United States Ninth Circuit

In a suit brought by four farm workers under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) after being discharged in the context of a seasonal slowdown in agricultural activity, summary judgment for defendant is reversed in part and remanded where: 1) three plaintiffs provided evidence of satisfactory job performance and an accumulation of circumstantial evidence that could lead a reasonable juror to draw an inference of age discrimination; and 2) defendant did not provide a facially legitimate explanation for one plaintiff's discharge in stating that the discharge was part of a reduction in force necessitated by a seasonal slowdown in agricultural activity.

Appellate Information

• Argued 02/15/2008
• Decided 04/04/2008
• Published 04/04/2008

Judges

• MILAN D. SMITH, JR., Circuit Judge:, Before:  WILLIAM C. CANBY, JR., and MILAN D. SMITH, JR., Circuit Judges, and STEPHEN G. LARSON, District Judge.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• George H. McKay and Pamela Bridge, Community Legal Services, Phoenix, AZ, for the plaintiffs-appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Emily M. Craiger and J. Greg Coulter, Littler Mendelson, P.C., Phoenix, AZ, for the defendants-appellees.