NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 26a0004n.06
Case No. 24-3915
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
FILED Jan 05, 2026 ) WILLIAM SHEARS, KELLY L. STEPHENS, Clerk ) Plaintiff-Appellant, ) ) ON APPEAL FROM THE v. ) UNITED STATES DISTRICT ) COURT FOR THE NORTHERN FIRSTENERGY CORPORATION, ) DISTRICT OF OHIO Defendant, ) ) OPINION ENERGY HARBOR NUCLEAR ) CORPORATION, as successor of and, oka ) FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company, ) Defendant-Appellee. )
Before:McKEAGUE, MURPHY, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.
DAVIS, Circuit Judge. Energy Harbor Nuclear Corporation (“Energy Harbor”) terminated
longtime employee William Shears following an investigation into allegations of timesheet
falsification. His termination came shortly after Energy Harbor granted Shears an accommodation
that limited his shift to daytime assignment, as Shears’s documented history of diabetes proved he
could not work the night shift. Shears sued, alleging state and federal claims of disability and age
discrimination, failure to accommodate his medical condition, and retaliation for requesting the
accommodation and assisting his coworkers in complaints against supervisors.
The district court granted Energy Harbor summary judgment on all claims. Shears now
appeals the dismissal of all but his claim for age discrimination. We AFFIRM. No. 24-3915, Shears v. FirstEnergy Corp., et al.
I.
A. Employment Background
Over the course of nearly 30 years, Shears held several roles at Energy Harbor. Most
recently, he worked as a Maintenance Supervisor in the Instrument and Controls (“I&C”)
department. In 2012, doctors diagnosed Shears with Type 2 diabetes. This condition affects his
ability to perform daily tasks because it impairs his vision, cognition, and stamina. Shears
informed Energy Harbor of his diagnosis immediately, and Energy Harbor exempted Shears from
extended night shifts as a workplace accommodation.
B. Accommodation Request
The events giving rise to this case began in March 2019, when the Perry Nuclear Power
Plant launched a scheduled refueling outage requiring most employees, including supervisors, to
work twelve-hour night shifts. At the time, Shears reported to Jim Beahon, Superintendent of
I&C. Shears and Beahon had history. In December 2018 and January 2019, Shears helped two
employees file human resources (“HR”) complaints against Beahon and other supervisors for
allegedly creating a hostile work environment and for sexual harassment. According to Shears,
Beahon’s demeanor toward him changed after these incidents.
Beahon assigned Shears to a consistent 11:00PM to 11:00AM schedule during the refueling
outage. But often, Shears’s shift was scheduled to start earlier or end up to an hour and a half later.
According to Shears, these overnight hours exacerbated his diabetes, impairing both his judgment
and physical health. For this reason, says Shears, he spoke to Beahon “[m]ore than a dozen” times,
including more than five closed-door conversations to discuss the issue during the outage. (Shears
Dep., R. 40-3, PageID 917–18). During these conversations, Shears told Beahon “the shift was
killing [him],” and he was “going to crash.” (Id. at 919).
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Beahon interpreted Shears’s statements about his discomfort with the night shift as general
complaints, not formal accommodation requests. Beahon explained that, over the years, Shears
had mentioned that he disliked the nightshift because of his diabetes. So at first, Beahon took no
action. At some point, however, Beahon advised Shears to obtain medical documentation if he
wanted a schedule change. Shears submitted a doctor’s note dated April 3, 2019. The note
requested that Shears be “excuse[d] from work for medical reasons” for the five-day period
covering April 3rd through April 7th and that he be restricted to the day shift for one month after
that to allow time to “stabilize his medical condition.” (Exhibit D, R. 40-6, PageID 1181). In
response, Energy Harbor immediately placed Shears on leave and reinstated him to a day shift
schedule when he returned.
C. Termination
Shortly after Shears returned to work, Beahon audited Shears’s time entries during the
March 2019 outage. Because Shears’s duties during the outage took place exclusively within the
protected area of the plant, Beahon compared Shears’s timesheet entries to his recorded badge
access data for the protected area. Beahon’s investigation revealed discrepancies in twenty-one of
twenty-six time entries, with ten entries overstating Shears’s hours by more than thirty minutes.
These ten discrepancies ranged from 32 to 106 minutes per entry. Beahon compiled his findings
into a spreadsheet and escalated the issue to HR and upper management.
Kevin Clark, Beahon’s supervisor and then-Maintenance Manager, instructed Beahon to
conduct a fact-finding interview with Shears, ensuring another manager was present. Beahon
enlisted Brian Sutter, another superintendent, and together, they interviewed Shears about the
timesheet discrepancies. Beahon reported back to Clark, who reviewed the gate entry and exit
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times, which were contained in a transaction report provided by security. Based on the report and
Beahon’s interview with Shears, Clark agreed to recommend termination.
