Williams v. Riverside Community Corr. Corp.
| Decision Date | 03 May 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 49A02-0508-CV-732.,49A02-0508-CV-732. |
| Citation | 846 N.E.2d 738 |
| Parties | Maisha WILLIAMS, Appellant-Plaintiff, v. RIVERSIDE COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS CORPORATION, Appellee-Defendant. |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Ronald E. Weldy, Abrams Weldy Drummond & Huiras, PA, Indianapolis, for Appellant.
Stephen J. Peters, Lisa Cross Price, Stewart & Irwin, P.C., Indianapolis, for Appellee.
L. Alan Whaley, Steven F. Pockrass, Brian J. Paul, Ice Miller, Indianapolis, for Amici Curiae Defense Trial Counsel of Indian and the Chamber of Commerce, Inc.
James D. Johnson, Rudolph, Fine, Porter & Johnson, LLP, Evansville, for Appellee.
Maisha Williams appeals from the grant of summary judgment in favor of her former employer, Riverside Community Corrections Corporation. After terminating Williams' employment, Riverside did not pay her for any accrued sick days or vacation days, and it reduced her hourly wage for her final pay period to the minimum wage rate of $5.15 per hour. Williams filed a claim with the trial court seeking damages under Indiana's Wage Claims Statute. The parties filed various motions with the trial court, including cross motions for summary judgment on the issues of the reduced hourly wage rate, vacation pay, and sick pay. The trial court found in favor of Riverside on each of these issues, and Williams appealed to this Court. We find, among other things, that Williams was entitled to summary judgment on the matter of the reduction in her hourly wage rate but that the trial court properly awarded summary judgment to Riverside regarding her claims for vacation and sick pay. Accordingly, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand the case to the trial court.
Riverside Community Corrections Corporation ("Riverside" or "RCCC") is a not-for-profit penal facility operating a residential work-release program that houses approximately 160 adult male offenders. Maisha Williams worked as a corrections officer at Riverside from September 3, 2003, through October 17, 2003, a total of forty-five days. Williams was hired as an at-will employee earning $9.25 per hour. Williams began accruing vacation and sick pay at the start of her employment but was told that she was ineligible to "use" those benefits until January 1, 2004. Williams was informed of this policy through Riverside's "New Employee and RCCC Hiring Agreement," which Williams reviewed and signed on her hire date. See Appellant's App. p. 193.
According to Riverside, all of its employees are provided with and subject to the "Riverside Community Corrections Corporation Employee Handbook" ("the Handbook"). As a condition of employment, each employee must sign an acknowledgment of receipt for the Handbook and supplemental revisions, as provided. The acknowledgment form contains the following:
By signing and dating this acknowledgment, the employee attests that an RCCC Employee Handbook ... has been received.
The employee also has been informed and understands that no contractual obligations for employment have been made or implied and that employment between RCCC and the employee is strictly "at will."
It is the employee's responsibility to be familiar with the information contained in this handbook. Should there be any questions regarding any area/issue of the RCCC Employee Handbook, the employee may go to her/his supervisor and/or the Director of Human Resources of RCCC.
On her hire date, Williams met with Riverside's Human Resources Director, Lisa Gaus, and reviewed the Handbook. Williams signed the acknowledgment form at that time. The Handbook contained the following provisions relevant to the parties' dispute:
This Handbook is not a contract of employment. ... Without a contract of employment, your employment is strictly at will.
Id. at 197 (emphases in original).
Regular employees who have completed 90 days of continuous service are eligible for company benefits ....
Regular employees begin to accrue sick time on the first day of regular employment, and are eligible to take paid sick time after 90 days of continuous regular employment .... RCCC does not pay employees for unused sick time at the time of termination.
Beginning with the regular employee's first day of work, Vacation Time Pay accumulates at the rate of one day per month during the first four years of employment. This amounts to twelve (12) paid vacation days per year. After 6 months of continuous regular employment, a regular employee is eligible to take paid vacation time ....1
Should an employee voluntarily resign from employment, and provided that the required two week minimum notice is given, RCCC will pay out the employee's unused Vacation Time.
If less than two weeks' notice of resignation (voluntary termination) is given OR an employee is terminated by RCCC, no unused vacation time will be paid.
