Cases decided by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama are rarely the subject of this column. But the recent case of Jernigan v. Dollar General, No. 2:11-cv-01448-WMA (N.D. Ala. Jan. 31, 2013), vividly illustrates a core concept of discrimination law that has often been applied by courts in the Third Circuit: that when an employee is accused of wrongdoing, an employer does not need to prove the employee’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in order to take an adverse action.
Cash Missing
Mary Jernigan, 49, was the "third key manager" for a Dollar General store in the Birmingham, Ala., area. In that role, she was often responsible for counting down the cash register drawers and for making bank deposits. She was supervised by an assistant store manager and store manager, both of whom were younger than her, according to the court’s opinion.
