Issue: Under the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), when bringing a claim for retaliatory dismissal, what must the former employee show to establish a prima facie case?
| Area of Law: | Employee Law, Litigation & Procedure |
| Keywords: | Retaliatory dismissal; Prima facie case; Burden-shifting analysis |
| Jurisdiction: | Federal |
| Cited Cases: | 411 U.S. 248; 104 F.3d 1004; 108 F.3d 789 |
| Cited Statutes: | None |
| Date: | 02/01/2001 |
The Seventh Circuit applies the burden-shifting analysis of McDonnell Douglas v. Green, 411 U.S. 248 (1981) to claims of retaliatory action. See McClendon v. Indiana Sugars, Inc., 108 F.3d 789, 796 (7th Cir.1997). To make a prima facie case, a plaintiff must show that: (1) he engaged in statutorily protected expression; (2) he suffered an adverse action by his employer; and (3) there is a causal link between his protected expression and the adverse action. Id. A "causal link" can be less than actionable causation. A causal link is not necessarily the sort of logical connection that would justify a prescription that the protected participation in fact prompted the adverse action. Such a connection would rise to the level of direct evidence of discrimination, shifting the burden of persuasion to the defendant. Rather, the ‘causal link’ element requires merely that the plaintiff establish that the protected activity and the adverse action were not wholly unrelated. See Simmons v. Camden County Bd. Of Educ., 757 F.2d 1187, 1189 (11th Cir.1985), quoted with approval in Hunt-Golliday v. Metropolitan Water Reclamation Dist. Of Greater Chicago, 104 F.3d 1004, 1014 (7th Cir.1997).
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