United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals ____________ Fifth Circuit

FILED No. 23-20536 September 4, 2024 ____________ Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Caitlin Julia Weathers,

Plaintiff—Appellant,

versus Houston Methodist Hospital; Sunila Ali,

Defendants—Appellees. ______________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. 4:22-CV-4085 ______________________________ Before Wiener, Elrod, and Wilson, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam: Caitlin Julia Weathers sued Houston Methodist Hospital and Sunila Ali, alleging discrimination and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e–2000e17. The district court1 correctly dismissed the claims against Ali because employees are not personally liable for their actions under Title VII. It also dismissed Weathers’s claims against Methodist because she filed her charge of discrimination two days after the _____________________ 1 The parties consented to the jurisdiction of the Magistrate Judge for all purposes including final judgment. Case: 23-20536 Document: 56-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 09/04/2024

No. 23-20536

filing deadline. Because this is one of the rare circumstances when the doctrine of equitable tolling applies, we reverse the district court’s dismissal of Weathers’s claims against Methodist and remand for further proceedings. I. A. Weathers is a white woman whom Methodist hired as a Patient Transporter in May 2019. In June 2021, Weathers started a new position as a Patient Care Assistant in Methodist’s Neurological Intensive Care Unit under the supervision of Sunila Ali. In August 2021, Weathers texted Ali that her co-workers were harassing her and discriminating against her because of her race. After Ali failed to respond, Weathers e-mailed Mariana Mondragon in Human Resources (HR) about her concerns. Weathers then texted Ali again, informing Ali that she had reached out to HR. HR conducted interviews with Weathers’s co-workers about her complaints. Although HR was not able to substantiate any of Weathers’s allegations, it received negative feedback about Weathers’s job performance. Accordingly, Ali and Mondragon met with Weathers on August 23, 2021, to discuss Weathers’s discrimination and harassment allegations, as well as her poor job performance. At the meeting, Ali and Mondragon placed Weathers on a performance improvement plan (PIP). Ali followed up with Weathers throughout September regarding Weathers’s job performance, noting that Weathers was not meeting the expectations outlined in the PIP. On September 30, 2021, Weathers reported her co-worker, Sharon Agawy, to Ali “regarding ongoing issues of harassment.” That same day, Weathers had a confrontation with a nurse about a patient. Four days later, on October 4, Methodist fired Weathers. Methodist contends it fired her for poor performance and for failing to meet

2 Case: 23-20536 Document: 56-1 Page: 3 Date Filed: 09/04/2024

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the expectations outlined in her PIP. Weathers asserts that Methodist and