The Safety Conscious Work Review Team (“SCWRT”) then engaged in its own separate
investigation. The SCWRT met twice with Clark and Beahon about the investigation into Shears’s
timesheets and requested additional information from them as part of their investigation. Ruben
Ordonez, a SCWRT member, also met with Shears about the time reporting issues. The SCWRT
ultimately concurred with Clark and Beahon’s recommendation to terminate.
Energy Harbor terminated Shears’s employment in May 2019, citing unprofessionalism
and falsification of time records. Shears denies any intent to falsify records. He attributes the
discrepancies to his diabetic condition and asserts that other entries understated his time,
effectively balancing the discrepancies.
D. District Court Proceedings
In December 2020, Shears filed suit in the Northern District of Ohio. Relevant here, he
alleged that Energy Harbor violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), Ohio Revised
Code § 4112, and Title VII by failing to accommodate his disability, discriminating against him
because of it, and retaliating against him for engaging in protected activity—specifically, assisting
other employees with filing HR complaints against Beahon and requesting an accommodation.1
Following discovery, Energy Harbor moved for summary judgment on all claims. Shears
opposed the motion, arguing that genuine disputes of material fact remained as to whether (1) he
adequately requested an accommodation; (2) Energy Harbor unreasonably delayed in responding;
and (3) the stated reason for his termination was pretextual. The district court granted summary
1 He also claimed age discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), which he abandons on appeal.
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judgment in Energy Harbor’s favor. It found that Shears was on notice that he should submit a
doctor’s note if he required a medical accommodation, and that Energy Harbor’s prompt response
after receiving the doctor’s note weighed against a failure to accommodate. It also concluded that
no reasonable jury could find Energy Harbor’s timesheet-falsification justification to be pretextual
and consequently dismissed the discrimination and retaliation claims. Shears now appeals.
II.
We review de novo a district court’s grant of summary judgment. Hrdlicka v. Gen. Motors,
LLC, 63 F.4th 555, 566 (6th Cir. 2023). Summary judgment is appropriate if “there is no genuine
dispute as to any material fact,” and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). There is a genuine dispute of material fact “if the evidence is such that a
reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.,
477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986). The moving party bears the initial burden of proving that there is no
genuine dispute of material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986). In evaluating
whether such a dispute exists, we must “view[] all the evidence in the light most favorable to the
nonmoving party.” Fisher v. Nissan N. Am., Inc., 951 F.3d 409, 416 (6th Cir. 2020). Finally,
because the “Ohio anti-discrimination law mirrors the ADA,” we apply “the legal standard under
the ADA to claims brought under both laws.” King v. Steward Trumbull Mem’l Hosp., Inc., 30
F.4th 551, 560 (6th Cir. 2022).
III.
A. Failure to Accommodate
In his briefing, Shears advanced a straightforward failure-to-accommodate claim. He
argued that Energy Harbor failed to accommodate his disability by refusing to assign him to the
day shift during the 2019 outage. He also asserted that his repeated complaints about worsening
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symptoms and requests for a shift change should have triggered Energy Harbor’s duty to engage
in the interactive process, but the company failed to do so. He, therefore, took issue with the
district court’s conclusion that he did not request an accommodation until he presented the doctor’s
note to Energy Harbor. He contended that Energy Harbor’s delay in granting his requested
accommodation—waiting, instead, until he submitted a doctor’s note—amounted to an unlawful
failure to accommodate during the outage and arguably beyond.
At oral argument, however, Shears substantially reframed his argument. He conceded that
Energy Harbor’s request for medical documentation was not, in itself, problematic. And he no
longer pointed to delay as the source of his claim. Instead, in his reframed argument, Shears argues
that his termination constituted the failure to accommodate. Under this revised theory, says Shears,
Energy Harbor should have excused the timesheet errors that arose during the period after he had
placed Energy Harbor on notice of his disability-related struggles but before he submitted the
doctor’s note on April 3, 2019. In other words, Shears contends that Energy Harbor knew that his
disability during this time was causing a cognitive impairment that could have led to his
timekeeping errors, and his termination for those errors constituted a failure to accommodate
because Energy Harbor was on notice of his need for accommodations. In his view, the company’s
decision to fire him in May for these discrepancies was itself a denial of reasonable
accommodation. In effect, Shears pinpoints his termination as the basis for both his failure-to-
accommodate and discrimination claims. This theory gets no traction.
