462 U.S. 393 (1983) Cited 652 times 11 Legal Analyses
Holding that the employer bears the burden of negating causation in a mixed-motive discrimination case, noting "[i]t is fair that [the employer] bear the risk that the influence of legal and illegal motives cannot be separated."
Holding issue not exhausted where the "tenor" of petitioner's objection to the Board was "purely factual," but the tenor of the objection on appeal was legal
In NLRB v. Ridgeway Trucking Co., 622 F.2d 1222, 1223-24 (5th Cir. 1980), we stated that "[t]he test of whether an employee was discharged depends upon the reasonable inferences that the employees could draw from the language used by the employer."
Holding that "[t]he fact of discharge . . . does not depend on the use of formal words of firing. It is sufficient if the words or actions of the employer 'would logically lead a prudent person to believe his tenure had been terminated.'"