Corbin v. Sw. Airlines, Inc.
| Decision Date | 09 October 2018 |
| Docket Number | CIVIL ACTION NO. H-17-2813 |
| Parties | TRACY CORBIN, Plaintiff, v. SOUTHWEST AIRLINES, INC., Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas |
Tracy Corbin sued her employer, Southwest Airlines, Inc., under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), 38 U.S.C. § 1301 et seq. She asserts claims for: (1) discrimination based on her military status and obligations under 38 U.S.C. § 4311; (2) failure to reemploy her in a nonflying position after she injured her back on military leave under 38 U.S.C. §§ 4312, 4313; (3) denial of employment benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 4316; and (4) denial of pension benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 4318. (Docket Entry No. 23).
After discovery, Southwest moved for summary judgment. Corbin responded and filed additional exhibits, to which Southwest objected, and Corbin responded to those objections. (Docket Entries No. 31, 32, 35, and 37). The court heard oral argument on Southwest's motion for summary judgment and on Southwest's objections to Corbin's evidence. Based on the pleadings; the motions, response and reply; the record; the arguments; and the applicable law, the court grants in part and denies in part Southwest's motion to exclude or strike Corbin's summary judgment evidence and the motion for summary judgment. Specifically, the court strikes or excludes the specified parts of Exhibits 1, 4, 5, 8, 10, 13, 19, and 20, and denies other objections. The court grants summary judgment dismissing Corbin's claims for discrimination, retaliation, and a hostile work environment, in violation of § 4311; denial of employment and pension benefits during Corbin's first maternity leave, in violation of §§ 4312, 4313; and for failing to restore Corbin's longevity date during the first maternity leave, in violation of § 4318. The following claims and defenses remain to be tried: Corbin's claim under § 4312 and § 4313 for denial of reemployment in a nonflying position during her back-injury treatment in 2007; Corbin's claim under § 4316 and § 4318 for employment and pension benefits accrued during this period; and Southwest's laches defense.
The reasons for these rulings are explained below.
Tracy Corbin is a veteran of the United States Air Force Reserve. She has worked for Southwest since July 2002, as a first officer flying commercial passenger aircraft. (Docket Entry No. 23 at 2-3). She is a member of the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association (SWAPA). Corbin's longevity at Southwest started to accrue on July 15, 2002, the date she was hired. The longevity date is used to determine a pilot's rate of pay. (Docket Entry No. 31 at 3 & n.7). It starts at a pilot's date of hire and continues to accrue as long as the pilot is on the Pilot Seniority List and not on an extended unpaid leave of absence. (Id.).
From approximately July 10, 2004 to February 14, 2005, Corbin took her first maternity leave. (Docket Entry No. 31 at 3). Under the collective-bargaining agreement then in place, Corbin did not lose seniority while on maternity leave, but her longevity date was taxed—extended—to February 20, 2003, to account for 220 days of unpaid maternity leave. (Docket Entry No. 23 at 2).
Corbin took a second maternity leave from June 24, 2006 to March 1, 2007. (Docket Entry No. 31 Ex. 1 at 126). Southwest approved her request for an extension, and she returned to work on March 7, 2007. Again, Corbin did not lose her seniority status, but her longevity date was adjusted, this time from February 20 to October 15, 2003, extended by the 237 days of her maternity leave.1 (Id. at 128:23-25).
In March 2007, Corbin was on military leave from Southwest discharging her service obligation at the Columbus Air Force Base, in Mississippi. (Docket Entry No. 23 at 3). Corbin alleges that Southwest "begrudgingly" granted her military-leave request and that Southwest personnel repeatedly warned her, "You work for Southwest now!"; "Southwest is your primary job, the Air Force Reserve is secondary!"; and "You don't want to drop many trips, work for the Reserve on your days off." (Id.). She also alleges that SWAPA published a report stating that in a survey of Southwest ex-military pilots, over 77% of them had felt harassed or discriminated against for their participation in the Air Force Reserve or Air National Guard. (Id.).
Corbin alleges that on April 1, 2007, she injured her back while on military leave. She spent five days in the hospital. (Docket Entry No. 23 at 3-4). On April 3, Corbin notified Southwest's chief pilot, Bill Kass, that she had hurt her back and that her military orders had extended her leave to accommodate her medical treatment. (Id.). Southwest changed Corbin's status from "military leave" to unpaid "medical leave." (Docket Entry No. 31 at 5). Under the collective-bargaining agreement, a pilot's longevity date was taxed for medical absences but not for military leave.(Docket Entry No. 23 at 4). Corbin's longevity date was extended for her back injury and recuperation. (Id.).
In May 2007, Corbin returned to Houston for medical care. She discharged her ongoing military duties by telecommuting. Air Force doctors placed Corbin on "profile four," which allowed her to do light administrative work, without prolonged sitting or standing or heavy lifting, pulling, or pushing. (Docket Entry No. 23 at 4). Corbin alleges that under profile four, she was not permitted to fly as a cockpit crewmember. (Id.). On May 29, a neurosurgeon diagnosed Corbin as 100% disabled through June 12. (Docket Entry No. 31 Ex. 1 at 162:2-8). Another neurosurgeon instructed Corbin to remain off work until July 17. (Id. at 161:20-162:7).
Corbin alleges that on May 9, and again on May 17 and 18, she reported her back injury and restrictions to Kass and asked to be reemployed in a nonflying position. (Docket Entry No. 23 at 4-5). Corbin alleges that telephone records prove that she made these requests. (Docket Entry No. 31 Ex. 1 at 151). