Workman v. Frito-Lay, Inc.

• Citation: 165 F.3d 460
• Decision Date: 15 January 1999
• Docket Number: INC,97-5843,Nos. 97-5721,FRITO-LA,s. 97-5721
• Parties: 8 A.D. Cases 1761, 14 NDLR P 107 Joyce WORKMAN, Plaintiff-Appellee/Cross-Appellant, v., Defendant-Appellant/Cross-Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)

Page 460

165 F.3d 460

8 A.D. Cases 1761, 14 NDLR P 107

Joyce WORKMAN, Plaintiff-Appellee/Cross-Appellant, v. FRITO-LAY, INC., Defendant-Appellant/Cross-Appellee.

Nos. 97-5721, 97-5843.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued Sept. 18, 1998.

Decided Jan. 15, 1999.

Keith D. Frazier (argued and briefed), Rhonda M. Taylor (briefed), Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, Nashville, TN, for Appellant.

Jude A. White (argued), David P. Canas (briefed), Morris Reid Estes, Jr. (briefed), Stewart, Estes & Donnell, Nashville, TN, for Appellee.

Before: GUY, NELSON, and MOORE, Circuit Judges.

MOORE, J., announced the judgment of the court and delivered an opinion for the court, in which RALPH B. GUY, JR. and DAVID A. NELSON, JJ., concurred as to all

issues except the retaliation issue. RALPH B. GUY, JR., J. (p. 469), delivered a separate opinion, in which DAVID A. NELSON, J., concurred, which constitutes the opinion of the court on the retaliation issue.

OPINION

MOORE, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiff, Joyce Workman, suffers from irritable bowel syndrome and argues that her termination from Frito-Lay, Inc., was in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") because the company failed to accommodate her and eventually fired her because of her disability. She also argues that she was retaliated against for filing an Equal Employment Opportunity claim and seeks punitive damages. Both parties now appeal the decisions reached below, which fall into essentially three categories: decisions of the district court at trial; the jury verdict; and other decisions of the district court. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the district court's decisions at trial and we uphold the jury verdict in all respects. However, we remand to the district court for a correction to the judgment on the ADA claim and for a determination of the appropriate accommodation, if any, to be provided by Frito-Lay.

I. FACTS

Joyce Workman began working for Frito-Lay in 1977. J.A. at 309 (Trial Tr. at 129). ¹ The last position she held was as a packer and as a floor person. As a packer on Line Two, she packed and inspected cookies, and as a floor person on Line Three, she swept around the machines, checked the metal detector, did "rewraps" and replaced the packers on the line for two hours a day. J.A. at 310-11. Because the lines were not operational every day (they varied with the orders placed for the different types of cookies they produced), she worked full-time in the corresponding position for whichever line was operational. J.A. at 367. According to Workman, her duties on Lines Two and Three prior to her leave of absence in March 1993 were divided "half and half." J.A. at 342.

Workman has a spastic colon, which is a subset of irritable bowel syndrome. It is a painful condition, which manifests itself occasionally in bouts of constipation and diarrhea, and one doctor likened the spasms to a "charlie horse" in her colon. J.A. at 233-34. She has taken medication for the condition that helps relax the colon and keep it from knotting. She has had the condition all her life and has been treated by doctors for the past ten years. J.A. at 313-15. Until approximately June 1993, she regulated and controlled the effects of her condition through use of an enema each morning before work. J.A. at 236, 256. In 1993, Workman had a number of medical difficulties and took a leave of absence first in March to undergo surgery for endometriosis, and then again in May in order to undergo gall bladder surgery. Following this surgery, the use of enemas became difficult, and Workman began the process of "retraining" her bowels so that she could stop using mechanical aids and return her system to a normal process. J.A. at 317-21. At first during the retraining, she had to defecate between ten and fourteen times a day, but by the time she was ready to return to work, her restroom use was at one to four times a day, within the "normal" range, according to her doctor. J.A. at 322-23.

