Opinion ID: 2976994
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Gibson’s Retaliation Claim

Text: Lastly, we address Gibson’s retaliation claims. The district court assumed that Gibson raised claims of retaliation; however, a review of Gibson’s complaint reveals that at no point did Gibson 19 ever mention retaliation as a cause of action.4 Despite Gibson’s failure to raise explicitly retaliation in his complaint, the district court did not err in considering retaliation claims as part of Gibson’s lawsuit. As long as the facts of the complaint give adequate notice, we do not hold against the plaintiff the failure to mention a specific legal theory giving rise to a claim. See Estate of George ex rel. George v. Michigan, 63 F. App’x 208, 212 (6th Cir. 2003) (unpublished). In this case, Gibson’s complaint noted that he had charged Shelly with retaliation in his OCRC and EEOC complaints, even though he did not list explicitly retaliation as a cause of action in the complaint filed in the district court. Furthermore, the facts that comprise the retaliation claims are present and apparent within Gibson’s complaint. Thus, Gibson’s complaint gave adequate notice of his retaliation claims, and it was not an error for the district court to conclude that Gibson alleged retaliation claims in his complaint. “[T]o prevail on a claim for retaliatory discharge under Title VII [based on circumstantial evidence], a plaintiff must first establish a prima facie case by demonstrating that 1) the plaintiff engaged in an activity protected by Title VII; 2) the exercise of the plaintiff’s civil rights was known to the defendant; 3) the defendant thereafter undertook an employment action adverse to the plaintiff; and 4) there was a causal connection between the protected activity and the adverse employment 4 On August 3, 2006, Gibson filed a motion requesting leave to file an amended complaint. According to the motion, Gibson sought to add explicitly retaliation claims, which would state that “[t]he acts of the Defendant, including but not limited to, the termination of Plaintiff’s employment in 2004 and 2005, constitute retaliation against Plaintiff for exercising his legally protected rights under both federal and state discrimination statutes.” Docket No. 2:05-cv-888, R. 16 at 5 (Pl.’s Mot. for Leave to File Am. Compl.). Although the district court granted the motion for leave to file the amended complaint, the amended complaint that was entered into the docket was identical to the original complaint in all respects and did not include the retaliation language. We, therefore, address Gibson’s retaliation claims without considering the explicit retaliation language that Gibson attempted to add. 20 action.” Virts v. Consol. Freightways Corp. of Del., 285 F.3d 508, 521 (6th Cir. 2002). “To establish the causal connection required in the fourth prong, a plaintiff must produce sufficient evidence from which an inference could be drawn that the adverse action would not have been taken had the plaintiff not filed a discrimination action.” Nguyen v. City of Cleveland, 229 F.3d 559, 563 (6th Cir. 2000). In evaluating the merits of Gibson’s retaliation claim, the district court concluded that Gibson failed to prove a causal connection between his various OCRC and EEOC complaints, and his terminations in 2004 and 2005. According to the district court, “the circumstances are insufficient to support an inference of retaliation based on mere temporal proximity,” J.A. at 492 (Op. and Order at 28), because there was such a long period of time between his protected claims and his termination. We agree that Gibson failed to establish a causal connection between his OCRC and EEOC complaints and his subsequent terminations. We have never suggested that a lack of temporal proximity dooms a retaliation claim. In fact, we have previously found retaliation when the termination followed the complaint by over a year. Harrison v. Metro. Gov’t of Nashville, 80 F.3d 1107, 1119 (6th Cir. 1996), overruled on other grounds by Jackson v. Quanex Corp., 191 F.3d 647, 667 (6th Cir. 1999). However, in order to overcome a lack of temporal proximity, the plaintiff must present sufficient evidence supporting the causal connection. “[W]here some time elapses between when the employer learns of a protected activity and the subsequent adverse employment action, the employee must couple temporal proximity with other evidence of retaliatory conduct to establish causality.” Mickey v. Zeidler Tool & Die Co., 516 F.3d 516, 525 (6th Cir. 2008) (emphasis added). In this case, Gibson has not 21 presented any additional evidence of retaliatory conduct. Therefore, we affirm the district court’s dismissal of Gibson’s retaliation claims.