DISCLAIMER: The following unofficial case summaries are prepared by the clerk's office
as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.
112585P.pdf 08/31/2012 Joe Pulczinski v. Trinity Structural Towers
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 11-2585
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Des Moines
[PUBLISHED] [Colloton, Author, with Wollman and Benton, Circuit Judges]
Civil case - Employment Discrimination. District court did not err in
applying the "honest belief" rule in determining that the employer in good
faith believed plaintiff was guilty to the conduct for which he was
discharged; the district court did not err in determining the stated reason
for the discharge - that plaintiff was encouraging a work slowdown - was
a legitimate, nondiscriminatory basis for termination which plaintiff
failed to show was a pretext for discrimination under the ADA; assuming
for the sake of analysis that plaintiff properly pleaded a claim that
defendant deprived him of a statutory entitlement by failing to designate
an absence as FMLA leave, the district court did not err in granting
judgment to defendant as plaintiff failed to show he was prejudiced by the
misclassification; defendant articulated a legitimate nondiscriminatory
basis for plaintiff's termination which plaintiff failed to show was a
pretext for discrimination based on his exercise of FMLA rights.