Cases

Plaintiff below, a Cuban-American, initially filed an action for national origin discrimination and retaliation pursuant to both the Federal and Florida Civil Rights Acts. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Plaintiff’s former employer on all counts; the Eleventh Circuit affirmed as to the national origin discrimination, and reversed on the retaliation claims. Plaintiff’s former supervisor, Royal Atlantic’s CFO, was “impossible to please” and had fired several others from Plaintiff’s position for unsatisfactory performance, none of whom were Cuban-American. The Eleventh Circuit agreed with the district court that Plaintiff’s supervisor treated all her employees poorly, and because Plaintiff was unable to show she was treated any differently that those outside her protected class, summary judgment on her national origin claim was appropriate. However, prior to her termination, Plaintiff informed Royal Atlantic that she believed she was being discriminated against for being Cuban-American, and Plaintiff’s former supervisor admitted that she terminated Plaintiff because of the letter. Plaintiff’s former supervisor had already decided to terminate Plaintiff and was actively searching for her replacement, however, the letter accelerated the process. The Eleventh Circuit reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment and held that because the issue of whether the early termination was retaliatory, because of the letter’s description of discrimination, or not retaliatory, because of the Royal Atlantic’s belief that Plaintiff was disgruntled and could potentially bring harm to the company through her continued employment, was an issue of fact not suitable for summary judgment.

Topic(s)

• Retaliation