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Abstract

When employers decide that they will terminate or otherwise adversely affect an employee's employment, they are often forced to give some justification for their decisions. Because employers will face legal liability if they are found to have acted in a discriminatory manner, the reasons given to the former employee are of extreme importance. Although the Supreme Court has established numerous rules for analyzing employment discrimination cases, the Court has not yet definitively answered the question of whether a plaintiff can defeat a motion for summary judgment when only presenting evidence that some, but not all, of the proffered reasons for the adverse action are false. Since the decision in Hicks, some federal circuits have directly addressed this issue, and there has been some activity at the district court level as well. However, these opinions do not establish hard and fast rules for litigants confronting this situation.

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