Ennin v. CNH Industrial America LLC

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Ennin, a naturalized American citizen born in Ghana, began working for CNH in 2012 as a supervisor of hourly workers--the only black supervisor at the Lebanon, Indiana facility. Ennin received a written warning for misconduct in 2014, based on a verbal altercation with another supervisor about a radio, which was witnessed by hourly employees. Months later, Ennin’s car broke down on his way to work. Ennin notified his supervisor that he would be late, then called his hourly employee, Chavez, who had clocked in. Chavez left work to help Ennin. Ennin permitted Chavez to follow him through the supervisor’s entrance, in violation of company policy and neglected to adjust Chavez’s time sheet to reflect that Chavez had been absent for 46 minutes. After meeting with supervisors about the incident, Ennin went home for medical reasons. Ennin did not return to work but scheduled a planned hemorrhoidectomy and received leave from CNH’s third‐party administrator, Prudential, which approved his short‐term disability benefits. CNH sent a letter, informing Ennin that his employment had been terminated before he took medical leave Ennin sued, arguing that he was fired because of his race, national origin, disability, and decision to take FMLA leave. The court granted CNH summary judgment. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. Ennin waived the admissibility of evidence that CNH terminated him knowing that Ennin was disabled and on FMLA leave. No evidence indicated that CNH’s stated reasons for termination were pretextual. View "Ennin v. CNH Industrial America LLC" on Justia Law