and termination. The timing of Cordúa’s actions thus weighs in favor of the Board’s discriminatory motive finding.
Cordúa’s internally inconsistent response to Ramirez’s purported misconduct also supports an inference of discriminatory motive. As the Board found, Cordúa’s asserted concerns about Ramirez’s fitness and trustworthiness as an employee, particularly with respect to handling confidential credit card information, are undermined by Cordúa’s failure to speak with Ramirez about these concerns for nearly six weeks. The Board may rely on “inconsistencies between the employer’s proffered reason for the discipline and other actions of that employer” as evidence of animus and unlawful motivation. Tellepsen Pipeline Servs. Co. v. NLRB, 320 F.3d 554, 565 (5th Cir. 2003) (quoting Valmont Indus., 244 F.3d at 456).
The record also supports that Cordúa failed to conduct a meaningful investigation of Ramirez. Although Cordúa asserted that the investigation was meant to determine whether Ramirez attempted to access confidential personnel files, Cordúa merely asked IT whether any records had been removed, and then, weeks after IT reported that it was “more likely than not” that no records had been taken, questioned Ramirez. Nor do the two meetings between Espinoza and Ramirez reflect a genuine intent to determine whether Ramirez tried to obtain other employees’ confidential records. Espinoza’s questioning of Ramirez was not tailored to this purpose, and Espinoza was coercive in pressuring Ramirez to provide access to his personal cellphone and denying Ramirez’s requests to speak to his lawyer. An employer’s one-sided or faulty investigation into an employee’s purported misconduct may constitute “significant” evidence of unlawful motive. NLRB v. Esco Elevators, 736 F.2d 295, 299 n.5 (5th Cir. 1984); accord Valmont Indus., 244 F.3d at 466–67.
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