Research Example: Retaliation After Filing an EEOC Complaint

Here’s a mock research assignment showing how Midpage can help an employment attorney quickly uncover the governing rules on retaliation after an employee files a discrimination complaint.

The scenario

You represent a plaintiff-employee with strong performance reviews who was terminated two weeks after filing an EEOC charge of gender discrimination.

The employer claims the firing was due to “poor performance,” but her personnel file shows consistently positive reviews up until the EEOC charge.

As her attorney, you need authority clarifying when temporal proximity and inconsistent employer explanations are sufficient to establish causation in a Title VII retaliation claim.

Step 1: Start with a proposition search

Rather than entering broad keywords like “retaliation” or “EEOC complaint,” you enter the exact proposition you want to find cases supporting:

This targets judicial statements of law directly relevant to your client’s claim, rather than just cases that mention retaliation in passing.

Step 2: Add your client’s context for favorability analysis

Next, you provide your client’s fact pattern to Midpage for favorability analysis:

Midpage then highlights which cases are favorable to the employee, unfavorable (leaning toward the employer), so you can prioritize the cases most likely to support your client’s position.

Step 3: Narrow with a yes/no question

To focus on cases where the courts found causation in a retaliation claims, we add a yes/no column:

“Did the court hold that temporal proximity was sufficient to establish causation in a retaliation claim?”

Filtering to Yes surfaces only the cases where courts concluded close timing alone (often paired with weak or shifting employer explanations) was enough to create a factual dispute on causation.

Step 4: Zero in on a key case

One case stands out: Guadalajara v. Honeywell International, Inc.

In this case, the court emphasized that “the extremely close temporal proximity… raises a factual question as to whether but for Plaintiff’s complaint, he would not have been suspended and terminated.”

The court also cited Fifth Circuit precedent directly holding that an adverse action “within a week of an employee’s complaint established the necessary causal link.”

This closely mirrors your client’s situation: strong performance history, EEOC complaint, followed by a termination shortly afterward. It provides controlling authority supporting the argument that the timing alone, combined with the employer’s weak justification, can create a triable issue of fact on retaliation.

Step 5: Build the plaintiff’s case efficiently

Within minutes of research, you’ve:

• Located controlling Fifth Circuit authority confirming that close timing supports retaliation claims.

• Used favorability analysis to highlight cases favorable to the plaintiff-employee.

• Found holdings showing that inconsistent employer explanations strengthen the inference of causation.

• Identified precedent with fact patterns nearly identical to your client’s case.

From here, you could save these cases into a Notebook and use Chat with Notebook to pull key quotes, compare holdings, and draft your opposition to summary judgment efficiently.

The takeaway

Midpage allows plaintiff-side employment attorneys to move past vague search results and go straight to the cases that actually strengthen their client’s claim.

By starting with a clear proposition, adding the client’s fact pattern for favorability, and filtering with a yes/no question, you can focus on the most persuasive precedent for your retaliation case.

Whether you’re drafting an EEOC position statement, opposing summary judgment, or preparing for mediation, Midpage helps you move from uncertainty to authority in minutes.