IFMK Law Partner, Julie Bruch obtained a favorable judgement for her client, a local college, when the 7th Circuit ruled that woman claiming she was fired from her job in retaliation for filing a discrimination complaint cannot sue her former employer.
The former employee, who had held several positions in the college was terminated after more than ten years, citing performance issues. She sued the college and its President and filed a complaint against the college with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Illinois Department of Human Rights claiming race discrimination, harassment and bullying. She alleged that the college was retaliating against her for this filing.
A panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of a U.S. District Judge granting summary judgment to the college and its president. The panel reasoned that although the college terminated the woman after she filed the complaints, she presented no evidence drawing a causal link between her charge and the adverse employment action she later suffered; this was her burden to survive summary judgment.
Read the full story in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, April 19, 2024