Carothers v. Cnty. of Cook

Decision Date21 December 2015
Docket NumberNo. 15–1915.,15–1915.
Citation808 F.3d 1140
Parties Carmen CAROTHERS, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. COUNTY OF COOK, et al., Defendants–Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Anthony J. Peraica, Attorney, Chicago, IL, for, PlaintiffAppellant.

Colleen B. Cavanaugh, Attorney Thomas Cargie, Attorney Chicago, IL, for DefendantsAppellees.

Before BAUER, FLAUM, and MANION, Circuit Judges.

BAUER, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff-appellant, Carmen Carothers ("Carothers"), filed a second amended complaint against the Office of Transitional Administrator, Earl Dunlap, and the County of Cook (collectively, the "Defendants"). Carothers alleged disability discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq . ("ADA"), as well as race discrimination, sex discrimination, and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000 et seq . ("Title VII"). The district court granted the Defendants' motion for summary judgment, and Carothers appealed. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the district court's opinion.

I. BACKGROUND

The Office of the Transitional Administrator is a federal agency that oversees the operation of the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center (the "JDC"). Earl Dunlap is the Transitional Administrator in charge of transferring administration of the JDC from the federal government to Cook County. Carothers, an African–American woman, was hired by the JDC in August 2005. Carothers served as an Administrative Assistant 1/Hearing Officer. The position involves compiling statistics, inputting data and creating reports, as well as serving as a hearing officer to adjudicate juvenile detainee grievances.

On or about June 22, 2009, Carothers was involved in a physical altercation with a juvenile detainee during a riot at the JDC, in which Carothers injured her hands and went on a leave of absence. While on leave, Carothers applied for worker's compensation and eventually entered into a settlement with Cook County.

On July 16, 2009, Diana Anderson ("Anderson"), the Director of Human Resources at the JDC, sent Carothers a letter acknowledging the injury to her hands and that the JDC was "able to make reasonable accommodations to your job duties that will not require the use of your injured hand." The letter also reminded Carothers that pursuant to the JDC's policy, she could not return to work until she had scheduled an appointment with the Cook County Department of Resources' Medical Division ("Medical") and received clearance to return to work.

On December 2, 2009, Anderson sent Carothers a letter acknowledging that Medical released Carothers to return to work with restrictions. The letter noted that Carothers' doctor had restricted her from interacting with the juvenile detainees, which her job as an Administrative Assistant 1/Hearing Officer required. The letter further suggested that Carothers review available positions at the JDC posted on www.careerbuilder.com ("CareerBuilder") and to contact Anderson if Carothers believed she was qualified for any position.

On December 10, 2009, Carothers faxed Anderson a letter stating that she could not find a position on CareerBuilder that accommodated her restriction. On January 12, 2010, Anderson sent Carothers a letter stating that since there were no available positions that accommodated Carothers' restrictions, "[the JDC] ask[s] that you contact the Pension Board ... to apply for Disability Benefits." Rather than contact the Pension Board, Carothers proceeded to send five letters to Anderson from January 22, 2010, through February 25, 2010, all of which inquired whether there were any open positions that accommodated her disability.

On March 15, 2010, William Kern ("Kern"), Deputy Executive Director of the JDC, received a memorandum from Deputy Transitional Administrator Brenda Welch informing him that Carothers was returning to work and that he would be her supervisor. On March 16, 2010, Carothers returned to the JDC as an Administrative Assistant 1/Hearing Officer. Upon her return, Carothers received a written job description for the Administrative Assistant 1/Hearing Officer position. The job description included conducting due process hearings for juvenile detainees, as well as handling juvenile detainee grievances. Carothers signed the job description, but wrote: "[I] was not a[ ] hearing officer when I [first] received [the position]." But Carothers does not dispute that between March 2007 and October 2007, Carothers completed over 188 disciplinary due process hearings for juvenile detainees.

