Fired employee with bad attitude fails on religious discrimination claim

A car salesman who was terminated following customer complaints of a bad attitude cannot get to a jury on his religious discrimination claim according to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings apply to all Oklahoma employers). The appeals court affirmed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment (dismissal without a trial) in favor of the employer in the recent opinion.

History of bad attitude

Steven Pegler worked as a car salesman for Doug Smith Autoplex for approximately a year. During his tenure, he received discipline (“counseling statements”) for being offensive to customers, failing to meet sales objectives, and exhibiting a poor attitude toward customers.

Pegler also received three customer complaints. The final complaint came after he raised his voice at a married couple taking a test drive, saying “If you aren’t going to lease from me, then you are wasting my time!” After the husband told him to calm down, he allegedly replied, “No, I’m Jewish.”

After his employment was terminated, Pegler sued, alleging his employer discriminated against him because he wasn't a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, unlike most of his coworkers. He claimed a non-Jewish coworker had two outbursts but wasn’t terminated. He also claimed his performance wasn’t as bad as claimed. Finally, he argued the potential car buyers who made the final complaint after the test drive may have been colluding with Doug Smith Autoplex to create a pretext (excuse) to fire him.

10th Circuit rules for employer