Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. BCI Coca-Cola Bottling Co.

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• noting that courts are divided \as to the level of control a biased subordinate must exert over the employment decision\ before employers may be liable under a cat's paw theory
• noting that courts are divided “as to the level of control a biased subordinate must exert over the employment decision” before employers may be liable under a cat’s paw theory
• recognizing liability where “a biased subordinate, who lacks decision-making power, 22 uses the formal decisionmaker as a dupe in a deliberate scheme”
• qualifying that “an employer can avoid liability by conducting an independent investigation of the [biased subordinate’s] allegations against an employee”
• noting that the issue turns on “whether the biased subordinate’s discriminatory reports, recommendation, or other actions caused the adverse employment action”
• stating that mere “influence” or “input” in decisionmaking process will not support claim of subordinate bias

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).