Rogue supervisor didn't make firing decision — but still got company in trouble

Even when front-line managers don’t get the final say in who’s hired and fired, their biases can still get employers hit with costly lawsuits.
In one recent case, a supervisor caught an African-American employee setting off firecrackers at a job site. The supervisor notified upper management, and the employee was fired for a blatant violation of their safety policy.
Seems like a pretty simple case, right? Wrong.
The employee sued for discrimination. Two white employees were caught doing the same thing and weren’t reported by the supervisor.
The company’s defense: The decision-makers were never aware of the other safety violations. The employee was fired based on his manager’s report. If the company knew about the other employees’ conduct, they would’ve been fired, too.
But that didn’t matter to the judge. The front-line manager discriminated against the employee by taking action against him and not his white co-workers. Therefore, the company was liable.
Cite: Madden v. Chattanooga City Wide Service Dept.