( January 16, 2025, 8:20 AM EST) -- NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel, in affirming a Connecticut federal judge’s order granting summary judgment, has determined that “no reasonable factfinder could conclude on” the record presented that Trader Joe’s termination of a female employee after she took a vacation out of the country during the escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic following a written warning and negative performance review “was a pretext for sex discrimination or that sex discrimination was an otherwise motivating factor” in the decision....