As an initial matter, by conceding that Energy Harbor acted within its rights in requesting
medical documentation, Shears relinquished his delay theory. Indeed, Shears waived this
argument by formally abandoning it at oral argument. As such, we need not decide whether any
delay in permitting Shears to switch to the day shift amounted to a failure to accommodate. See
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Karst Robbins Coal Co. v. Dir., Off. of Workers’ Comp. Programs, 969 F.3d 316, 323 n.5 (6th Cir.
2020) (citing United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 733 (1993)) (express concession at oral
argument constituted waiver); see also Olano, 507 U.S. at 733 (noting that waiver occurs on the
“intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right” (citation omitted)).2
As to his new theory of liability, Shears did not meaningfully develop this argument and
arguably forfeited it. See Buetenmiller v. Macomb Cnty. Jail, 53 F.4th 939, 946 (6th Cir. 2022).
Shears makes, at best, only an oblique reference to this new theory of liability for failure to
accommodate in his opening brief, merely stating: “Shears was forced to work the night shift
despite his cognitive impairment, leading the way to Appellee’s pretextual firing of him.”
(Appellant’s Br., ECF 19, 19). Then, in his reply, he attempts to tether the failure-to-accommodate
analysis to the discriminatory discharge rationale. But that attempt fails because the essence of his
argument is not that Energy Harbor failed to provide a reasonable accommodation in the first
instance, but rather that it wrongfully terminated him for conduct allegedly caused by his disability.
As explained below, however, a failure-to-accommodate claim requires proof that the employer
denied a reasonable accommodation—not that it disciplined or discharged an employee whose
disability allegedly contributed to the underlying conduct.
Even if the new argument is not forfeited, it fails on the merits. The ADA prohibits
discrimination against a qualified individual based on disability, including “not making reasonable
accommodations.” 42 U.S.C. §§ 12112(a), (b)(5)(A). Employees can prove discrimination using
2 Even if Shears did not waive his delay argument, he does not explain why Energy Harbor’s requesting medical documentation from Shears in response to his disability-related complaints did not count as initiating the interactive process. And, although the record shows that Beahon did not interpret Shears’s early complaints as a request for accommodation, Shears does not specify the time that elapsed between when he first requested the day shift based on his disability and when Beahon first requested a doctor’s note. The record does reflect, however, that Energy Harbor acted promptly to honor the requests contained in the doctor’s note and accommodated him accordingly. It is thus unclear where there is a material dispute of fact that could save this claim.
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either direct or indirect evidence, and “each has its own test.” Blanchet v. Charter Commc’ns,
LLC, 27 F.4th 1221, 1227 (6th Cir. 2022). Failure to accommodate is “expressly listed in the Act’s
definition of disability discrimination.” Id. (citing 42 U.S.C. § 12112(b)(5)(A)). “[C]laims
premised upon an employer’s failure to offer a reasonable accommodation necessarily involve
direct evidence (the failure to accommodate) of discrimination,” so we evaluate such claims under
the direct-evidence framework. Id. (quoting Kleiber v. Honda of Am. Mfg., Inc., 485 F.3d 862,
868 (6th Cir. 2007)). Thus, to establish a prima facie failure-to-accommodate case, Shears must
show that (1) he had a qualifying disability; (2) “[he] was otherwise qualified for [his] position,
with or without reasonable accommodation”; (3) Energy Harbor “knew or had reason to know” of
his disability; (4) he requested an accommodation; and (5) Energy Harbor failed to provide one.
Kirilenko-Ison v. Bd. of Educ. of Danville Indep. Schs., 974 F.3d 652, 669 (6th Cir. 2020).
Shears did not attempt to adapt his reframed argument to the prima facie test. Instead, he
pointed to McPherson v. Michigan High School Athletic Association, 119 F.3d 453 (6th Cir. 1997)
(en banc), and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Dolgencorp, LLC, 899 F.3d 428
(6th Cir. 2018). Both cases are inapposite, however. Shears first cited McPherson for the
proposition that “[f]ailure to consider the possibility of reasonable accommodation for [known]
disabilities, if it leads to discharge for performance inadequacies resulting from the disabilities,
amounts to a discharge solely because of the disabilities.” 119 F.3d at 460 (alterations in original)
(quoting Borkowski v. Valley Cent. Sch. Dist., 63 F.3d 131, 143 (2d Cir. 1995)). But his reliance
on McPherson is misplaced.
In McPherson, a student was prohibited from participating in interscholastic athletic
competition because of an athletic association rule that barred students enrolled for longer than
eight semesters from participation in sports competitions. Id. at 455–57. The student, who had
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been diagnosed with a disability after he had exhausted his athletic eligibility, sought a waiver
from the rule based on his new diagnosis but was denied. Id. at 456–57. He sued for violations of
the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act. Id. at 457. We concluded that the student failed to make a
claim under either the ADA or the Rehabilitation Act because the defendant did not promulgate
the eligibility rule with the intent of barring students with learning disabilities from participation,
and the defendant could not have reasonably accommodated the student’s disability. Id. at 461–
63.
