A Culture Of Profanity
The Iowa Supreme Court affirmed the grant of summary judgment to an employer sued for wrongful termination, workplace harassment and age discrimination
The plaintiff, age sixty, texted his plant manager “FUCK You!” and “Believe who and what you want” shortly after that manager harshly criticized his job performance. The plaintiff was promptly fired, and he sued for wrongful termination, workplace harassment, and age discrimination. The defendants moved for summary judgment on the grounds that this at-will employee was lawfully fired for insubordination. The plaintiff resisted, arguing that he meant to text someone else, the defendants retaliated against him for making safety complaints, profanity was widespread at this workplace, and the employer had a practice of discriminating against older employees. The district court granted summary judgment, dismissing all claims, and we transferred the plaintiff’s appeal to the court of appeals, which affirmed two counts but reinstated the age discrimination claim, determining questions of fact precluded summary judgment. We granted the defendants’ application for further review.
On our review, we determine that the district court properly granted summary judgment on all claims. We modify the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework for summary judgment on discrimination claims under the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA) to align with the causation standard at trial. We adopt and apply the good-faith “honest belief rule” to affirm the employer’s decision to terminate the plaintiff for insubordination. The employer’s investigation was adequate. While there is a culture of profanity at the meatpacking plant, no other employee texted or said “FUCK You!” to the plant manager right after his negative performance review. While the plaintiff named other older employees who had been terminated over several decades, he had no direct evidence or any expert statistical analysis to show a company practice of discriminating against older workers. We hold this plaintiff lacked proof sufficient to raise a jury question on age discrimination.
Workplace profanity
No one should be surprised that Feeback had evidence swearing was commonplace at Swift’s Marshalltown meatpacking facility. He offered names of seventy-three other employees who cursed, sometimes in the presence of supervisors, who were not disciplined for their foul language. Mulgrew himself cursed at Feeback. The court of appeals held that because profanity was commonplace, a jury could find Swift’s proffered reason for firing Feeback was a pretext for age discrimination. We disagree. Nobody besides Feeback texted “FUCK You!” to the plant manager after a negative performance review.
The court cited a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit where an employee was fired for yelling “Fuck you. That’s bullshit” to a supervisor
The Sixth Circuit squarely rejected Hausler’s contention that profanity was so common in the workplace that there was a fact question on pretext; that is, whether he was terminated for his age, not for insubordination. Id. at 893. The Sixth Circuit concluded there is a difference between swearing generally and swearing at the supervisor. Id. The same is true for Feeback.
(Mike Frisch)