Chase v. Frontier Commc'ns Corp.

• Citation: 361 F.Supp.3d 423
• Decision Date: 18 January 2019
• Docket Number: 3:16-CV-1724
• Parties: Gloria Jean CHASE, Plaintiff, v. FRONTIER COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION, Defendant.
• Court: United States District Courts. 3th Circuit. United States District Court of Middle District of Pennsylvania

361 F.Supp.3d 423

Gloria Jean CHASE, Plaintiff,

v.FRONTIER COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION, Defendant.

3:16-CV-1724

United States District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania.

Signed January 18, 2019

W. Charles Sipio, Wayne A. Ely, Kolman Ely, P.C., Timothy M. Kolman, Timothy M. Kolman and Associates, Penndel, PA, for Plaintiff.

Alexa Joy Laborda Nelson, Littler Mendelson, P.C., Philadelphia, PA, Theodore Allen Schroeder, Littler Mendelson PC, Pittsburgh, PA, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Robert D. Mariani, United States District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendant Frontier Communications Corporation's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 25) is pending before the Court. With this motion, Defendant requests the Court to dismiss the action in its entirety with prejudice. (Id. at 2.) In her two-count Complaint, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA") and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act ("PHRA") in that she was terminated because of her age and/or because of age-related complaints lodged to both the trainer, Judy Kunkel, and the hiring manager/site supervisor, Stacy Mason, during her initial training period. (Doc. 1.) For the reasons discussed below, the Court concludes that Defendant is entitled to summary judgment on Plaintiff's age discrimination claims but disputed issues of material fact preclude the entry of summary judgment on Plaintiff's retaliation claims.

II. STATEMENT OF UNDISPUTED FACTS ¹

Plaintiff, whose birth name was Gloria Jean Saporito, was born in 1949. (Def.'s Statement of Undisputed Material Facts, Doc. 26 ¶¶ 1-2; Pl.'s Answer to Defendant's Statement of Undisputed Material Facts, Doc. 33-1 ¶¶ 1-2.) In 2015, she applied to work at Citizens Telecom Services Co. ("CTSI"), commonly referred to as "Frontier." (Doc. 26 ¶ 8; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 8.) Plaintiff wrote on the application that her full name is "Gloria J. Saporito Chase" and she signed the application "Gloria Jean Saporito." (Doc. 26 ¶¶ 8, 11; Doc. 33-1 ¶¶ 8, 11.) Plaintiff had worked for CTSI from about 2004 to 2007. (Doc. 26 ¶ 6; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 6.) Plaintiff used her maiden name on her application because she felt she could use both names or either name and was seeking a new feeling of independence after separating from her husband. (Doc. 26 ¶ 10; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 10.)

Stacy Mason was based in Johnstown, New York, and was the Supervisor of the Commercial Contact Center with responsibility for managing a team of work-at-home employees in New York and Pennsylvania. (Doc. 26 ¶ 14; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 14.) After Frontier Recruiting Coordinator, Sarah Gallert, first reached out to Plaintiff at Mason's request to set up a phone interview, Mason conducted the phone interview on February 17, 2015. (Doc. 26 ¶¶ 13-15; Doc. 33-1 ¶¶ 13-15.) During the in-person interview on February 23, 2015, at Defendant's Dallas, Pennsylvania, location, Plaintiff told Mason that she had worked for CTSI under her married name and she was using her maiden name. (Doc. 26 ¶ 17; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 17.) Gallert did not know Plaintiff was a former CTSI employee during the hiring process because she checked Frontier's records under the name Saporito. (Doc. 26 ¶ 19; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 19.)

Plaintiff received an offer of employment via email from Gallert. (Doc. 26 ¶ 21; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 21.) The offer letter attached to the email was addressed to Gloria Jean Saporito. (Id. ) The offer letter stated as follows:

Federal law requires that you provide documentation (I-9) confirming your eligibility to work in the United States. A list of documents that you may use to establish our identity and employment eligibility can be found through our electronic on-boarding tool, Red Carpet. Please bring appropriate documents with you when you report to work on your first day.

(Doc. 26 ¶¶ 22-23; Doc. 33-1 ¶¶ 22-23.) Plaintiff understood that providing the documentation was a requirement of the job. (Doc. 26 ¶ 24; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 24.) Plaintiff accepted the job offer, signing her name "Gloria Jean Saporito." (Doc. 26 ¶ 25; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 25.)

On March 19, 2015, Plaintiff received an email from Gallert reminding her to bring two forms of identification to the first day of training. (Doc. 26 ¶ 26; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 26.) The list of acceptable identification documents was attached to the email. (Doc. 26 ¶ 27; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 27.) Plaintiff understood that the Lists of Acceptable Documents noted that all documents must be unexpired. (Doc. 26 ¶ 28; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 28.) Plaintiff responded to the email, "Thanks I will bring ID." (Doc. 26 ¶ 29; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 29.)

