Tough Love From the Fifth Circuit

Conventional wisdom says the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is hostile to employment discrimination against plaintiffs, however, the actual truth is the Fifth Circuit is hostile to imprecise arguments, misaligned advocacy and conclusions in lieu of facts. Here are some recent examples of tough love from the Fifth Circuit.

In an age discrimination case involving the Lubbock County Hospital District, Rosemary Salazar worked as a therapist for 27 years before she was fired for performance issues (Salazar v. Lubbock County Hospital District, Dec. 7, 2020). That’s right, nearly three decades of service followed by unceremonious unemployment. Her evidence of age discrimination? Well, she testified that three other long-term employees in her department, all over 60 years of age, were also terminated the same year by the same manager, and she named names. The flaw? Other than her word for it there was no corroboration from hospital records on whether these employees were terminated, why they were terminated or their ages.