MICHELLE SMITH, APPELLANT,
v.
BREVARD OPTOMETRY ASSOCIATES, ETC., ET AL., APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 2014-04-17
No. 5D12-3923
TORPY, C.J., and ORFINGER, J„ concur.
136 So. 3d 761 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2014)

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

The court held that summary judgment was improperly granted because disputed issues of material fact exist regarding whether the employer's stated non-discriminatory reasons for termination were pretextual.


Headnotes

[1] An appellate court reviews the entry of summary judgment de novo, drawing all inferences in favor of the nonmoving party.

[2] Summary judgment is improper when the nonmoving party presents evidence denying the employer's stated nondiscriminatory reasons for termination and indicating that simila…

Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Plaintiff sued her employer under the Florida Civil Rights Act, alleging disability discrimination. The employer conceded a prima facie case but asser…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
PALMER, J.

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

PALMER, J.

We deny the motion for rehearing, but withdraw our previously issued opinion and substitute the following opinion in its place.

Michelle Smith timely appeals the trial court’s order entering summary judgment in favor of Brevard Optometry Associates (BOA). Because there are disputed issues of material fact existing in the record, we reverse.

Smith filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against BOA pursuant to the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 (FCRA), sections 760.01-11, Florida Statutes *762(2009). She alleged that BOA fired her because it no longer wanted to accommodate her requests for time off following certain medical treatments, and that such firing violated the prohibition against disability discrimination under the FCRA. BOA answered by denying liability, and later filed a motion for summary judgment.

At the summary judgment hearing, Smith produced evidence of her disability and that BOA fired her on the same day that she took time off following a medical treatment. BOA conceded that Smith established a prima facie case of discrimination, but argued that establishing a prima facie case is only the first step in the three-step burden shifting analysis under the McDonnell Douglas framework.1 BOA produced documentary evidence establishing that it received reports that Smith violated two BOA employment policies and that it fired Smith as a result of those violations. First, Smith allegedly discussed her salary raise with another employee. Second, Smith allegedly took a long lunch break and failed to clock out. Since it provided allegedly nondiserimina-tory reasons for firing Smith, BOA argued that Smith was under the obligation to proffer evidence showing that these nondiscriminatory reasons were pretextual. Smith produced documentary evidence, denying that she violated BOA’s employment policies and establishing that other employees allegedly violated similar policies and were not fired.

The trial court entered summary judgment in favor of BOA, finding that Smith was fired because of the violations alleged. The court stated:

I have not been presented with one shred of evidence that [her medical needs] went into their decision making process, and what was presented to them by Jimenez was later confirmed by depositions and affidavits ... It wasn’t pretextual as presented to the doctors. I think the real reason they fired [Smith] was because of the two violations that were presented ....

This appeal timely followed.

An appellate court reviews the entry of summary judgment de novo, drawing all inferences in favor of the nonmoving party. Major League Baseball v. Morsani, 790 So.2d 1071 (Fla.2001); Horizons Rehab., Inc. v. Health Care & Ret. Corp., 810 So.2d 958, 962 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002). A reviewing court must determine whether there is any genuine issue of material fact. Futch v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 988 So.2d 687, 690 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008).

Because Smith provided evidence in the record denying that she discussed her salary raise with another employee or that she took a long lunch break and failed to clock out and indicating that other employees, similarly situated, were treated differently under the same facts, there are *763genuine issues of material fact with regard to these issues. Accordingly, summary judgment should not have been entered.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

TORPY, C.J., and ORFINGER, J„ concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw