Sorrell v. Rinker Materials Corp.

• Decision Date: 14 January 2005
• Docket Number: No. 03-4443.,No. 03-4359.,03-4359.,03-4443.
• Citation: 395 F.3d 332
• Parties: Charles S. SORRELL, Plaintiff-Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. RINKER MATERIALS CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee/Cross-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 332

395 F.3d 332

Charles S. SORRELL, Plaintiff-Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. RINKER MATERIALS CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

No. 03-4359.

No. 03-4443.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: December 7, 2004.

Decided and Filed: January 14, 2005.

ARGUED: Jill A. May, Coolidge, Wall, Womsley & Lombard, Dayton, Ohio, for Appellant. Joseph P. Shelton, Fisher & Phillips, Atlanta, Georgia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: James E. Swaim, Flanagan, Lieberman, Hoffman & Swaim, Dayton, Ohio, for Appellant. Joseph P. Shelton, Robert P. Foster, Fisher & Phillips, Atlanta, Georgia, Paul G. Hallinan, Robin D. Ryan, Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur, Dayton, Ohio, for Appellee.

Before: MARTIN and MOORE, Circuit Judges; BUNNING, District Judge.^*

MARTIN, Circuit Judge.

In this case brought pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act, 29 U.S.C. § 2601, et seq., plaintiff Charles S. Sorrell appeals, and defendant Rinker Materials Corporation cross-appeals, the district court's award of summary judgment in favor of Rinker. For the reasons that follow, we VACATE the district court's judgment and REMAND for further proceedings.

I.

Charles Sorrell began working for a predecessor of Rinker Materials Corporation in 1977 and, for the last thirteen years or so, held an outside sales position in the company. This position required Sorrell to sell precast concrete items to customers in the commercial construction industry, and it necessitated frequent travel. Sorrell was responsible for a sales territory that covered the City of Cincinnati and its surrounding areas, including north of Cincinnati to Route 73, east into Clermont County, west to the Indiana border, and south to the northern-most areas of Kentucky. At its furthest reaches, this territory required approximately one hour of driving time from the Sorrells' home in Dayton, Ohio. In addition to visiting customers within his sales territory, Sorrell generally worked at Rinker's Dayton facility three days per week.

In mid-November of 2000, Sorrell informed Randy Yoakum, a supervisor at Rinker's Dayton facility, that he had decided to retire. Yoakum indicated that he would accept Sorrell's decision and the two men discussed various possibilities whereby Sorrell might return to work in some capacity for Rinker after the winter. Yoakum made clear, however, that upon his retirement Sorrell would be permanently replaced by a new person. Sorrell and Rinker agreed that Sorrell's last day of work would be around December 21, but that his termination would not become effective until January 16, 2001. From December 21 to January 16, Sorrell would remain on Rinker's payroll and use his accrued vacation time. Within a few days after announcing his retirement, Sorrell was informed that his replacement would be another Rinker employee named Steve Jeffries, who had previously worked at the company's Indianapolis facility but wished to move to the Dayton area. During the month of December, Sorrell assisted in training Jeffries to be his replacement. On December 18, Rinker officials filled out a personnel form indicating that Sorrell would be retiring. On December 20, Yoakum signed the form, indicating his approval of the personnel change.

Sorrell claims that his retirement decision was prompted, at least in part, by his desire to care for his wife, Sharrie Sorrell, who had recently developed an eye disorder. Mrs. Sorrell's physician, Dr. Opremcak, prescribed Prednisone as treatment for this disorder. Although Dr. Opremcak advised Mrs. Sorrell to take Prednisone daily, she could adjust the dosage to her needs. Because of Prednisone's potentially harmful side effects, Dr. Opremcak advised Mrs. Sorrell to keep the dosage as low as possible. In Mrs. Sorrell's experience, warmer weather helped her to minimize the dosage. Therefore, she decided that she wished to spend the winter of 2000-01 in Florida, where the Sorrells owned a condominium. No doctor advised Mrs. Sorrell that warmer weather could help to treat her eye condition or to minimize her Prednisone dosage.

