Opinion ID: 2773338
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Cat's Paws

Text: In invoking the cat's paw theory, Ameen attempts to prove that either Conners or Pratt were motivated by animus when they reported his timecard activities to Harrington. In Cariglia v. Hertz Equip. Rental Corp., we held that corporate liability can attach when a neutral decisionmaker rel[ies] on information that is manipulated by another employee who harbors illegitimate animus. 363 F.3d 77, 86-87 (1st Cir. 2004) (holding that an employee's supervisor's animus could be imputed to the decisionmaker). Subsequently, the Supreme Court, in Staub v. Proctor Hospital, determined that cat's paw liability can attach if an employee performs an act motivated by animus that is intended to cause an adverse employment action, and if that act is a proximate cause of an adverse employment action. 131 S. Ct. 1186, 1190, 1194 (2011) (applying the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act to a case involving antimilitary animus). Both cases involved supervisors who provided false or misleading information to a decisionmaker. Ameen argues that the district court incorrectly applied a heightened standard by reading Cariglia to require that the -16- information provided to a decisionmaker must be inaccurate, misleading or incomplete. Rather, Ameen contends that the Staub standard should apply, which he suggests is more liberal than Cariglia's. According to Ameen, Staub does not require the reporting of inaccurate or misleading information; instead, all that is needed is an act by an employee (i.e. the reporting of even accurate information) motivated by animus that is intended to cause, and indeed does cause, an adverse employment action. However, we have no need to parse these two interpretations as Ameen misses the critical point in both cases; both standards absolutely require a finding that the person who provided the information was motivated by retaliatory animus. Accordingly, on that front, they are but two paths to the same end, taking as their first step a finding of retaliatory animus. It is upon that step that Ameen's claim trips.