King v. Ford Motor Co.

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiff-employee’s Title VII and FMLA actions alleging that she was sexually harassed and terminated in retaliation for complaining about sexual harassment and for taking FMLA leave. Dist. Ct. properly dismissed on timeliness grounds plaintiff’s sexual harassment claim, where: (1) prior to filing instant charge, EEOC had issued plaintiff right-to-sue letter on plaintiff’s prior EEOC charge that contained same sexual harassment allegations; (2) plaintiff failed to file lawsuit within 90 days of EEOC attempt to serve said letter; and (3) plaintiff could not incorporate same allegations into instant EEOC charge and restart process. Also, plaintiff could not prosecute any FMLA action where: (1) record showed that plaintiff had not worked requisite 1,250 hours during preceding 12-month period; and (2) plaintiff could only offer conclusory statements in affidavit that she had worked unspecified sufficient number of hours to qualify for FMLA protection. Moreover, plaintiff failed to establish any retaliation claim, where: (1) plaintiff failed to identify any similarly-situated co-workers outside her protected classification who received more favorable treatment; (2) time gaps of one year and nine months between protected activity and adverse acts undermined any inference of causation; and (3) plaintiff failed to link any adverse act to applicable decision-maker.