McPherson did not meaningfully address—much less apply—the prima facie elements for
an employment failure-to-accommodate claim. Nor did it establish some alternative test for
failure-to-accommodate claims. Not only is McPherson not an employment discrimination case,
but it also does not involve a situation like the one Shears contemplates. That is, McPherson does
not involve a plaintiff being penalized for misconduct arising from his disability as a result of a
defendant’s failure to accommodate. The language Shears quotes was dicta, divorced from its
context, and it does not relieve him of the obligation to satisfy the established prima facie elements
for an ADA employment claim. Therefore, McPherson does not save his claim.
Shears’s belated reliance on Dolgencorp is equally unavailing. There, a diabetic grocery
store employee took and drank bottles of orange juice without paying for them first. Dolgencorp,
899 F.3d at 432. Though the employee paid for the juices after-the-fact, Dolgencorp fired her for
violating the store’s policy forbidding employees from consuming merchandise before paying for
it. Id. The employee sued for disability discrimination, claiming, in relevant part, a failure to
accommodate, since the store had denied an earlier request to keep orange juice at the register to
manage her hypoglycemic episodes. Id. Dolgencorp challenged the jury’s verdict in favor of the
employee. The company argued that it had no duty to accommodate because the employee could
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treat her hypoglycemia in other ways. Id. at 434. We upheld the jury’s verdict, explaining that
the employee had asked for an accommodation which Dolgencorp categorically denied without
considering any alternatives. Id. at 434–35. Shears’s case is distinguishable on the facts. Unlike
in Dolgencorp, Energy Habor did not categorically deny Shears’s request to move to the day shift.
Instead, it requested a doctor’s note, which it was entitled to do. See Kellar v. Yunion, Inc., 157
F.4th 855, 876 (6th Cir. 2025) (citing Tchankpa v. Ascena Retail Grp., Inc., 951 F.3d 805, 813 (6th
Cir. 2020)). And after receiving his doctor’s note, the company moved Shears to the day shift. So
Dolgencorp does not lead us to disturb the district court’s decision.
Given his abandonment of the delay theory and his concession that Energy Harbor provided
the requested accommodation after receiving the April 3 doctor’s note, Shears cannot show that
Energy Harbor failed to accommodate him.
B. Disability Discrimination
Next, Shears claims that Energy Harbor discriminated against him by terminating his
employment shortly after granting him a medical accommodation. Under the ADA, it is unlawful
for an employer to discharge an employee because of their disability. 42 U.S.C. § 12112. Where,
as here, the plaintiff relies on circumstantial evidence of discrimination, we apply the McDonnell
Douglas burden-shifting framework to evaluate the employee’s claim. Hrdlicka, 63 F.4th at 566.
Under this framework, a plaintiff can establish a prima facie case by showing that: (1) he is
disabled; (2) he is otherwise qualified for the position; (3) he suffered an adverse employment
action; (4) the employer knew or had reason to know of his disability; and (5) his position remained
open or he was replaced. Id. at 566–67. If the plaintiff establishes his case, the burden shifts to
the employer to articulate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the termination. Id. at 567.
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The burden then returns to the plaintiff to show that the stated reason was a pretext for
discrimination. Id.
The parties do not dispute Shears’s prima facie case. Energy Harbor does, however, assert
that it terminated Shears for a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason: falsifying time records during
the March 2019 outage. And we have repeatedly recognized that timecard falsification is a valid
basis for termination. See Hudson v. City of Highland Park, 943 F.3d 792, 802 (6th Cir. 2019);
see also Green v. Cent. Ohio Transit Auth., 647 F. App’x 555, 562 (6th Cir. 2016).
Shears contends that Energy Harbor’s stated reason for termination is pretextual. Shears
can establish pretext by showing that the proffered reasons for his termination “(1) have no basis
in fact; (2) did not actually motivate the action; or (3) were insufficient to warrant the action.”
Hrdlicka, 63 F.4th at 569 (quoting Seeger v. Cincinnati Bell Tel. Co., 681 F.3d 274, 285 (6th Cir.
2012)). These categories are non-exhaustive, and the “ultimate inquiry” is whether “the employer
fire[d] the employee for the stated reason or not.” Miles v. S. Cent. Hum. Res. Agency, Inc., 946
F.3d 883, 888 (6th Cir. 2020) (citation omitted). Shears invokes all three theories, none of which
we find persuasive.
