretext. Indeed, much of the evidence that establishes a genuine issue of fact for causation also demonstrates a factual dispute as to pretext. The record on summary judgment indicates Plaintiff received no discipline for performance issues until after his EEOC complaint was filed. Furthermore, Plaintiff argues the first written warning for sexual harassment was issued because he refused to admit guilt and insisted on pursuing the issue when confronted by Lin Harris. It will be for the factfinder to determine who to believe, Plaintiff or Harris, to determine if the written warning was valid or just retaliation for Plaintiff's actions. In regard to the other two warnings, the record reflects that his coworkers would disagree with the assessments made by his supervisors because they found Plaintiff to be a hard worker. Plaintiff argues this disagreement shows the warnings were merely pretext. Again, the jury must determine whether Plaintiff and his coworkers or Intel and its supervisors are to be believed. Finally, Plaintiff points to Russell's notes regarding the letter from Plaintiff's attorney concerning a potential lawsuit and referring to it as disgusting. Intel argues, Russell was merely reacting to hyperbole in the letter. It is the province of the jury, not the judge, to interpret Russell's reaction as indicative of a retaliatory motive or not. Plaintiff has satisfied his burden to show there are disputed factual issues regarding Intel's justification.