After her return, Carothers worked primarily with data entry. In October 2010, Kern informed Carothers that she had to take Physical Restraint Techniques ("PRT") training and De-escalation training on October 28 and 29, 2010, to assist with her position as a hearing officer. Later that day, Carothers requested both of those days off due to previously scheduled doctors' appointments. Kern denied this request, so Carothers submitted it to a different Deputy Executive Director, who approved. As a result, Kern informed Carothers that she had to take De-escalation training on December 22, 2010, and PRT training on December 27, 2010. Kern also directed Carothers to observe three hearing officers conduct hearings at the JDC by December 31, 2010.

On December 22, 2010, Carothers gave Kern a letter dated December 13, 2010, that was written by James M. Campbell, who disclosed that he had been counseling Carothers since January 2010. The letter stated: "[d]ue to a recent traumatic incident that resulted in a high degree of anxiety, I feel that it would be advisable to have [Carothers] avoid working with children at this time." Kern forwarded the letter to Anderson, who then informed Carothers that her request to avoid working with children was denied. Anderson directed Carothers to continue performing the job functions of an Administrative Assistant 1/Hearing Officer, which included adjudicating due process hearings for juvenile detainees.

Carothers completed the PRT training on December 22, 2010. On December 29, 2010, Kern learned that Carothers had failed to attend the De-escalation training that occurred earlier that day.1 Kern confronted Carothers about this, but she explained that she did not attend because she did not know where the training was located. Kern did not believe her, since the De-escalation training occurred in the same room as the PRT training, there was only one room at the JDC where training was conducted, and the room was about 15 feet from Carothers' office. Shortly thereafter, Kern recommended to the Government and Labor Relations Unit that Carothers be disciplined.

On December 29, 2010, after Kern confronted Carothers about missing De-escalation training, Carothers began to shadow other hearing officers at the JDC in accordance with Kern's directive. During the shadowing, however, Carothers became nauseous and fainted. She was taken by ambulance to a hospital, but was released that same day.

On January 3, 2011, Anderson sent Carothers a letter stating that because she left in an ambulance she could not return to work until the JDC received paperwork from Carothers' doctor clearing her to return to work. The following day, Anderson sent a letter to Carothers indicating that she received the paperwork from Carothers' doctor, but it indicated that Carothers should avoid working with children. Because Carothers' position involved daily interaction with juvenile detainees, Anderson requested that Carothers undergo a "fit for duty" examination, and informed her that she needed to report to Medical in order to be released to "full duty."

On January 7, 2011, a physician at Medical evaluated Carothers and found that she could return to work, but should have "no contact with residents." On January 12, 2011, Anderson sent Carothers a letter stating that since one of the "primary responsibilities" of an Administrative Assistant 1/Hearing Officer was interacting with juvenile detainees, she was going to refer Carothers to the Pension Board to apply for disability. Anderson also spoke with Carothers and informed her that she could not return to her original position due to her restriction regarding working with the juvenile detainees, and advised her to research and apply for another job at the JDC.

On February 8, 2011, Anderson sent Carothers a letter informing her that she was out on an unexcused leave and she had to either return to work or apply for permanent disability. The letter also stated that although Carothers had submitted her application for disability, she had not yet provided all of the required documentation. Anderson gave Carothers until February 18, 2011, to submit her completed disability paper-work, or until February 16, 2011, to schedule an appointment with Medical to receive clearance to return to work.

On February 14, 2011, Carothers sent Anderson a fax stating that the "disability paperwork has already been submitted." However, that same day the Disability Benefit Department sent a letter to Carothers informing her that her application was incomplete. The letter stated that to be eligible for review, Carothers had to submit an "Attending Physician Statement" and a "County Physician Statement—or—Certification of Disability Status" by May 9, 2011. Despite this letter, as well as later conversations with Anderson, Carothers insisted that she had submitted her application and refused to submit the two requested documents.

On April 8, 2011, Anderson sent Carothers a letter informing her that she still had not completed her disability application. The letter further stated that Carothers must either complete her paperwork for disability or return to work. Carothers' disability documents were due by April 15, 2011, but if she chose to return to work then she had to schedule an appointment with Medical by April 12, 2011. The letter concluded: "Your unresponsiveness will be viewed...

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