Opinion ID: 2982119
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Workplace Antagonism

Text: Canady next argues that she suffered workplace antagonism after her injury. To support this claim, she provides three pieces of evidence: (1) Rinks’s blaming her for her injury; (2) Watkins’s requesting a drug screen; and (3) Grimes’s appearing angry when the investigation into Canady’s injury indicated that she was not at fault. This last piece of evidence suffers from two flaws. First, it is uncorroborated, and second, a supervisor’s apparent irritation does not amount to workplace antagonism. Similarly, although Watkins testified that he was not “sure” that a drug screen was a part of Gillette’s post-accident policy, he also testified that he “thought that was the procedure” and that a drug screen was “typical anytime there’s an injury to ensure you rule that aspect out.” Watkins’s comporting with what he believed to be company procedure does not indicate workplace antagonism. Finally, although Rinks—a non-managerial employee who had no input on the decision to terminate Canady—did initially suggest that Canady caused her own injury, he eventually - 18 - No. 13-5326 Canady v. Gillette subscribed to the finding that Canady was not at fault. None of these claims of workplace antagonism provide compelling circumstantial evidence. See Newcomb, 222 S.W.3d at 391. 3. Failure to Adhere to Established Company Policy Canady claims that Gillette failed to adhere to its own policies in its dealings with her after her injury. To support this allegation, Canady asserts that Gillette ignored its usual practice of allowing ODLs to approve emergency vacation time in writing, orally, or through SAP and instead contrived the need for an emergency vacation form. The record is not completely clear regarding the avenues for approval of emergency vacation. This uncertainty, however, is irrelevant because the record unambiguously indicates that Canady did not receive approval, regardless of the channels through which Canady could have received it. For her half day personal holiday on January 22, Canady attempts to circumvent this fact by asserting that she alerted a number of other supervisors of her departure. While true, this point remains unconvincing since Canady did not alert her ODL, Watkins, as she knew she should have and as required by Gillette’s written policy. Canady’s allegations that Gillette deviated from company policy fails to generate compelling circumstantial evidence of causation. 4. Discriminatory Treatment Compared to Similarly Situated Employees Canady offers the conclusory assertion that “[i]n a nutshell, no other employee of Defendant was terminated for incorrectly requesting emergency vacation.” Appellant’s Br. at 38. Canady then - 19 - No. 13-5326 Canady v. Gillette points to two examples of supposedly similarly situated employees who were not punished for rule violations: (1) an employee in the Cell Make, the other plant at the same Duracell facility, with a different supervisor who went unpunished after completing an emergency vacation form three weeks late; and (2) an employee who, five months after Canady’s discharge, violated Gillette’s lockout/tag-out (“LOTO”) policy but was not fired even though the stated penalty for a LOTO violation was immediate discharge. Neither of these examples are apt. We have held that establishing the substantial factor element of a prima facie case by proving discriminatory treatment compared to similarly situated employees requires a comparator who “must have dealt with the same supervisor, have been subject to the same standards, and have engaged in the same conduct without such differentiating or mitigating circumstances that would distinguish their conduct or their employer's treatment of them for it.” Ellis v. Buzzi Unicem USA, 293 F. App'x 365, 372 (6th Cir. 2008) (quoting Mitchell v. Toledo Hospital, 964 F.2d 577, 583 (6th Cir. 1992)). This standard undercuts both of Canady’s examples. The employee who violated the LOTO policy had not engaged in the same conduct as Canady, and the employee who submitted his form three weeks late not only had a different supervisor but also worked in an entirely different plant. As such, this factor fails to establish that Canady’s workers’ compensation claim substantially factored into her discharge.4 4 Moreover, Canady was assertedly terminated for misrepresentations during the investigation into her conduct. Canady, however, does not point to any other employees who made similar misrepresentations but were nonetheless not terminated. - 20 - No. 13-5326 Canady v. Gillette 5. Work History Canady’s only argument regarding her work history is to emphasize that she maintained an exemplary record during her thirty-five years at the battery plant. While true, this evidence is not particularly probative. Further, Canady’s injury history undercuts her claim that she was discharged for suffering an on-the-job injury or filing a workers’ compensation claim. Both before and after Gillette purchased the plant where she worked, Canady suffered a number of workplace injuries that resulted in workers’ compensation claims, including a $10,000 claim for a knee injury (the same injury on which she based her disability claim in her EEOC charge) in 2006. She was not punished for any of these claims. Outside of her uncorroborated speculation about Gillette’s having a recent policy of firing employees who suffered recordable injuries or her injury causing plant management to lose their bonuses, Canady fails to explain why her February 8 injury and subsequent claim differ from any of her previous injuries and claims. Canady’s claim history, if anything, militates against the suggestion that her injury played a substantial role in Gillette’s decision to terminate her employment. 6. Sudden and Marked Changes in Performance Evaluations Regarding her performance evaluations, Canady argues that nothing in the record indicates that she had ever been accused of lying or falsification before she received her Corrective Action Summary Form on February 10, 2010, two days after her injury. While true, this evidence is not - 21 - No. 13-5326 Canady v. Gillette particularly compelling proof that her workers’ compensation claim was a substantial factor in her discharge. 7. Evidence Tending to Show that Gillette’s Stated Reason for Discharge Was False Canady struggles to collect evidence that either of Gillette’s stated reasons for her discharge were false. Although she undoubtedly disagrees with the label of “falsifying documents,” Canady does not contest that she engaged in the underlying conduct that led to this accusation—coding her absences as a half day of personal holiday and a full day of emergency vacation time without receiving approval from Watkins. Thus, while Canady may contest that this reason for her discharge was not a valid one, she cannot claim that it is false. Canady likewise struggles to offer evidence that the second stated reason for her discharge—lying during the investigation—is false. Canady insists that she never claimed that Haun or Barber approved her vacation time. Yet Canady’s only counter to Grimes’s notes from their meeting on February 9, which indicate that she had claimed that Haun approved her vacation, is to allege that Grimes is lying or that Grimes’s notes have been “altered post facto.” Appellant’s Br. at 40. This claim of fabrication or alteration is speculative and unsupported in the record; it is not compelling circumstantial evidence indicating that Canady’s workers’ compensation claim significantly factored into her discharge. - 22 - No. 13-5326 Canady v. Gillette