Opinion ID: 41382
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Formal Warnings

Text: Saunders contends that she was subjected to disciplinary warning meetings in December 2005 and January 2006 in retaliation for filing her initial EEOC charge. Assuming, as the district court found, that formal disciplinary warning meetings might well dissuade a reasonable employee from making or supporting a charge of discrimination, the burden passed to Emory to articulate a legitimate non-retaliatory reason for the warnings. The record supports Emory’s claim that the meetings were motivated by numerous complaints about Saunders’ workplace performance or attitude. Saunders has produced no evidence indicating the proffered reason is pretextual. The four month time lag between the filing of her complaint with the EEOC and the disciplinary warning meetings, especially standing alone, is far too attenuated to support the inference that Emory’s articulated reason is actually pretext for prohibited retaliation.