“In summation, Chevron has failed to meet its burden and establish as a matter of law that it would have fired Ion despite its retaliatory motive. Chevron’s evidence of Ion’s history of attendance and performance-related deficiencies is insufficient to establish that it would have fired Ion because Chevron chose to address those deficiencies with a suspension and a PIP/AIP, and Ogborn testified that Ion would have been reinstated had he come back to work. Chevron’s evidence that Ion was faking FMLA leave is also insufficient because of the doubts raised by Chevron’s failure to investigate and Melcher’s e-mail. Finally, Chevron’s evidence that Ion had been abusive during the clinic incident is insufficient because it was not mentioned in Ion’s termination letter, the accounts of the clinic incident are vague and nondescript, and Chevron has failed to establish as a matter of law that its concerns about the clinic incident were not related to Ion’s refusal to sign the GO–153 form.”
Ion v. Chevron USA, Inc., 731 F.3d 379, 396 (5th Cir. September 26, 2013) (Guirola, Jr., J.).