October 22, 2004

Indiana Decisions - 7th Circuit posts two

Olson, Charles P. v. Northern FS Inc. (ND Ill.)

Before EASTERBROOK, EVANS, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.
EVANS, Circuit Judge. Early in 2001, Northern FS took a chance when it hired Jacob Bloome, a 22-year-old without any sales experience, to replace Chuck Olson, who had won several sales awards in his more than 40 years with the company, as its new crop salesman. The fact that Bloome’s supervisor described his performance as “substandard” in his 2 years as a crop salesman (Bloome no longer works for Northern FS) allows us to conclude that the company likely made a bad decision. Whether the decision was also an illegal one, however, is a closer call. Having considered the case, we think it should be resolved at a trial, rather than at the summary judgment stage where Olson’s age discrimination claim came up a loser in the district court.
Firestine, Cynthia v. Parkview Hosp Inc.* (ND Ind., William C. Lee, Judge)
Before KANNE, ROVNER, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.
WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge. Cynthia Firestine sued Parkview Health System, Inc., under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e to e-17, alleging that the company retaliated against her by removing her from her position for complaining about religious discrimination. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Parkview, concluding that Firestine could not establish that she had engaged in protected activity and, alternatively, had no evidence that Parkview’s stated, non-discriminatory reason for removing her from her position was pretextual. Because we conclude that there are genuine issues of material fact about whether Parkview retaliated against Firestine, we reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment and remand for further proceedings.
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*This decision was originally released as an unpublished order. In response to a motion from Firestine to publish, it is now issued as an opinion.

Posted by Marcia Oddi at October 22, 2004 11:18 AM