Opinion ID: 792923
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Discrimination as a Motivating Factor in Richardson's Discharge

Text: 28 Richardson has presented sufficient evidence to create an issue of fact as to whether the exercise of her FMLA rights was a motivating factor in her discharge. Specifically, Richardson testified that, about a month before she was fired, she overheard her manager, Reginald Blakely, tell Green that We'll just fire her ass. We'll worry about it later. Richardson confronted Blakeley about the statement, and he responded that he was tired of all of this stuff going on with her. Monitronics does not deny the statements. Although the statements could relate to Richardson's attendance policy violations, they could also relate to her FMLA leaves or to her ongoing suit against Monitronics, or both. Similarly, Richardson testified that the head of Human Resources informed her that Monitronics would no longer accommodate her, that it had accommodated her enough. Monitronics disputes the statement, but, taken in the light most favorable to Richardson, the statement could be probative of a hostile environment. The hostile remarks and the temporal proximity of Blakely's remarks to Richardson's termination, taken as a whole, raise an issue of fact as to whether retaliation was a motivating factor in Richardson's termination. 27 29 Richardson insists that there is other evidence that creates an issue of fact as to whether retaliatory animus was a motivating factor in her termination. Her proffered evidence falls short of the mark. For example, Richardson protests that she was disciplined for three tardies that had been approved by her lead, Duran. Therefore, complains Richardson, Monitronics should not have disciplined her for those tardies under the attendance policy. Richardson offers nothing else, however, such as testimony from Duran, to support her assertion. Notably, the only documentary evidence before us, Duran's calendar, indicates that she did not approve at least one of the contested tardies. 30 Richardson also asserts that Monitronics manufactured the dress code violation that lead to her termination. She admits, however, that she was in violation of the dress code. There is nothing before us to suggest that the Monitronics dress code did not remain in full effect while employees were at the office. Accordingly, Richardson's contention that her dress code violation was a suspect reason for terminating her fails to indicate retaliatory animus. 31 Richardson further contends that Monitronics departed from its own progressive discipline attendance policy when it terminated her when it failed to give her an oral warning after the policy went into effect in May 2003. Richardson's argument is merely semantic. She received an oral warning in April 2003 for incurring four absences and five tardies — more than 6 occurrences — in that month alone. Shortly after her oral warning, Richardson received (1) a written warning in May 2003, (2) a final warning in August 2003, and (3) termination in October 2003. An employer's failure to follow its own policies may be probative of discriminatory intent, but it would be too far a stretch to infer discriminatory intent on these facts. Richardson can twist the facts to argue that the progressive discipline she received departed from the attendance policy, yet this departure is not probative of retaliatory animus. 32 Finally, Richardson insists that Monitronics made several changes to her schedule without giving her proper notice in an effort to induce her to commit attendance policy violations. Significantly, however, Richardson's deposition testimony reveals that Monitronics changed her schedule only once without proper notice, and that management recognized its error and apologized to her. Richardson did not testify that the improperly-noticed schedule change induced her to violate the attendance policy. 33