Makowski v. SmithAmundsen LLC

Laura Makowski (plaintiff) was the marketing director for SmithAmundsen LLC (the firm) (defendant) for three years. Makowski always received annual salary increases and quarterly discretionary merit bonuses. In late November 2007, Makowski went on maternity leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). In January 2008, the firm’s all-male executive committee decided to terminate Makowski. Makowski’s direct supervisor told the firm’s chief operating officer that people liked working with an employee named Sarah Goddard more than Makowski and that Goddard would better lead the department. The chief operating officer emailed the firm’s human-resources director, Molly O’Gara, stating that Makowski did not fit into the firm’s culture and directing O’Gara to discuss firing Makowski with outside counsel. In February 2008, the firm terminated Makowski while she was still on leave, stating that her position had been eliminated as part of an organizational restructuring. The same day, the firm fired its male information-technology (IT) director. When Makowski retrieved her belongings, O’Gara allegedly told Makowski that she had been terminated because she was pregnant and took medical leave. O’Gara advised Makowski to consult with an attorney because the firm had similarly discriminated against other employees. O’Gara also said that the firm had initially planned to terminate the IT director for poor performance but outside counsel had advised characterizing both Makowski’s and the IT director’s terminations as organizational restructuring. O’Gara later denied making these statements. After Makowski’s termination, Goddard resigned and accepted a position elsewhere. Two days later, the firm advertised a business-development and marketing-manager position. Several months later, the firm rehired Goddard for that position. Makowski sued the firm under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) and the FMLA. The district court granted the firm’s summary-judgment motion, finding that O’Gara’s statements were inadmissible hearsay and that Makowski had failed to prove her pregnancy-discrimination and FMLA-retaliation claims. Makowski appealed.