Michael Johnson v. At & T Corp.

How courts have described this case

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

• holding that the proper inquiry is not whether an employer is correct in determining an employee violated policy but whether an employer honestly believes an employee violated policy
• explaining that the consideration in evaluating pretext is whether the employer honestly believed the employee violated the company’s code of conduct, not whether the employer was factually correct in its conclusion
• acknowledging that the employee “does not dispute the fact that an employee’s violation of company policy is a legitimate reason for subsequent termination.”
• explaining that mistakes employers make in employment actions do “not automatically prove that [the employer] was … motivated by unlawful discrimination”
• determining that the employer’s failure to interview two of the employee’s witnesses during the investigation did not show that the termination was pretext for racial discrimination
• explaining that the consideration in evaluating pretext is whether the employer honestly believed the employee violated the company's code of conduct, not whether the employer was factually correct in its conclusion

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Cited by

47 cases in this archive cite this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

• Torgerson v. City of Rochester
  Eighth Circuit· 2010-05-21· cited 347×
• Shirdena M. Twymon v. Wells Fargo & Company, Doing Business as Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc.
  Eighth Circuit· 2006-09-12· cited 174×
• Conseco Life Insurance v. Williams
  Eighth Circuit· 2010-09-03· cited 89×
• National Labor Relations Board v. RELCO Locomotives, Inc.
  Eighth Circuit· 2013-08-20· cited 81×
• Fisher v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
  Eighth Circuit· 2010-09-01· cited 78×
• Sidney Simpson v. Des Moines Water Works
  Eighth Circuit· 2005-10-10· cited 77×
• Smith v. Fairview Ridges Hospital
  Eighth Circuit· 2010-10-27· cited 63×
• Roeben v. BG Excelsior Ltd. Partnership
  Eighth Circuit· 2008-11-06· cited 48×
• Lavada A. Box v. Anthony J. Principi, Secretary of Department of Veterans Affairs Department of Veterans Affairs
  Eighth Circuit· 2006-03-31· cited 42×
• Brenda Arnold, Appellant/cross-Appellee v. Nursing and Rehabilitation Center at Good Shepherd, Llc, Appellee/cross-Appellant
  Eighth Circuit· 2006-12-08· cited 42×
• Dixon v. Pulaski County Special School District
  Eighth Circuit· 2009-08-27· cited 40×
• Sheila Main v. Ozark Health Inc
  Eighth Circuit· 2020-05-11· cited 39×
• Irving v. Dormire
  Eighth Circuit· 2009-10-19· cited 30×
• Iowa Network Services, Inc. v. Qwest Corp.
  Eighth Circuit· 2006-10-31· cited 28×
• Alliant Techsystems, Inc. v. Marks
  Eighth Circuit· 2006-10-19· cited 22×
• Dede Smith v. United Television, Inc. Special Severance Plan
  Eighth Circuit· 2007-02-02· cited 20×
• David Torgerson v. City of Rochester
  Eighth Circuit· 2010-05-21· cited 20×
• Montes v. Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies (GTCYS)
  Eighth Circuit· 2008-08-28· cited 16×
• Micah Stone v. McGraw-Hill Global, etc.
  Eighth Circuit· 2017-05-15· cited 16×
• Withers v. DICK'S SPORTING GOODS, INC.
  Eighth Circuit· 2011-03-04· cited 15×

Cites

14 cases in this archive are cited by this case.

• McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green
  Supreme Court· 1973-05-14· cited 38,518×
• Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc.
  Supreme Court· 2000-06-12· cited 12,455×
• Desert Palace, Inc. v. Costa
  Supreme Court· 2003-06-09· cited 1,575×
• James F. HUTSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. McDONNELL DOUGLAS CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee
  Eighth Circuit· 1995-08-24· cited 411×
• DAVID GRIFFITH, PLAINTIFF—APPELLANT v. CITY OF DES MOINES, DEFENDANTS—APPELLEES
  Eighth Circuit· 2004-12-17· cited 364×
• Richard HARVEY, Appellant, v. ANHEUSER-BUSCH, INC., Appellee
  Eighth Circuit· 1994-10-17· cited 265×
• Clarence Putman v. Unity Health System
  Eighth Circuit· 2003-11-07· cited 230×
• James Scroggins v. University of Minnesota the University of Minnesota Police Department
  Eighth Circuit· 2000-08-02· cited 92×
• Edward A. Chambers, Jr. v. Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company
  Eighth Circuit· 2003-12-15· cited 80×
• Laura Kincaid v. City of Omaha
  Eighth Circuit· 2004-08-09· cited 77×
• Jan Calder v. Tci Cablevision of Missouri, Inc., Doing Business as Tci Media Services, Tci Central, Inc.
  Eighth Circuit· 2002-08-06· cited 52×
• Vernon E. Spencer v. Stuart Hall Company, Inc., a Missouri Corporation Newell Company, a Delaware Corporation
  Eighth Circuit· 1999-04-12· cited 42×
• Harry Kohrt, Cross-Appellant/appellee v. Midamerican Energy Company, Appellant/cross-Appellee
  Eighth Circuit· 2004-04-13· cited 36×
• Betty Mathes v. Furniture Brands International, Inc.
  Eighth Circuit· 2001-09-21· cited 31×