Page:Lindsley v. TRT Holdings (20-10263) (2021) Opinion.pdf/3

 Pollard and Robert Walker. For this reason, she lodged a complaint with human resources, alleging that she was not only paid less than her male predecessors, but also less than many of the male employees she supervised. She did not receive a salary increase. To make things worse, while Lindsley was in Corpus Christi, Morgan—her former supervisor in Tucson—became corporate vice president of food and beverage and allegedly made numerous sexually inappropriate remarks to Lindsley and other female employees.

In 2015, Lindsley was asked to interview for the food and beverage director position at the Omni hotel in Houston. She emailed Morgan twice to gain his support for the position but received no response. Nonetheless, Lindsley explains, the interview “went so well that the Houston Human Resources Director discussed salary, relocation, and an offer letter with her.” Then Lindsley had a final, ten-minute interview with Barry Sondern, Omni Houston’s general manager.

What happened during that ten-minute interview depends on who you ask. Lindsley says Sondern informed her that Morgan said she was not qualified for the position. She says Sondern explained that “he ha[d] to go with the best candidate” and that he had “two other applicants that had higher qualities than [she] did.” But Sondern says that the interview was just a formality and that he had already decided to hire her. Sondern also says that Morgan expressed support for Lindsley. And after the interview, Sondern says he instructed human resources at Omni Houston to move forward with hiring Lindsley.

Afterwards, Lindsley withdrew her name from consideration, believing that she would be rejected anyway. Sondern understood this to mean that Lindsley was offended by some of his interview questions, specifically about her working relationship with her supervisor. As Lindsley explained in her withdrawal email: “I will be taking myself out of the