Employees with less than six (6) months of consecutive service are not eligible for the Paid Vacation Time benefit, therefore no accrued vacation time will be paid out at the time of either voluntary or involuntary termination.
Id. at 207 (emphases in original). In addition, the Handbook outlined permissible uses of sick time for reasons other than employee illness, noting that sick time could be taken "after 90 days of continuous regular employment," and, upon obtaining approval, an employee could use sick time "for bona fide medical appointments of the employee and the employee's dependents," "prior to or during a Medical or Personal Leave of absence," or, upon exhaustion of accrued vacation time, to care for a dependent or elderly parent. Id. at 205-06. The Handbook also states, "RCCC does not pay employees for unused sick time at the time of termination." Id. at 206.
Also on her hire date, Williams received and signed the "Riverside Community Corrections Corporation Statement of Understanding: Final Notification" (the "Final Wage Payment Notification form"). This form included the following provision with regard to involuntary terminations:
Employees who are, for any reason or no reason, terminated by RCCC shall have their pay rate during their final pay period reduced to the legal Minimum Wage Rate of the United States of America. Minimum wage will be paid for all the hours worked in the final pay period for which the employee was employed by RCCC. Accrued vacation time is forfeited. This applies to both hourly and salaried employees.
On October 17, 2003, Riverside terminated Williams' employment. Williams' last paycheck was for 34.5 hours of work paid at the minimum wage rate of $5.15 per hour. Williams does not dispute Riverside's right to terminate her as an at-will employee, nor does she dispute the cited reasons for her termination, which are irrelevant to our review.
On November 23, 2003, Williams filed suit against Riverside under Indiana Code § 22-2-9-1 et seq. (the "Wage Claims Statute"),2 arguing that she was entitled to 7.4 hours of accrued sick pay, 14.76 hours of accrued vacation pay, and the difference between her usual pay rate of $9.25 per hour and the minimum wage rate of $5.15 per hour, for the 34.5 hours she worked during her final pay period. On February 11, 2004, Riverside responded to Williams' claim and filed a counterclaim asserting that Williams' suit was frivolous and without merit. Riverside presented testimony taken from a deposition of Williams to establish that she was aware of company policies regarding vacation and sick pay and the determination of pay upon termination. Both parties eventually filed motions for summary judgment.3 Williams also filed a motion to strike evidence with regard to several statements Riverside cited from Williams' deposition. On February 24, 2005, the trial court heard oral arguments on these various motions and, on March 23, 2005, denied Williams' motion for summary judgment and her motion to strike and granted Riverside's cross-motion for summary judgment and Riverside's own motion for summary judgment on the frivolous action claim. This appeal now ensues.
Williams raises several issues, which we restate as follows: (1) whether the trial court erred in denying her motion for summary judgment and granting Riverside's cross-motion for summary judgment on Williams' claim for damages; (2) whether the trial court erred in granting summary judgment on Riverside's frivolous action counterclaim; and (3) whether the trial court erred in denying Williams' motion to strike the testimony obtained during her deposition. We address each issue in turn below.
Williams alleges that the trial court erred in denying her motion for summary judgment and granting summary judgment to Riverside on her claims regarding her hourly wage reduction, vacation pay, and sick pay under the Wage Claims Statute.4 The purpose of summary judgment is to terminate litigation about which there can be no factual dispute and which may be determined as a matter of law. Bushong v. Williamson, 790 N.E.2d 467, 474 (Ind.2003). On appeal, our standard of review is the same as that of the trial court: summary judgment is appropriate only where the evidence shows there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Am. Home Assurance Co. v. Allen, 814 N.E.2d 662, 666 (Ind.Ct.App. 2004), reh'g denied, trans. dismissed. We construe all facts and reasonable inferences drawn from those facts in favor of the non-moving party. Id. On appeal, the trial court's order granting or denying a motion for summary judgment is cloaked with a presumption of validity. Sizemore v. Erie Ins. Exch., 789 N.E.2d 1037, 1038 (Ind.Ct.App.2003). A party appealing from an order granting summary judgment has the burden of persuading the appellate tribunal that the decision was erroneous. Id. at 1038-39.
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