Mayes v. WinCo Holdings, Inc., No. 14-35396 (9th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff was fired for theft and dishonesty from WinCo after twelve years of employment because she took a stale cake from the store bakery to the break room to share with fellow employees and told a loss prevention investigator that management had given her permission to do so. WinCo also determined that plaintiff's behavior rose to the level of gross misconduct under the store's personnel policies, denied plaintiff and her minor children benefits under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA), 29 U.S.C. 1161(a), 1163(2), and denied plaintiff credit for accrued vacation days. Plaintiff filed suit for gender discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq., a claim under COBRA; and wage claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. 201 et seq., as well as corresponding state law claims. The district court granted summary judgment for WinCo. The court concluded that the district court erred in dismissing plaintiff's discrimination claims where ample circumstantial evidence, as well as powerful direct evidence of a supervisor's discriminatory comments, raise a material dispute regarding pretext; if WinCo fired plaintiff for discriminatory reasons, she may be entitled to COBRA benefits and thus the district court erred in dismissing that claim; and, likewise, the district court erred in dismissing the wage claims. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded.
Court Description: Employment Discrimination. The panel reversed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of the defendant on gender discrimination claims under Title VII and the Idaho Human Rights Act, a claim under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, and wage claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Idaho Wage Claim Act. WinCo, a grocery store, fired the plaintiff, who supervised employees on the night-shift freight crew, for taking a stale cake from the store bakery to share with fellow employees and telling a loss prevention investigator that management had given her permission to do so. As to the plaintiff’s gender discrimination claims, the panel held that she presented sufficient evidence that WinCo’s proffered reasons for terminating her were pretextual because she offered ample direct evidence of discriminatory animus, as well as specific and substantial indirect evidence challenging the credibility of WinCo’s motives. As to the COBRA claim, there was a genuine dispute of fact regarding the true reason for the plaintiff’s termination. The panel held that the district court therefore erred in granting summary judgment because if WinCo fired the MAYES V. WINCO HOLDINGS 3 plaintiff for discriminatory reasons, rather than gross misconduct, then she could be entitled to COBRA benefits. The panel also reversed the district court’s summary judgment on the federal and state wage claims, and it remanded the case to the district court.
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