HR pro alleging termination for protesting bias won't get claim revived

Dive Brief:

A former SunTrust recruiter who alleged she was fired because she spoke out against workplace bias failed to show that the bank's reason for terminating her employment was pretext for retaliation, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said, refusing to revive her claim (Whitworth v. SunTrust Banks, Inc., No. 18-11757 (11th Cir., April 13, 2020)).
Ivy Whitworth said in a lawsuit she was fired for opposing discrimination. A co-worker allegedly was blocked from seeking a promotion and Whitworth raised concerns that the move was based on the co-worker's race. Later, Whitworth allegedly misused her corporate credit card. Whitworth informed the employer that her husband had used the card, but it concluded she failed to rectify the issue according to SunTrust's policies, which included a requirement that she pay for the charges. The bank fired her and a district court granted summary judgment for the employer.
On appeal, the 11th Circuit affirmed the lower courts ruling, noting that Whitworth wasn't necessarily subjected to harsher discipline than other, similarly situated employees. Court documents showed that SunTrust terminated the vast majority of employees investigated for corporate card misuse. "Regardless of the validity of Whitworth's temporal proximity arguments, we agree with the district court that she failed to show, through her comparators or otherwise, that SunTrust's proffered reason for her termination was mere pretext," the court said.

Dive Insight:

Federal law prohibits employers from retaliating against employees for engaging in protected activity such as complaining about harassment or discrimination.

But such protected actions don't insulate employees from legitimate discipline. While experts previously told HR Dive it can be risky to dole out discipline in close temporal proximity to such activities, they also say it also needs to be done to prevent future claims of disparate treatment.

Still, it may behoove HR to take a close look at those situations, consulting legal counsel as necessary. Ask yourself, suggested Philip K. Miles III, a shareholder at McQuaide Blasko: "As an employer, are you confident that you can convince a court (or, worst case scenario, a jury) to ignore the suspicious timing and accept your reason?"

HR also can prevent legal trouble by thoroughly documenting all disciplinary actions and employee complaints.