OPINION AND ORDER Desa Emanuel (“Emanuel”) and Lacrena Taylor (“Taylor,” and with Emanuel, “Plaintiffs”) bring this action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), 42 U.S.C. §2000e et seq., 42 U.S.C. §1981 (“§1981″), and New York State Human Rights Law (“NYSHRL”), N.Y. Exec. Law §296 et seq., alleging that Gap, Inc. (“Gap”), Banana Republic, LLC (“Banana Republic,” and with Gap, the “Corporate Defendants”),1 Michelle Russo (“Russo”), Gregoire Jean-Louis (“Jean-Louis”), and Toni Lynn Borowski (“Borowski,” and collectively, “Defendants”) unlawfully terminated Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs filed their initial Complaint on April 23, 2019. (Doc. 1). On May 8, 2023, Plaintiffs filed their First Amended Complaint with leave of the Court. (Doc. 70, “FAC”). The FAC alleges five claims for relief against one or more Defendants: (i) discrimination and retaliation under Title VII; (ii) discrimination and retaliation under §1981; (iii) discrimination and retaliation under NYSHRL; (iv) aiding and abetting; and (v) defamation. (Doc. 70, “FAC”). Plaintiffs withdrew the fifth claim for relief for defamation on November 30, 2022. (Doc. 176). Defendants filed their motion for summary judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 on October 21, 2021. (Doc. 148). The Court denied Defendants’ motion for summary judgment without prejudice (Doc. 169) and permitted the filing of a substitute summary judgment motion after the parties filed a compliant Rule 56.1 statement. (Doc. 172, “56.1 Stmt”; Doc. 174). Presently pending before the Court is Defendants’ December 5, 2022 renewed motion for summary judgment on all claims under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, filed in accordance with the briefing schedule set by the Court. (Doc. 178; Doc. 179, “Def. Br.”; Doc. 180, “Pl. Br.”; Doc. 181, “Reply Br.”; Doc. 183, “Filippatos Decl.”; Doc. 184, “Sobocinski-Nasierowski Decl.”; Doc. 185, “Jean-Louis Decl.”; Doc. 186, “Russo Decl.”; Doc. 187, “Borowski Decl.”; Doc. 188, “Railey Decl.”; Doc. 189, “Schmidt Decl.”). Defendants seek summary judgment primarily because they believe that Plaintiffs cannot make out a prima facie case of discrimination, Plaintiffs were terminated for legitimate non-discriminatory reasons, and there was no causal connection, for retaliation purposes, between a protected activity and termination. For the reasons set forth below, Defendants’ renewed motion for summary judgment is DENIED. BACKGROUND The facts recited below are taken from Plaintiffs’ FAC, Defendants’ 56.1 Statement with Plaintiffs’ Responses and Counterstatement, and the admissible evidence submitted by the parties. I. Plaintiffs’ Employment Background Emanuel, an African American woman, began her employment at Banana Republic in 2009 as a General Manager. (56.1 Stmt 3). Emanuel served as General Manager of the Vernon Hills Banana Republic store in Scarsdale, New York (“Vernon Hills Store”) from August 2017 until her termination in March 2018. (Id.). Taylor, an African American woman, was hired in June 2017 as an Associate Store Manager at the Vernon Hills Store. (Id. 1). On October 4, 2017, Destiny Tompkins, an African American sales associate at the Banana Republic store at the Westchester Mall in White Plains, New York (“Westchester Store”), posted to Facebook that her manager told her that her box braids were not appropriate and too “urban” for Banana Republic’s image. (Id. 8). Banana Republic terminated that manager on October 7, 2017. (Id.). Taylor was promoted to General Manger of the Westchester Store on or about October 29, 2017, and remained General Manager at that location until her March 2018 termination. (Id. 2). Plaintiffs were supervised by Russo, District Manager of the Long Island/Westchester District, starting in late January 2018. (Id. 5). As employees of Banana Republic, Plaintiffs are subject to the policies set out in Corporate Defendants’ “Employee Policy Guide.” The Employee Policy Guide includes the following timekeeping policy: Every non-exempt (hourly) employee must be paid for all hours worked… it is against Company policy to modify time records or fail to report hours so that an employee is not paid for all hours worked . . .Willful violation of timekeeping policies, including falsifying timecards or encouraging others to do so, may result in discipline up to and including immediate termination for all employees involved. Managers may never encourage or allow any violation of this policy. (Id. 15). Despite this policy, Taylor and Emanuel testified they understood that a “three-minute grace period” allowed them to modify an employee’s time entry up to three minutes if an employee was early or late punching in or out three minutes or less. (Id. 20). At least two other managers at Banana Republic, and potentially more, believed that this unofficial “three-minute grace period” existed. (Doc. 191-1, “Reitman Aff.” at 11; Doc. 191-2, “Kolibabek Aff.” at 18; Filippatos Decl. 2, Ex. 20)2. In contrast, several members of company leadership, including Borowski, Regional Human Resources Senior Manager of the Northeast Region, understood that modifying an employee’s time punches is a violation of Banana Republic policy and was a terminable offense. (56.1 Stmt
6, 21). II. First Audit of the Westchester Store Banana Republic performs store compliance audits on a regular basis. (Id. 22). On February 12, 2018, Deborah Sobocinski, Manager of Internal Audit, selected the Westchester Store to be audited because it was ranked number one in the district on the Store Selection Tool report and it was within commuting distance. (Id. 23). The Westchester Store failed the audit, including the Meal Period Compliance part of the audit because employees’ breaks did not occur in the proper timeframes. (Id.
