In Roa v. Staples, Inc., 2017 WL 3425779 (SDNY Aug. 9, 2017), the court denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment dismissing plaintiff’s disability discrimination claim.
Although it was undisputed that defendant terminated plaintiff based on the belief that plaintiff stole another employee’s bag of chips, the court held that plaintiff provided enough evidence of discriminatory intent and pretext to survive summary judgment.
From the decision:
Based on the record evidence, viewed in plaintiff’s favor, a reasonable jury could find sufficient indicia of discriminatory intent. [ΒΆ] Such evidence includes Upia’s behavior regarding plaintiff. For example, plaintiff testified Upia often expressed dissatisfaction with plaintiff’s restrictions, commented on her extended light-duty status, made demeaning gestures and expressions about plaintiff’s disabilities, and assigned her undesirable tasks, such as cleaning. Moreover, the record contains emails from Upia to Lee expressing frustration at plaintiff’s reduced productivity because of her disabilities and suggesting plaintiff’s compensation be reduced. Lastly, defendants replaced plaintiff with an employee who could operate the electrical pallet jack. The totality of these factors is enough to satisfy plaintiff’s de minimis burden for the fourth prong of her prima facie case.