Case Study 35.2
Citation: Mora v. Jackson Memorial Foundation, Inc. United States Court of Appeals,
Eleventh Circuit, 597 F.3d 1201 (2010).
Facts: Josephine Mora, the plaintiff, was fired at 62 years old. She was a fund-raiser
for Jackson Memorial and after her supervisor recommended she be fired, her CEO
Mr. Rodriguez agreed but decided to give her a different job responsibility and
watched her to look for improvement. After continued poor performance she was let
go. In the process though, the plaintiff claims that Mr. Rodriguez discriminated
against her age by using the sentence “ I need someone younger I can pay less,” and
another former employee verified that she heard the conversation as well stating
more age discriminatory terms that stated she was “ too old “ and should be doing
something else. One more employee said that there was conversation between them
and Mr. Rodriguez where he mentioned the plaintiff being “ too old to work here
anyways.” Rodriguez denied these statements and had a fellow employee
substantiate his side of the claims. Mora sued the Jackson Memorial Foundation for
wrongful termination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The
Foundation moved for a summary judgment stating that the plaintiff would have
been fired due to poor work performance, regardless of the discriminatory issue at
hand. The district court took this into consideration and granted the motion. Mora
appealed to
Issue: Was there a disputed question of material fact as to whether the plaintiff was
fired due to her age?
Decision: Yes. The Supreme Court vacated the District Courts ruling and remanded
the case for further proceedings.