Opinion ID: 778936
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: JAML — Equal Protection Claim

Text: 26 We next move to Appellants' contention that the district court should have granted JAML in their favor on Warren's equal protection claim because there was insufficient evidence to go before the jury. Our review of the record leads us to conclude that this claim is also without merit. As before, we review the district court's denial of JAML de novo. Phillips, 216 F.3d at 705-06. Appellants argue that there was insufficient proof that Prejean terminated Warren, and that Warren did not identify similarly situated male employees that Prejean allegedly disciplined differently than her. 27 The fact that Seidner was the individual who signed off on Warren's termination does not necessarily mean that Prejean did not play a significant role in the termination process. Courts look beyond the moment a decision was made in order to determine whether statements or comments made by other managerial employees played a role in the ultimate decisionmaking process. Gagnon, 284 F.3d at 848. Warren presented significant evidence that Prejean had supervisory authority over her at one time and that Prejean was actively involved in the decision to terminate her. In fact there was testimony from several witnesses at trial that Prejean investigated the allegations against Warren and that Seidner relied on the integrity of that investigation. 2 Consequently, the fact that Seidner's signature was on Warren's termination papers is not dispositive. 28 Warren also presented sufficient evidence of other similarly situated male employees at the Sears facility who were treated differently. This evidence primarily circulates around Doug Block, J.B. Hayes, and Ron Davis, all employees at the Sears facility. To show that employees are similarly situated, a plaintiff need only establish that he or she was treated differently than other employees whose violations were of `comparable seriousness.' Lynn v. Deaconess Med. Center-West Campus, 160 F.3d 484, 488 (8th Cir.1998). Appellants claim that Hayes was disciplined for verbal sexual harassment, Davis engaged in verbal sexual harassment and Block was sleeping once at night while youths were asleep, and that each of these instances were quite distinct from the allegations facing Warren. However, Warren presented testimony from Block that he was accused of sleeping on two or three occasions, another employee testified that he reported Block sleeping as many as nine times, and that Hayes was accused of sexual harassment five times. The most significant factual dispute includes Davis. Warren presented evidence that Davis had been accused of physical abuse of youth at the facility on numerous occasions, and that he engaged in emotional abuse of the youths on several occasions as well. Without belaboring the point, it is clear that there was significant support for Warren's claim that other males, similarly situated, received different treatment. Taken as a whole, there was sufficient evidence as a matter of law to put this before the jury, and they held in Warren's favor on this question of fact as conflicts in the evidence are for the jury to decide. See Hathaway v. Runyon, 132 F.3d 1214, 1225 (8th Cir. 1997). As such, we find no error. 29