Brush v. Sears Holdings Corp.

Brush (plaintiff), a Sears (defendant) loss-prevention manager whose job included investigating harassment complaints, learned during an investigation she was conducting that a store coach had raped a subordinate employee; she reported this to Sears and repeatedly urged the company to involve local police, which Sears declined to do while its internal investigation continued. Sears later fired Brush, citing violations of its own internal investigation protocol (interviewing the victim alone, asking leading questions, failing to secure video evidence); Brush sued for retaliation under Title VII, and the district court granted Sears summary judgment, finding no protected activity.