Austin et al v. IKEA U.S. East, LLC

Filing 44

ORDER APPROVING AND ADOPTING 41 Final Report and Recommendation and GRANTING Defendant's 23 Motion for Summary Judgment. Signed by Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. on 7/25/18. (jkl)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
ATLANTA DIVISION
STEPHANIE AUSTIN, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
v.

CIVIL ACTION FILE
NO. 1:16-CV-3728-TWT

IKEA U.S. EAST, LLC,
Defendant.

ORDER

This is an employment discrimination action. It is before the Court on the
Report and Recommendation [Doc. 41] of the Magistrate Judge recommending
granting the Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. 23]. For the reasons
set forth in the thorough and well-reasoned Report and Recommendation, the four
month gap between the Plaintiffs’ protected activity and their termination is too great
to support an inference of causality. There is no evidence that Mr. Mash participated
in the terminations. A casual remark four months earlier by Mr. Anastos is not
evidence of pretext. The legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons for the Plaintiffs’
terminations are well documented. The Court approves and adopts the Report and

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Recommendation as the judgment of the Court. The Defendant’s Motion for Summary
Judgment [Doc. 23] is GRANTED.
SO ORDERED, this 25 day of July, 2018.

/s/Thomas W. Thrash
THOMAS W. THRASH, JR.
United States District Judge

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