Ramirez v. Landry's Seafood Inn & Oyster Bar, 01-50015.

• Citation: 280 F.3d 576
• Decision Date: 04 February 2002
• Docket Number: No. 01-50015.,01-50015.
• Parties: Shirley RAMIREZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LANDRY'S SEAFOOD INN & OYSTER BAR; Landry's Seafood Restaurant, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

Page 576

280 F.3d 576

Shirley RAMIREZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LANDRY'S SEAFOOD INN & OYSTER BAR; Landry's Seafood Restaurant, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 01-50015.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

February 4, 2002.

Rehearing Denied March 7, 2002.

Gustavo L. Acevedo, Jr. (argued), San Antonio, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Kevin M. Sadler (argued), Kelly Diane Walton, Baker Botts, Austin, TX, for Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Before JOLLY, SMITH and BENAVIDES, Circuit Judges.

E. GRADY JOLLY, Circuit Judge:

Shirley Ramirez, a Hispanic woman, has adduced enough evidence for a jury to find that her former employer, Landry's Seafood Inn ("Landry's"), violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, by discharging her based on her national origin. We therefore reverse the grant of summary judgment by the district court in favor of Landry's and remand for further proceedings.

I

Ramirez was employed as a waitress at Landry's from 1990 until she was discharged in 1995. In December 1995, two managers at Landry's, Carol Cree and Wendi Scarborough, informed general manager Patrick Richardson — based on second-hand reports — that Ramirez planned to stage a walkout en masse in the middle of a shift and had spread an unfounded rumor that a manager had been fired for calling in sick. Ramirez denies planning a massive walkout¹ and denies spreading a rumor. Following a meeting of Landry's managers, Richardson terminated Ramirez on December 9, 1995. A contemporaneous report documenting the termination indicates that Ramirez was fired because: (1) "[s]he has been working behind the scenes attempting to lure fellow employees to leave Landry's" and (2) "she is spreading rumors about a manager being fired for calling in sick."

Ramirez filed a complaint with the EEOC alleging that she was discharged based on her national origin in violation of Title VII. Based on its investigation of Ramirez's allegations, the EEOC issued a right to sue letter stating that it found reasonable cause to believe that Ramirez's discharge was the result of illegal discrimination. In August 1999, Ramirez filed this Title VII action against Landry's. After nine months of discovery, Landry's filed a motion for summary judgment. Accepting the magistrate judge's recommendation, the district court granted Landry's motion in November 2000. Ramirez now appeals.

II

The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Landry's because "Ramirez has wholly failed to present any evidence to support an inference that Landry's stated reasons for her discharge, consisting of behavior admittedly engaged in by Ramirez, were pretextual, i.e., that the reasons were false and that the true reason was discrimination." We review de novo the district court's grant of summary judgment. See Blow v. City of San Antonio, Tex., 236 F.3d 293, 296 (5th Cir.2001). Summary judgment is appropriate when the record, viewed in the light most favorable to the non-movant, reveals no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See id.; Fed.R.Civ.P. 56.

Landry's concedes that Ramirez has established a prima facie case of discriminatory discharge and, as noted above, Landry's has articulated two non-discriminatory reasons for discharging Ramirez. To make a showing of pretext sufficient to submit her case to a jury, Ramirez "must put forward evidence rebutting each of the nondiscriminatory reasons the employer articulates." Wallace v. Methodist Hosp. System, 271 F.3d 212, 220 (5th Cir.2001) (emphasis added and citations omitted).

In response to the first proffered rationale for her termination, Ramirez points to evidence that a white employee, Cynthiann Rutkowski, engaged in similar actions yet was never disciplined in any way.² Specifically, Ramirez presented sworn statements from two other Landry's employees, Ernest Zavala and Mary Castaneda, that Rutkowski offered to use her connections at Outback Steakhouse to obtain jobs for them and for Ramirez. Ramirez, Zavala, and Castaneda all assert that Richardson was aware of Rutkowski's activities before he fired Ramirez, but Richardson did not take any action against Rutkowski.

We have held that "[w]hen a supervisor of one race treats employees of the same race more favorably than similarly situated employees of another race under circumstances that are essentially identical, a presumption of discriminatory intent is raised." Barnes v. Yellow Freight Systems, 778 F.2d 1096, 1101 (5th Cir.1985). Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Ramirez, we find that Ramirez has raised a material issue of fact whether a similarly situated white employee was treated more leniently than she. Rutkowski's actions here were in essence the same as Ramirez's. Barnes, 778 F.2d at 1101. Indeed, actually offering jobs with a competitor may be a more serious example of encouraging employees to leave their current jobs than a suggestion that employees apply for jobs elsewhere as a team.³

Landry's argues that Ramirez's conduct is different from Rutkowski's conduct because Ramirez "attempted to facilitate a coordinated departure of Landry's employees." Scarborough, Cree, and Richardson assert that they believed that Ramirez was planning to stage a coordinated walkout during a shift, but the termination report refers only to an attempt to "lure fellow employees to leave Landry's." Although the trial court found immaterial any distinction between luring employees away and staging a coordinated walkout, it is not entirely clear whether the alleged "coordination" was a significant factor in Ramirez's termination. In any event, we are persuaded that Ramirez's conduct is in essence the same as Rutkowski's conduct.

Landry's also argues that...