Salazar v. Cargill Meat Solutions Corp.

Marcelino Salazar (plaintiff) began working for Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation (Cargill) (defendant) in the 1980s. Starting in 2007, he worked as a feed-truck driver in the feed department. The department had regular morning meetings to discuss issues with feeder trucks and cattle. Interim department supervisor Filiberto Polanco held such a meeting in June 2012. Attendees included 56-year-old Salazar, other department members, and two new Cargill employees, 19-year-old Stephen Gonzales and 29-year-old Justin Davis. Polanco asked each driver whether they were having any problems with their trucks. When it was Salazar’s turn to respond, his mouth was full of coffee. Salazar therefore responded nonverbally, shrugging his shoulders to indicate that he had no problems. Polanco terminated Salazar immediately, claiming that Salazar’s shrug amounted to insubordination. Gonzales was then placed in Salazar’s position. Salazar, who had never received any disciplinary warnings during his Cargill tenure and had witnessed drivers frequently give nonverbal responses during morning meetings, believed that age was the real reason he was terminated. He sued Cargill, alleging that his termination violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The district court granted summary judgment in Cargill’s favor, holding that although Salazar made a prima facie case for age discrimination, Cargill offered insubordination as a nondiscriminatory justification and Salazar had failed to show the justification was merely a pretext. Salazar appealed.