At the time Sorrell announced his retirement decision, he erroneously believed that the Family and Medical Leave Act provided leave only for new parents. After learning that he may be entitled to leave pursuant to the Act to care for his wife, Sorrell decided that he would prefer to take such leave instead of retiring. At some point between announcing his retirement and December 21, Sorrell orally notified Rinker that he wished to take leave under the Act rather than retire. Sorrell was advised of the procedures for securing such leave. The first step in the process, he was told, was to submit a note from his wife's doctor. Dr. Opremcak provided a note, dated December 21, 2000, which stated that: "Due to decreasing Prednisone the body increases in stress, and decreases the immune system. Therefore a 3 month leave would help with the above." The parties characterize this note as a "medical certification," which is a term of art used in the Act. Although, as Sorrell acknowledges, Dr. Opremcak's note is mistakenly written as if Mrs. Sorrell herself were applying for leave, Rinker apparently voiced no specific concerns about the note.

Rinker next told Sorrell that he would have to complete certain forms. Yoakum informed him that because it was so close to the holidays, he could submit the leave forms after the first of the year. The Sorrells left for Florida just after Christmas. In January, after some delays, the necessary forms were sent to Sorrell in Florida. Sorrell submitted the completed forms to Rinker on January 22, 2001. Sorrell's leave was officially approved soon afterward. On or about February 19, Rinker executed a personnel change notification form, which indicated that Sorrell would not be retiring and which reinstated him to active employee status, retroactive to his original hire date, so that he would be entitled to take leave pursuant to the Act.

Sorrell's leave was to expire on April 12, 2001. He and his wife returned to Ohio during the first week of April. On or about April 7, before the leave expired, Sorrell called Yoakum and informed him that he was back in town and ready to return to work. Yoakum told Sorrell that he had been informed by Thomas Hartley, another Rinker official, that Rinker was in a "hiring freeze" and that there were no positions available. Sorrell told Yoakum that a hiring freeze should not affect someone returning from leave taken pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act. Yoakum told Sorrell that he would talk to Hartley again and call Sorrell back. Two weeks later, Yoakum called to tell Sorrell that Hartley had "something" for him. Yoakum explained that Rinker was willing to reinstate Sorrell to an outside sales position, but that he would have to accept a territory covering the southeast quadrant of Indiana, which was "at least sixty miles from Sorrell's home" and "included areas of Indiana over 180 miles away from Sorrell's home that would take over three hours of driving time to reach." Sorrell was told that he would be expected to spend two to three nights per week on the road, which he never had to do while working in his prior territory.

Sorrell met with Rinker officials about this proposed arrangement, but explicitly indicated that this was not the territory that he desired. Hartley explained that his previous position, covering the Cincinnati territory, was not available because it was occupied by Jeffries. Sorrell suggested the possibility of working out a part-time arrangement, but Hartley said that such an arrangement probably would not work because Rinker's customers expected salesmen to be available five days per week. Sorrell explained that, in that case, he wanted his old territory back. Hartley immediately rejected this proposition, but said that he would call Sorrell in a couple of days. No one from Rinker contacted him, however, and Sorrell subsequently initiated this lawsuit alleging a violation of his rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act. In particular, Sorrell claims that Rinker violated his rights by failing to restore him to his prior position, or an equivalent one, upon his return from leave.

The district court granted Rinker's motion for summary judgment on the ground that Sorrell had relinquished his outside sales position prior to requesting Family and Medical Leave Act leave and, therefore, was not entitled to that position, or an equivalent one, upon his return from leave. This timely appeal followed.

II.

We review de novo the district court's award of summary judgment in favor of Rinker and against Sorrell. See Peltier v. United States, 388 F.3d 984, 987 (6th Cir.2004). Summary judgment is proper "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). On appeal, we consider all facts and inferences drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to Sorrell, as the nonmoving party. Peltier, 388 F.3d at 987.

Sorrell's Family and Medical Leave Act claim is based upon what has been described as an "interference" theory. Such a theory, we have explained,

arises from § 2615(a)(1), which states that "[i]t shall be unlawful for any employer to interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of or the attempt to exercise, any right provided in this subchapter," and from § 2614(a)(1), which provides that "any eligible employee who takes leave... shall be entitled, on return from such leave (A) to be restored by the employer to the position of employment held by the employee when the leave commenced; or (B) to be restored to an equivalent position."

Arban v. West Publ'g Corp., 345 F.3d 390, 400-01 (6th Cir.2003). In order to prevail on his claim, Sorrell must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that: (1) ...