Alderdice v. American Health Holding, Inc.
| Decision Date | 19 October 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. C-2-98-1088.,C-2-98-1088. |
| Citation | 118 F.Supp.2d 856 |
| Parties | Sheryl ALDERDICE, Plaintiff, v. AMERICAN HEALTH HOLDING, INC., Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio |
Emily Jane Lewis, Farlow & Lewis LLC, Dublin, OH, for Sheryl Alderdice.
John Thomas James Sunderland, Bonnie Louise Irvin O'Neil, Thompson Hine & Flory, Columbus, OH, for American Health Holding Inc.
Plaintiff asserts claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601 et seq., the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et seq., the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq., and state law arguing that defendant wrongfully terminated her employment based on her absence from work because she received cancer treatments, and in retaliation for her claim of employee welfare benefits and to prevent potential increased health insurance premiums. Defendant moves for summary judgment. For the reasons that follow, the Court grants defendants' motion for summary judgment on plaintiff's federal claims.
Plaintiff Sheryl Alderdice, was employed by Defendant American Health Holding as a Utilization Review Nurse from December 2, 1996 through August 21, 1998. Her job duties included receiving telephone calls from doctors and hospitals who sought authorization for treatment for patients who were AHH customers, documenting patients' conditions, and authorizing treatment or forwarding the request to the Medical Director. Plaintiff's employment with AHH was at-will.
In December 1996, shortly after being hired by AHH, plaintiff was diagnosed with breast cancer. On January 3, 1997, plaintiff underwent a partial mastectomy. Plaintiff returned to work the following business day. Thereafter, plaintiff underwent six weeks of radiation therapy. AHH allowed plaintiff to modify her work schedule to allow for these therapy sessions. Plaintiff states that she experienced depression as a result of her cancer, surgery, and radiation treatment.
In April 1997, plaintiff had a left lymph node axillary dissection. Plaintiff also underwent a hysterectomy on October 6, 1997 as treatment for possible cervical cancer. Plaintiff returned to work on December 8, 1997. On August 18, 1998, Plaintiff requested a leave of absence for the period September 8, 1998 through October 8, 1998 to have exploratory surgery to alleviate repeated sinus infections. Plaintiff was terminated before her supervisors ruled on the request.
Defendant presents evidence of plaintiff's repeated tardiness and other alleged infractions to support its contention that it had a legitimate reason for its decision to terminate plaintiff's employment. Defendant maintains that on June 13, 1997, plaintiff's supervisor, Margie Caughey, discussed plaintiff's habitual tardiness with her, and noted this in plaintiff's personnel file. On February 2, 1998, Caughey again discussed tardiness with plaintiff when plaintiff was 5-20 minutes late each day the preceding week. On March 17, 1998, Caughey warned plaintiff after her tardiness of 14-17 minutes for three consecutive days.
On April 17, 1998, Shirley Myers discussed with plaintiff that plaintiff had been an hour-and-a-half late to work without prior approval. On June 8, 1998, Myers again counseled plaintiff after plaintiff was twenty minutes late logging on at work.
Myers counseled plaintiff again on July 7, 1998, after plaintiff left the building during a break without telling her supervisor, and returned late after she took her daughter to an orthodontist's appointment. When counseled on this matter, plaintiff's attitude was "not positive." Myers counseled plaintiff on July 20, 1998 for being 20 minutes late to work, and on July 22, 1998 for being 15 minutes late to a mandatory meeting.
On July 23, 1998, Operations Manager John Collins gave plaintiff a written final warning concerning her habitual tardiness. The written warning listed six instances of tardiness, and provided that "any further infractions within the next 90 days may result in immediate termination."
On August 21, 2000, plaintiff accompanied her daughter to high school registration. Plaintiff had informed her supervisor that the registration began at 8:00 a.m. and continued on a first-come, first-served basis. Plaintiff estimated her time of arrival to work between 9:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. that morning. The registration process took longer than had been anticipated and plaintiff arrived to work after 9:30 a.m. She did not log on to her terminal until 10:19 a.m.
Defendant alleges other work-related problems with plaintiff, including that she ate food and put on makeup at her desk in violation of company policy, brought her teenage daughter to work, had confrontations with other employees, and left the building during breaks.
On August 21, 2000, defendant's management team met and unanimously agreed to terminate plaintiff's employment. Several participants in the meeting indicate that the reason was plaintiff's habitual excessive tardiness and other workrelated problems. See Affidavits of Daniel Noe, Marjorie Caughey, and Joan Yockel. They aver the decision had nothing to do with plaintiff's health.
