Opinion ID: 1301580
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Brandt's failure to follow the company handbook

Text: Plaintiffs also argue that summary judgment is inappropriate in part because of evidence that Brandt violated a company policy in terminating their employment. We agree. Brandt testified that he did not consider the length of the workers' employment at the Aguila farm prior to laying them off. This violated Eagle Produce's company handbook, which required him to consider skill, ability, attendance, production records, and the length of employment. Reasonable jurors could conclude that this irregularity further undermines the credibility of the proffered explanations for the layoffs: if age was truly irrelevant to Brandt's decisionmaking, he presumably would not have failed to weigh the factor in the handbook that weighed most heavily in favor of retaining older workers. The evidence is consistent with the view that Brandt disregarded company policy because it conflicted with his intent to discriminate. See Brennan v. GTE Govt. Sys. Corp., 150 F.3d 21, 29 (1st Cir.1998) (Deviation from established policy or practice may be evidence of pretext.). 4. Moreno and Mancilla have not presented sufficient evidence to avoid summary judgment on pretext Notwithstanding the foregoing analysis, we find that Moreno has failed to create a genuine issue of fact concerning pretext. The evidence that he caused significant damage to Eagle Produce property over the course of several years is undisputed. Brandt testified that he did not fire Moreno on the basis of two incidents of property damage that occurred before May 2001, but Moreno was also responsible for other damage in October 2001 and February 2002. Moreno fails to account for evidence that these latter incidents were the genuine basis for his termination. The February 2002 incident alone resulted in $10,000 in repairs. That Brandt fired Moreno the day after that incident leaves little doubt that the property damage, rather than age, motivated Brandt's decision. [7] Mancilla has similarly failed to establish a genuine issue concerning the credibility of the explanation for his termination. Brandt testified that he laid off Mancilla because there was no need for water truck drivers in the winter after the close of the melon harvest. That testimony is uncontroverted and establishes that seasonal slowdown was in fact the reason for Mancilla's discharge. Our conclusions that the seasonal slowdown cannot independently explain the indicia of age discrimination in the statistical evidence and that Brandt failed to follow the company handbook do not undermine the credibility of Eagle Produce's explanations for the layoffs of Mancilla and Moreno. Even with such general circumstantial evidence of discrimination, no reasonable juror could find pretext in light of the specific and uncontroverted evidence that nondiscriminatory considerations motivated the individual discharges of these two workers.