Cengage Advantage Books: Business Law Today, The Essentials 10th Edition by Roger LeRoy Miller

تمرين 20

Mora v. Jackson Memorial Foundation, Inc.
FACTS Josephine Mora, a fund-raiser for Jackson Memorial Foundation, Inc., was sixty-two years old when the foundation's chief executive officer (CEO) fired her, citing errors and issues with professionalism. Mora filed a suit against the foundation, alleging age discrimination. She asserted that when she was fired, the CEO told her, "I need someone younger I can pay less." She had a witness who had heard that statement as well as another in which the CEO said that Mora was "too old to be working here anyway." The foundation moved for summary judgment, arguing that Mora was fired chiefly because she was incompetent. The district court granted the motion, and Mora appealed.
ISSUE Did Mora present sufficient evidence that the employer's stated reason for firing her was only a pretext?
DECISION Yes. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit set aside the decision of the trial court and remanded the case for a trial.
REASON Because there was a "disputed question of material fact" as to whether the plaintiff had been fired because of her age, the defendant was not entitled to summary judgment. The district court should not have examined the question of whether Mora would have been fired no matter what her age was simply because she had become incompetent. "The resolution of this case depends on whose account of the pertinent conversations a jury would credit. A reasonable juror could accept that [the CEO] made the discriminatory-sounding remarks and that the remarks are sufficient evidence of a discriminatory motive." A reasonable juror could conclude that that the CEO fired Mora because of her age.
CRITICAL THINKING-Ethical Consideration Is the court's decision fair to employers? Why or why not?