Plaintiff presents several categories of pretext evidence. First, she refers to the deposition testimony of John Collins, who worked for defendant as director of operations, and participated in the management team that decided to terminate plaintiff. Collins testified that a few weeks before plaintiff's termination, he was brought into Joan Yockel's office, where a conversation was taking place with Yockel, Dan Noe, and Shirley Myers. Collins states that they were discussing that plaintiff had requested a disability leave, and that they did not want to approve it because of the concessions made for her the prior year. According to Collins, they discussed finding a way to terminate plaintiff based on attendance and tardiness (Collins Depo., pp. 19-20). Second, plaintiff submits her own affidavit, as well as the affidavits of three present or former AHH employees, Susan Doyle-Wenger, Anemari Stancil, and Dolores Kabbes, stating that other employees were often tardy but were not terminated.
The procedure for granting summary judgment is found in Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c), which provides:
The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith 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 judgment as a matter of law.
The evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. See Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 158-59, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970). Summary judgment will not lie if the dispute about a material fact is genuine; "that is, if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Summary judgment is appropriate, however, if the opposing party fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); see also Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has recognized that Liberty Lobby, Celotex and Matsushita have effected "a decided change in summary judgment practice," ushering in a "new era" of summary judgments. Street v. J.C. Bradford & Co., 886 F.2d 1472, 1476 (6th Cir.1989). The court in Street identified a number of important principles applicable in summary judgment practice. For example, complex cases and cases involving state of mind issues are not necessarily inappropriate for summary judgment. Id. at 1479. In addition, in responding to a summary judgment motion, the nonmoving party "cannot rely on the hope that the trier of fact will disbelieve the movant's denial of a disputed fact, but must `present affirmative evidence in order to defeat a properly supported motion for summary judgment.'" Id. (quoting Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. at 257, 106 S.Ct. 2505). The nonmoving party must adduce more than a scintilla of evidence to overcome the summary judgment motion. Id. It is not sufficient for the nonmoving party to merely "show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts." Id. (quoting Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348).
Moreover, "[t]he trial court no longer has a duty to search the entire record to establish that it is bereft of a genuine issue of material fact." Id. Rather, the nonmoving party has an affirmative duty to direct the court's attention to those specific portions of the record upon which it seeks to rely to create a genuine issue of material fact.
The FMLA provides that an "eligible employee" shall be entitled "to ... leave ... during ... a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the functions of the position of such employee." 29 U.S.C. § 2612(a)(1)(D). An "eligible employee" excludes "any employee of an employer who is employed at a worksite at which such employer employs less than 50 employees if the total number of employees employed by that employer within 75 miles of that worksite is less than 50." 29 U.S.C. § 2611(1)(B)(ii).1
Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. See U.S. Const. Art. III. Courts have consistently held that where a company does not employ the requisite statutory number of employees to be considered...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
White v. Honda of America Mfg., Inc.
... ... Jackson, Assistant Manager of the Medical and Health" Services for Honda, on January 27, 2000, Tucker reported: ... \xC2" ... ( Plaintiff's Motion to Strike, at 9 citing Alderdice v. American Health Holding, Inc., 118 F.Supp.2d 856 (S.D.Ohio 2000)) ... ...
-
Treiber v. Lindbergh School Dist.
... ... perception or record thereof, in violation of the American with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-12213 ... See Ellison v. Software Spectrum, Inc., 85 F.3d 187, 190 (5th Cir.1996) (finding it "undisputed" ... of San Diego, 192 F.3d 1226, 1234 (9th Cir.1999) (holding that Bragdon compelled a conclusion that engaging in ... not make the condition substantially limiting." Alderdice v. American Health Holding, Inc., 118 F.Supp.2d 856, 864 ... ...
-
Wilder v. Sumner Cnty. Bd. of Educ.
... ... Cardenas-Meade v. Pfizer, Inc., 510 F. App'x 367, 369 ns.2 & 3 (6th Cir. 2013); Bennett ... Alexander v. Trilogy Health Servs., LLC, No. 1:11cv295, 2012 WL 5268701, at *12 (S.D ... See, e.g., Alderdice v. Am. Health Holding, Inc., 118 F. Supp. 2d 856, 864 (S.D ... ...
-
Rights Resurgence: the Impact of the Ada Amendments Act on Schools and Universities
...44 F.3d 538, 544 (2d Cir. 1995) ("Intermittent, episodic impairments are not disabilities."); Alderdice v. Am. Health Holdings, Inc., 118 F. Supp. 2d 856, 863-64 (S.D. Oh. 2000) (finding plaintiff with cancer not disabled because cancer was in remission at the time of termination). See also......