This 8th Circuit (Minnesota) case is a good reminder that employee termination can be in violation of ERISA if the employee can show that the termination occurred to prevent him or her from receiving health care insurance benefits. At issue was an employee who needed shoulder surgery and had not been a particularly good employee. An employer may be able to avoid an initial presumption of discrimination by giving good reasons for the termination, shifting the burden of proof back to the employee. However, an employee also has a right to show that such reason was a pretext. An employee may prove pretext by demonstrating that the employer's proffered reason has no basis in fact. In this case, the employer had provided multiple reasons for the termination which helped the Court determine that the employer's justification was a pretext for interfering with insurance benefits, as well as evidence that other employees had been treated more leniently and the manner of termination was inconsistent with prior company policies. Fitzgerald v. Action, Inc., (8th Cir. 2008).