Employment & Labor Law
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Department of Children and Family Services v. Gloria Garcia
30 Fla. L. Weekly D1977a
DCF appealed from an adverse order of the Florida Commission. The decision adopted a recommended order of an administrative law judge that the Department had engaged in unlawful gender discrimination by discharging plaintiff. The Third District Court of Appeal court reversed with directions to dismiss on the ground that the evidence does not support the result.
The court held that it was clear that department presented legitimate, non discriminatory evidence that plaintiff had been discharged for serious misconduct which was itself related to sexual harassment. Specifically, there was significant evidence that the plaintiff had engaged in objectionable behavior toward two female employees including offensive sexual conduct toward a co-worker and making sexual advances toward a subordinate. There was no direct evidence that any of the personnel responsible for the dismissal acted for discriminatory reasons. Plaintiff attempted to make her case circumstantially claiming that she was less favorably treated than male co-workers who were similarly situated to her in all relevant respects. She sought to prove that she was fired although male employees who had committed equivalent misconduct were not. The court found that the record did not contain such evidence, or anything close to it. None of the supposed comparators: (1) were similarly situated; (2) had engaged in comparable misconduct; and (3) were not dismissed by the department. Therefore, the trial court
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