“An employee may claim protection for activities opposed to alleged discrimination so long as the manner of the employee’s opposition is reasonable.” In this case, the Court found that the plaintiff:
has not shown why she needed to violate the recording policy
in order to oppose defendants’ alleged discrimination. She might have taken
notes of the conversations, obtained the same information through legal
discovery, or simply asked her interlocutors for permission to record. [Plaintiff]
argues that her conduct was reasonable because the recordings were not illegal,
did not breach confidential information, were not disruptive of business
operations, and were not disseminated beyond the litigation. But none of this
suggests that the recording policy was illegitimate or that it would have been
futile to oppose the alleged discrimination in ways that did not violate the
policy.”
The Court also rejected her contention that the records did
not actually motivate her termination when the employer had known about them
since May, but did not terminate her
until December. However, the evidence
also showed that the plaintiff did not produce copies of the recordings to the
employer until October, at which time a vice-president reviewed them before
deciding to terminate her. The court
refused to fault the employer for conducting an investigation before
terminating the plaintiff. The plaintiff
could not overcome evidence of the employer’s honest belief. In addition, the Court determined that even if one of the reasons given for terminating the plaintiff was pretextual, that did not mean that the second reason was similarly pretextual if it arose independently of the first explanation and was made by a different corporate officer. In this case, the plaintiff had been fired for poor performance and the inappropriate recordings. There were two separate investigations made by two different managers. Thus, the reasons could rise and fall independently.
NOTICE: This summary is designed merely to inform and alert you of recent legal developments. It does not constitute legal advice and does not apply to any particular situation because different facts could lead to different results. Information here can change or be amended without notice. Readers should not act upon this information without legal advice. If you have any questions about anything you have read, you should consult with or retain an employment attorney.