1. Basis-in-Fact
First, Shears claims that Energy Harbor’s reasons for his termination have no basis-in-fact.
To show that the defendant lacked a factual basis for its proffered reason for termination, the
plaintiff must show that “the employer’s allegations never happened.” Miles, 946 F.3d at 888–89.
The relevant question, at its core, is whether Energy Harbor “made up its stated reason to conceal
intentional discrimination.” Pelcha v. MW Bancorp, Inc., 988 F.3d 318, 326–27 (6th Cir. 2021)
(citation omitted). But the record confirms that discrepancies indeed existed between Shears’s
timesheets and his badge data.
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After the March 2019 outage, Beahon noted that Shears frequently reported 13-to-14-hour
workdays in the timekeeping system. This prompted Beahon to conduct an audit comparing
Shears’s reported hours with badge-swipe data from the plant’s protected area, where Shears was
assigned to work during the outage. Beahon retrieved Shears’s badge access records from plant
security, which logged every entry into and exit from the protected area. He found twenty-one
discrepancies across twenty-six days. On ten occasions, Shears overstated his work time by more
than 30 minutes, with discrepancies ranging from 32 to 106 minutes. For example, Shears reported
working 13 hours on March 6, but the badge system showed he was in the protected area for only
12 hours and 7 minutes. On March 8, he reported 9 hours while his badge data showed a little
more than 7 hours. Beahon documented the discrepancies in a spreadsheet and submitted the
findings to HR and upper management, who then terminated Shears for falsification.
Shears maintains that the alleged discrepancies were not the result of intentional
dishonesty, and he offers eight separate arguments that he says undermine the factual basis for
Energy Harbor’s stated reason for discharging him. First, he argues that Energy Harbor’s failure
to consider a reasonable accommodation when terminating him for his performance problems is
“nothing more than a termination because of the disability.” (Appellant’s Br., ECF 19, 22).
Although he raises this argument to assert lack of a factual basis for his falsification of time, Shears
does not deny that he misreported his time. Instead, he contends that any such misconduct is
excusable because Energy Harbor failed to accommodate him, resulting in performance issues
stemming from the disability.
In support of this argument, Shears again points us to language from McPherson, stating
that the “[f]ailure to consider the possibility of reasonable accommodation for [known]
disabilities” is a discharge “solely because of the disabilities” if the lack of accommodation leads
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to a discharge for performance problems stemming from the disabilities. 119 F.3d at 460
(alterations in original) (citation omitted). But context matters. The quoted language served the
purpose of bridging the analytical landscape between non-employment-related and employment-
related ADA cases for establishing a plaintiff’s prima facie case. See id. And just as in his
accommodation claim, McPherson does not reach the framework necessary for our analysis.
Indeed, McPherson did not analyze pretext. So it is hard to discern how this general guiding
principle on establishing causation translates into the defeat of an employer’s legitimate non-
discriminatory explanation. Moreover, Shears points us to no case that has acknowledged or
extended McPherson’s causation discussion to overcome a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason
for discharge. Because of this, McPherson is inapposite, and Shears’s argument misses the mark.
In his next six reasons, Shears argues that the district court impermissibly resolved factual
disputes in Energy Harbor’s favor. Specifically, he contends that he provided evidence that Energy
Harbor relied on selective data; overlooked his understatements of time; ignored internal records
suggesting the errors could have been “an honest mistake”; disregarded inconsistent testimony
from its own witnesses; departed from its disciplinary policies; and failed to investigate whether
his diabetes may have caused his timecard errors despite having medical documentation in hand.
But ultimately, he does not dispute the underlying badge data or deny that discrepancies on his
timecards existed. And because his “argument[s] go[] toward explaining the discrepancies[,]
[they] do[] not render the discrepancies factually baseless in the first place.” Gray v. State Farm
Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 159 F.4th 1024, 1035 (6th Cir. 2025). His arguments therefore fail on a basis-
in-fact theory.
Finally, Shears challenges the district court’s application of the honest-belief rule. Under
the honest-belief rule, a defendant may rebut a plaintiff’s argument that the defendant’s asserted
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reason lacks a basis in fact by showing that the defendant “‘honestly believed’ its proffered reason,
and that the belief was reasonably based ‘on particularized facts that were before it at the time the
decision was made.’” Briggs v. Univ. of Cincinnati, 11 F.4th 498, 515 (6th Cir. 2021) (citation
omitted). To establish honest belief, a plaintiff must show “more than a dispute over the facts
upon which the discharge was based.” Seeger, 681 F.3d at 285 (citation omitted). “[T]he
employer’s decision-making process” need not “be optimal,” and the employer is not required to
have “left no stone unturned.” Id. (citation omitted). “Rather, the key inquiry is whether the
employer made a reasonably informed and considered decision before taking an adverse
employment action.” Id. (citation omitted). Shears contends that Energy Harbor’s reliance on the
timecard investigation was not reasonable because it ignored evidence that his timesheet errors
were nothing more than honest mistakes. He generally references the reasons outlined above to
suggest that there is “substantial evidence” showing that “Beahon was aware of information that
would make it impossible for him to honestly believe Shears had falsified his time sheets.”