Work-at-home employment with Frontier starts with a five to six week in-person training course. (Doc. 26 ¶ 30; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 30.) Plaintiff's class had twelve employees. (Id. ) Plaintiff started work on Monday, March 23, 2015. (Doc. 26 ¶ 31; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 31.) The new-hire trainer, Judy Kunkel, collected everyone's I-9 documentation. (Id. ) Plaintiff claims she told Kunkel that everything was under her married name, Gloria Chase, and Kunkel said to "let HR worry about it." (Doc. 26 ¶ 32; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 32.) Plaintiff provided a driver's license which was dated as expired in 2007 and a Social Security Card, both under the name "Gloria Jean Chase." (Doc. 26 ¶¶ 33-34; Doc. 33-1 ¶¶ 33-34.) Kunkel testified that she faxed the new-hire class I-9 documentation to Gallert who was responsible for making sure the documentation for the class was in order. (Doc. 26 ¶ 36; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 36.) Plaintiff provided to Defendant the documents that she felt were legal. (Doc. 26 ¶ 38; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 38.)

On the first day of training, Kunkel distributed a document titled "Course Expectations." (Doc. 26 ¶ 39; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 39.) Plaintiff understood that training attendance was required to be one hundred percent. (Doc. 26 ¶ 40; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 40.)

Early in the training, Kunkel displayed a spreadsheet for the employees in the class to write down their employee ID numbers and took it down a few seconds later when she realized it also contained the employees' birthdates. (Doc. 26 ¶ 41; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 41.)

Plaintiff said that two other new hires, Lisa Webby and Mollie Peeler, began teasing her on the first day of training. (Doc. 26 ¶ 42; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 42.) Webby was born in 1965 and Peeler was born in 1960. (Doc. 26 ¶ 43; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 43.) Peeler believed she was the oldest in the class. (Id. ) The next day, Tuesday, Plaintiff complained to Kunkel about the comments made by Webby and Peeler. (Doc. 26 ¶ 44; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 44.) Plaintiff said the teasing included comments such as "Are you okay? Are you getting this" "Are you learning this?" and "I hope I'm not working at that age." (Doc. 26 ¶ 45; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 45.)

On Wednesday, March 25^th, Gallert emailed Kunkel about the I-9 documentation issues with the class. (Doc. 26 ¶ 46; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 46.) She stated that Plaintiff and another employee would be suspended if they did not turn in identification. (Id. ) Kunkel the told Plaintiff that she received an email from Gallert indicating that Frontier needed more information with her maiden name, which she had used on her application. (Doc. 26 ¶ 47; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 47.) Plaintiff emailed Gallert her Certificate of Baptism that night. (Doc. 26 ¶ 48; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 48.) Plaintiff acknowledged that a Certificate of Baptism is not an acceptable form of identification. (Doc. 26 ¶ 49; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 49.) Plaintiff did not send Gallert the Voter Registration card or license camera card she had offered to Kunkel, both of which were under the name Gloria Jean Chase. (Doc. 26 ¶¶ 50-51; Doc. 33-1 ¶¶ 50-51.)

On Thursday, March 26^th, Plaintiff called Mason before work to complain about the alleged comments made by her co-workers. (Doc. 26 ¶ 52; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 52.) Plaintiff noted that Mason was "very upset" and "shocked" by Plaintiff's complaints. (Doc. 26 ¶ 53; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 53.) After Plaintiff and Mason spoke, Mason called Kunkel and asked her to address the class about basic common courtesy and Kunkel did so. (Doc. 26 ¶ 55; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 55.)

Mason then heard from Gallert that Plaintiff had not produced two forms of identification as required. (Doc. 26 ¶ 56; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 56.) Gallert was not aware of Plaintiff's complaint as to her co-workers' comments on seeing her birthdate as listed on the spreadsheet posted, and Gallert did not discuss terminating Plaintiff with Mason. (Doc. 26 ¶ 57; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 57.)

Mason spoke with Plaintiff again, and Plaintiff indicated she did not know when she would get the required identification documents. (Doc. 26 ¶ 58; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 58.) Mason then spoke with Human Resources Manager, Tracy Owen, about Plaintiff's not having her documentation in on time and not having an estimate of when it would be available. (Doc. 26 ¶ 59; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 59.) Owen said she made the decision to terminate Plaintiff. (Doc. 26 ¶ 61; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 61.) She took into consideration the one hundred percent attendance policy and Plaintiff's inability to say when she would get valid identification documents. (Doc. 26 ¶ 62; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 62.) Owen was not aware of any other employee in her region who failed to provide the legally-required documentation to accompany their I-9 form. (Doc. 26 ¶ 63; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 63.)

After speaking with Owen, Mason called Kunkel and told her the decision had been made to terminate Plaintiff. (Doc. 26 ¶ 64; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 64.) Plaintiff was terminated on Thursday, March 26, 2015. (Doc. 26 ¶ 65; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 65.)

Plaintiff understood the purpose of the I-9 Form was to verify her identity and eligibility to work in the United States and that Frontier has rules it has to follow. (Doc. 26 ¶ 66; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 66.)

After Plaintiff was terminated, she went home and called to see if she could obtain a birth certificate and called the courthouse to apply for a name change. (Doc. 26 ¶ 67; Doc. 33-1 ¶ 67.) Plaintiff felt it may take time to get the documents needed but if she could prove she could get them she could be permitted to make up training with another employee in her class, Jack Marchese, who had missed class during the first week because of a medical...