Former CVS pharmacist loses appeal in retalitory firing lawsuit

NEW ORLEANS - A pharmacist who filed a retaliation lawsuit after being terminated from his job at a pharmacy chain lost an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

The judgment states that Tony Mumfrey worked as pharmacist at CVS from 2004 through February 2009. During the course of his employment, he allegedly received several oral and written warnings for his behavior. On Feb. 5, 2009, Mumfrey filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charge of discrimination alleging that we was receiving “coaching and counseling” for trivial reasons because he was asking for health accommodations. A few weeks later, he received his final warning when he supposedly failed to verify a prescription with a doctor.

Several months after his termination on Oct. 14, 2009 Mumfrey filed suit against CVS claiming they had violated the Texas Labor Code, specifically by retaliating when he sought accommodations for his disability and by unlawfully terminating his employment after he filed an EEOC complaint.

CVS argued that Mumfrey would have been fired regardless, but he just happened to receive his final warning a couple of weeks after he filed the EEOC complaint.

In a per curiam opinion, Circuit Judges Thomas Marrow Reavley, Edward C. Prado and Jennifer Elrod affirmed the district court’s dismissal. The court noted that Mumfrey’s proximity evidence was not enough to prove that CVS had retaliated against him.

Case No. 12-40419.