Page:Cordúa Restaurants, Inc. v. NLRB (19-60630) (2021) Opinion.pdf/15

 testimony would elucidate the transaction [at issue].”). Cordúa does not explain why Reichman’s personal assessment of whether Cordúa harbored animus would be relevant to the Board’s finding.
 * 2.

The Board next found, and maintains on review, that the timing of Cordúa’s investigation, Cordúa’s internally inconsistent response to Ramirez’s purported misconduct, and Cordúa’s failure to conduct a meaningful investigation support an inference of discriminatory motive. Substantial evidence supports these findings.

The timing of an employer’s actions in relation to an employee’s protected activity and the employer’s knowledge thereof is a “[s]ignificant indicator” of unlawful motive. NLRB v. ADCO Elec., Inc., 6 F.3d 1110, 1118 n.6 (5th Cir. 1993); see also Valmont, 244 F.3d at 465 (describing proximity in time as the “strongest form of circumstantial evidence”). Cordúa began its surveillance of Ramirez just several weeks after its managers were informed of the collective action lawsuit. Ramirez was fired the week after a nineteenth employee joined the collective action lawsuit.

Cordúa counters that because Ramirez was terminated eight months after he filed his NLRB complaint, this “negat[es] any inference of unlawful motivation.” In support of this contention, Cordúa cites cases finding that a multi-month gap in time between an employee’s protected activities and their termination did not support an inference of unlawful motive. These cases, and Cordúa’s argument, are inapposite. Cordúa investigated and fired Ramirez just weeks after its management learned of Ramirez’s involvement in the lawsuit and of Ramirez’s wage-related conversation with Reichman. Ramirez’s protected activities—participating in the FLSA lawsuit, discussing wage issues with co-workers, and requesting his payroll information—were ongoing and occurred close in time to the investigation