Opinion ID: 1436568
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mr. McFarland Failed to Establish a Causal Link Between the Letter and GW's Actions

Text: Mr. McFarland claims that Deborah McDonald's role in his termination creates a genuine issue of material fact because she possibly knew of his April 14, 1999, letter. This argument has no merit. Ms. McDonald testified that she consulted on the proposal to eliminate McFarland's position, and she drafted the letter informing him of his termination, but she was not aware of his April 14 letter to Rogers. It is not clear how many days before April 19 Deborah McDonald provided the draft termination letter to Ms. Hunter, but there could be no rational inference that Ms. McDonald learned of the letter and, in reaction, it somehow influenced the decision to eliminate Mr. McFarland's position. That decision was made before McFarland wrote his letter. At oral argument, counsel for appellant conceded that Ms. Hunter had no knowledge of Mr. McFarland's complaints at the time she decided to eliminate his position. Ms. Hunter formally proposed that step in a February 3, 1999, memo and had met with the HR department about eliminating Mr. McFarland's Marketing Manager position as early as January of 1999. Although final approval was given shortly before Mr. McFarland was notified that his position had been eliminated, it would be speculation to suggest that that decision was influenced by knowledge of the April 14 letter.