Both parties agree that Workman began a dialogue with the Human Resources Manager, Mark Paschal, in September 1993 about returning to work, and this dialogue continued through December 1993, when she was effectively terminated. According to the defendant, Workman presented a letter on September 23 from one of her physicians, releasing her to go to work and explaining that her condition was improving and would continue to improve, but that it was important for Workman to be able to use the restroom when the urge occurred. J.A. at 322, 386. Although released by one doctor, Workman was not fully released to go back to work because she was seeing others. Nonetheless, the defendant claims that Paschal began exploring ways to accommodate Workman upon her return. Between September and December, they met at least twice in person and spoke numerous times by telephone. Paschal received letters from two other physicians in November 1993, which reiterated that Workman's condition was improving, but that she should be afforded access to the restroom as needed. Paschal's understanding was that neither Workman nor her doctors could predict how often or when Workman would have to be relieved from the line to go to the bathroom. He contends that Workman's statements conflicted with those of her doctors on this issue and that she claimed to need an accommodation in place "just in case" it became important for her to leave the line. Paschal decided to try to accommodate the worst-case scenario of Workman needing to leave the line several times an hour, and determined that no accommodation for that scenario was available. The two discussed a number of options, and none were deemed acceptable to both Workman and to Frito-Lay. On December 16, Workman came to the plant with a full work release and asked to be returned to work. According to Paschal, he told her that he was scheduled to meet with her the next day to discuss it, but she never returned, and consequently he sent her a termination letter on February 10, 1994.

Workman claims that she never demanded an accommodation during these discussions, but just wanted to be allowed to go back to work under the terms in place before she left; that is, workers would replace one another on the line whenever possible on an as-needed basis. She admitted that she could not precisely predict when she would need to leave the line, but believed that the existing company policy would suffice. She says she suggested a number of accommodations, all of which were rejected by Paschal. According to Workman, his bottom line was that if she could not predict when she would need to use the restroom, or confine the activity to her two twenty-minute breaks, she could not return to work. She claims that at one point he offered her a week-long trial period, but then reneged on this offer when she accepted the arrangement.

Workman also explains that she filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") in November because she felt she was getting the run-around from Paschal. Although she had hoped this would spur him to act, it had the opposite effect, and he became hostile and unwilling to cooperate. She says that on December 16 when she returned to the plant, Paschal told her that she no longer had a job.

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Workman filed the complaint in this action on December 14, 1994, alleging both ADA and Tennessee Human Rights Act ("THRA") violations. On January 26, 1995, the district court granted in part the defendant's motion to dismiss the THRA claims. Subsequently, the defendant moved for summary judgment, the plaintiff responded, and the magistrate judge issued her Report and Recommendation on September 25, 1996, wherein she recommended the motion be granted on the THRA claim and denied on the ADA claim. On October 17, 1996, the district court entered its Order adopting the Report and Recommendation.

The ADA claim proceeded to trial before a jury on October 25, 28, and 29, 1996. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff on liability, and then, after being charged on compensatory damages, found that plaintiff was entitled to none. The district judge decided as a matter of law that Workman was not retaliated against and could make no case for punitive damages; hence, those claims did not go to the jury. The parties then briefed the issue of equitable remedies to the court; on April 10, 1997, the district court issued a memorandum, entered a judgment in the amount of $77,140.80 for back pay and benefits, and ordered reinstatement of the plaintiff in the position of floor person at the level of seniority she would have attained had her employment not been interrupted and required the defendant "to make the necessary accommodations for her condition." J.A. at 160 (Judgment).

Each party filed two post-trial motions. Taken together, these motions make essentially the same arguments that are put forth in the briefs on appeal. The district court entered its Order on May 15, 1997, wherein it denied each party's motion for judgment as a matter of law or for a new trial, and granted in part each party's motion to alter or amend the judgment. Specifically, the court changed the phrase "make the necessary accommodations for her condition" in the original judgment to "make reasonable accommodations for her irritable bowel syndrome condition without requiring her to defecate in her undergarment or utilize a sanitary device such as an adult diaper." J.A. at 176-77 (Order).

III. ANALYSIS

We address in turn the three categories of claims made by the parties. First, both parties take issue with one or more of the district court's trial decisions: Frito-Lay disputes several aspects of the jury charge, while Workman disputes decisions to exclude documentary evidence. Second, both parties take issue with the jury verdict on the merits, arguing that no reasonable jury could have reached the...