(Appellant’s Br., ECF 19, 28–29).
But Energy Harbor made a reasonably informed and considered decision to terminate
Shears following an adequate investigation involving various levels of review. Beahon conducted
a timecard audit based on badge-swipe data, logged the results in detail, and escalated the matter
to Clark. Clark instructed Beahon to conduct a fact-finding interview with Shears, ensuring
another manager was present. So Beahon and Sutter interviewed Shears about his timesheets. The
investigation then escalated to Clark, who reviewed the gate entry and exit times, which were
contained in a transaction report provided by security. Clark agreed, based on Beahon’s
characterization of the interview, to recommend termination. Although Clark appeared to rely on
Beahon’s findings, the SCWRT engaged in its own separate investigation. The SCWRT met twice
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with Clark and Beahon about the investigation into Shears’s timesheets and requested additional
information from them to aid in their decision-making process. Prior to his termination, Shears
also had conversations about the time reporting issues with the SCWRT by way of Ordonez. The
SCWRT concurred with Clark and Beahon’s recommendation to terminate. The company
ultimately concluded that Shears “knowingly” violated company policy.
This type of investigation passes muster for purposes of the honest-belief rule. See Chen
v. Dow Chem. Co., 580 F.3d 394, 401 (6th Cir. 2009) (“When an employer reasonably and honestly
relies on particularized facts in making an employment decision, it is entitled to summary judgment
on pretext even if its conclusion is later shown to be mistaken, foolish, trivial, or baseless.”
(internal quotation marks and citation omitted)). Moreover, Shears points to no evidence
suggesting that Energy Harbor did not actually believe the substance of its investigation. At most,
the only evidence Shears identifies to suggest that Energy Harbor was aware that the timesheet
discrepancies were an honest mistake is a letter from a doctor explaining that Shears’s medical
condition was impacting his judgment. But the record shows that this letter was dated May 8,
2019 and signed at 6:22PM after his termination and the investigation. All in all, the record reflects
that Energy Harbor made a reasonably informed and considered decision before terminating
Shears.
2. Motivation of Discharge
Second, Shears argues that even accepting that timekeeping discrepancies occurred, those
discrepancies did not actually motivate his termination. To demonstrate that an employer’s
proffered reason did not actually motivate an adverse employment action, a plaintiff can “attack[]
the employer’s explanation by showing circumstances which tend to prove an illegal motivation
was more likely than that offered by the defendant.” Hartman v. Dow Chem. Co., 657 F. App’x
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448, 453 (6th Cir. 2016) (emphasis in original and internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting
Smith v. Leggett Wire Co., 220 F.3d 752, 759 (6th Cir. 2000)). Suspicious timing can be a strong
indicator of pretext when it is accompanied by other circumstantial evidence. See Seeger, 681
F.3d at 285. Shears shows neither illegal motivation nor other circumstantial evidence showing
pretext. He argues only that Energy Harbor’s accusations that the errors were willful is too
“ridiculous” to have motivated its decision to terminate him and that the “punishment did not fit
the crime.” (Appellant’s Br., ECF 19, 29). But he does not adequately develop either argument.
First, Shears offers no evidence that Energy Harbor’s belief that his errors were “willful”
is so implausible that a jury could find it pretextual. Instead, he circles back to his argument that
the alleged errors were more consistent with an honest mistake caused by Energy Harbor’s failure
to provide him with the accommodation he needed. But, as we already noted, he offers no evidence
to show that Energy Harbor knew enough to connect the performance problems to the disability.
As previously discussed, the doctor’s note explaining that Shears’s disability could cloud his
judgment and cause confusion that could affect his work performance came in after Energy Harbor
had already concluded its investigation and discharged Shears. And even if Shears communicated
to Beahon that the nightshifts were exacerbating his disability, that information was not enough to
put Beahon on notice that the disability was causing performance issues. This is particularly true
given that Shears communicated to Beahon during the fact-finding interview that his disability was
not impacting his ability to do his job.
Second, Shears argues that the “punishment did not fit the crime,” as it was unreasonable
for Energy Harbor to skip its own general progressive-discipline policy for a “first time,
unconfirmed offense.” (Appellant’s Br., ECF 19, 29). As a threshold matter, the record does not
contain the actual company policy. On this issue, we have only Beahon’s testimony that
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progressive discipline would ordinarily entail starting off with coaching, moving to non-verbal,
proceeding to documentation, and then eventually reaching termination if the situation required it.
