Dive Brief:
- "Isolated comments" from a Dollar General manager didn't show disability discrimination, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (Castetter v. Dolgencorp, LLC., No. 19-2026 (7th Cir., March 25, 2020).
- Carl Castetter sued Dollar General, alleging it fired him because of his cancer, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Castetter said a regional manager "mocked and demeaned him" and made other comments about his impairment prior to his termination. The employer, however, showed he was fired after performance issues that he declined to remedy as outlined in a performance improvement plan.
- A federal district court granted summary judgment for Dollar General and the appeals court affirmed. The court said "isolated comments must be contemporaneous with termination or causally related to the termination process in order to be probative of discrimination." Moreover, Castetter failed to rebut the "voluminous" evidence showing his deficiencies, the court said.
Dive Insight:
Employers often can defeat discrimination claims if they are able to demonstrate a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for an adverse employment decision. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has suggested in a guidance that thorough documentation is key.
For example, a job candidate who alleged age discrimination after she unsuccessfully applied for teaching positions was unable to succeed on her claim because the school district was able to show legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for selecting other candidates who were also younger. Lowe’s similarly prevailed over claims of harassment and bias with documentation of legitimate non-discriminatory reasons for its actions.
Experts have said that HR and managers should be trained to document everything. Additionally, HR can watch for discrimination red flags such as phrases like "bad attitude" and "not fitting in," they said, and managers should know when things must be escalated to HR.