SUMMARY
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a former employee may take his whistleblower retaliation case to a jury, finding that his food safety complaints could have contributed to his firing.
The 20-page opinion is Finley v. Kraft Heinz Inc.
The plaintiff alleged that the defendant, his former employer, violated the Food Safety Modernization Act by terminating him after he raised repeated concerns about food safety procedures. A U.S. District Court in South Carolina had granted summary judgment to the defendant, holding the plaintiff failed to show his complaints were a “contributing factor” in his dismissal.
The 4th Circuit disagreed, noting that a reasonable jury could weigh the close timing between the plaintiff’s complaints, an internal investigation and his eventual termination. The court emphasized that an intervening investigation did not automatically erase the inference of retaliation, especially where the plaintiff’s objections had intensified just before he was fired.
The plaintiff also argued that he was disciplined more harshly than a subordinate who played a key role in a mishandled employee termination but who had not raised food safety concerns. The subordinate faced no...
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