At the same time, Beahon also testified that “any level of progressive discipline can be jump[ed]
based off of severity.” (Beahon Dep., R. 40-1, PageID 733). Neither party elaborates as to what
level of “severity” warrants certain “jumps” in the progression.
Importantly, Shears carries the burden of proof. Yet he offers no evidence that Energy
Harbor deviated from its normal policies. He merely points to a line of questioning in Clark’s
deposition suggesting that Energy Harbor does not typically terminate employees for honest
mistakes in timekeeping, such as selecting the wrong payroll code. But Clark clarified that such
leniency does not extend to intentional falsification. And, here, Energy Harbor expressly
determined that Shears intentionally falsified his timesheets. (See Exhibit 25, R. 39-5, PageID
598). Without evidence that Energy Harbor’s stated reason was implausible or that it deviated
from its normal disciplinary practices in a way that suggests discrimination, Shears cannot show
that the alleged timekeeping violations did not actually motivate his termination.
3. Sufficient to Warrant Termination
Finally, Shears contends that even assuming some discrepancies occurred, they could not
justify termination, particularly given his nearly three decades of unblemished service. To survive
summary judgment under this final pretext theory, Shears must show that a reasonable jury could
find Energy Harbor’s proffered reason “insufficient to motivate [his] discharge.” Madden v.
Chattanooga City Wide Serv. Dep’t, 549 F.3d 666, 676 (6th Cir. 2008). In essence,
“[d]emonstrating pretext often consists of ‘raising the question of why [the plaintiff] was singled
out’ for an adverse employment action.” Strickland v. City of Detroit, 995 F.3d 495, 512 (6th Cir.
2021) (second alteration in original) (quoting George v. Youngstown State Univ., 966 F.3d 446,
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462 (6th Cir. 2020)). Plaintiffs can advance this theory by showing that “other employees,
particularly employees not in the protected class, were not fired even though they engaged in
substantially identical conduct to that which the employer contends motivated its discharge of the
plaintiff.” Moore v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consol., 113 F.4th 608, 624 (6th Cir. 2024) (quoting
Madden, 549 F.3d at 676).
Shears claims that Energy Harbor failed to discipline other employees for the same or
substantially worse conduct. On this point, he contends that Energy Harbor did not terminate other
employees who had timesheet errors. A comparator need not be identical to the plaintiff but must
be similarly situated “in all relevant respects.” Blount v. Stanley Eng’g Fastening, 55 F.4th 504,
511 (6th Cir. 2022) (emphasis in original) (quoting Wright v. Murray Guard, Inc., 455 F.3d 702,
710 (6th Cir. 2006)). Examples of relevant considerations include “job title, responsibilities,
experience, and work record.” Id. at 512 (citation omitted). We may also consider whether the
plaintiff and the proposed comparator engaged in the same conduct, without any distinguishing or
mitigating circumstances that would justify different treatment by their employer. Id. But the
plaintiff needs to show more than “[s]uperficial similarities.” Id. at 511 (quoting Arendale v. City
of Memphis, 519 F.3d 587, 604 (6th Cir. 2008)). Rather, the plaintiff must show that he and the
comparator “engaged in acts of comparable seriousness.” Id. at 512 (citation modified and
emphasis in original) (quoting Wright, 455 F.3d at 710). It is not enough that two employees each
received a warning or negative performance review; the underlying issues must be comparable in
substance. Id.
The district court correctly held that Shears failed to provide sufficiently detailed evidence
about the other employees with intentional timesheet errors and how their errors compared to the
inaccuracies on Shears’s timesheets. This is fatal to Shears’s argument because he fails to support
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a contention that these employees’ errors were of the same magnitude as his. Shears points to a
couple of comparators by name. But he has not demonstrated that either proposed comparator is
similarly situated to him.
Begin with Bruce Renton. Shears points out that Renton received only a verbal warning
for timecard errors. Although the parties do not dispute that Renton had timecard infractions,
Shears offers virtually no other details to show that he and Renton were otherwise similarly
situated. True, Renton had extra overtime charged over a two-week period that did not match with
his timecard stamps. But the record is void of any information about the severity of those
discrepancies and how they compared to Shears’s. And one significant fact distinguishes Renton’s
situation from Shears’s—Energy Harbor’s good faith determination that Shears acted dishonestly.
Beahon testified that the decision to terminate Shears “came down to an integrity issue about lying
and falsification of documentation.” (Beahon Dep., R. 40-1, PageID 739). The difference in how
each man responded when confronted with the time sheet discrepancies led to different conclusions
about their honesty. Shears’s response, Energy Harbor determined, supported a finding of
dishonesty that it contends led to Shears’s termination.
Shears also points to Jamie Platt, a supervisor in the I&C department who allegedly “made
his own hours and worked as much overtime as he wanted to without approval.” (Shears Dep., R.
40-3, PageID 968). But Shears’s issue is not that he worked overtime without approval. The issue
is that he allegedly falsified his hours. And Shears was unable to provide any other information
to show that he and Platt were similarly situated. All in all, the district court did not err in
concluding that Shears failed to show evidence of disparate treatment as compared to similarly
situated employees.
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Shears also points to alleged discrepancies in how Beahon responded to and investigated
other types of misconduct, such as harassment, in an effort to use worse conduct as a comparator.
(See Exhibit 21, R. 39-5, PageID 593–94). For example, Shears avers that Beahon issued John
Pantani a three-day suspension for making inappropriate comments in violation of the sexual
harassment policy. But Shears offers no other details about these allegations or any investigation
into Pantani’s conduct such that the court can evaluate whether the underlying conduct was
comparable in seriousness or whether Pantani or other employees he references were similarly
situated in terms of job duties, disciplinary history, or the nature of the infractions. Since Energy
Harbor based Shears’s termination on dishonesty, any meaningful comparator must have also been
found to engage in similar dishonest conduct. Shears has not made such a showing. For these
reasons, the district court did not err in concluding that Shears failed to raise a genuine dispute of
material fact under this theory of pretext.
C. Retaliation
Finally, Shears claims that Energy Harbor retaliated against him for engaging in protected
activity. He identifies two bases for this claim: (1) that he requested an accommodation for his
diabetes; and (2) that he participated in internal HR investigations for sexual harassment and
hostile work environment caused by supervisors, including Beahon. Under the ADA, an employer
may not discriminate against an employee for requesting an accommodation or opposing unlawful
practices. 42 U.S.C. § 12203(a). Like his discrimination claim, we evaluate Shears’s retaliation
claim using the McDonnell Douglas framework. Pemberton v. Bell’s Brewery, Inc., 150 F.4th
751, 767 (6th Cir. 2025). Under that framework, a plaintiff must first demonstrate a prima facie
case of retaliation by showing that (1) he engaged in protected activity, (2) the defendant knew of
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the activity, (3) the defendant took an adverse action against the plaintiff, and (4) there was a causal
connection between the adverse action and the protected activity. Kirilenko-Ison, 974 F.3d at 661.
Energy Harbor concedes that Shears engaged in protected activity and that his termination
was an adverse employment action. The parties, however, dispute the remaining elements—
employer knowledge and causation. Shears argues that he has established both knowledge and
causation via the Cat’s Paw theory. Under that theory, the retaliatory intent of a subordinate with
knowledge of the plaintiff’s protected activity can be imputed to the final decisionmaker. See Bose
v. Bea, 947 F.3d 983, 990 (6th Cir. 2020). So, according to Shears, Beahon’s knowledge of both
his request for accommodation and his participation in the investigation of coworkers’
discrimination claims against Beahon, combined with Beahon’s recommendation to Clark to
discharge Shears (thereby bypassing Energy Harbor’s progressive discipline framework) establish
Beahon’s knowledge and retaliatory intent. And because Clark relied on Beahon’s
recommendation in his decision to terminate Shears, Beahon’s knowledge and intent should be
imputed to Clark. Add to that, says Shears, the temporal proximity between his protected activity
and his discharge, and he has satisfied all the elements of a prima facie claim. In response, Energy
Harbor asserts that Shears’s misconduct broke any causal connection. And it raises factual
disputes, which we cannot resolve: Beahon did not know about Shears’s assistance to the
complaining employees; and Clark did not know about Shears’s participation in the resulting
investigation into Beahon’s conduct. In the end, we need not settle this issue, as Shears’s claim
fails at a later stage, regardless.
Even assuming, as the district court did, that Shears can make out a prima facie case of
retaliation, his retaliation claims falter for the same reasons as his disability discrimination claim:
his failure to show that Energy Harbor’s legitimate, non-retaliatory explanation for his discharge
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was a pretext for unlawful conduct. Because the adverse action he asserts for both the
discrimination claim and the retaliation claims is his discharge, the pretext analysis remains the
same. Indeed, both parties concede as much. As Shears has not established that Energy Harbor’s
proffered reason for his termination is pretextual, the district court did not err in granting Energy
Harbor’s motion for summary judgment as to Shears’s claims for unlawful retaliation.
IV.
We AFFIRM.
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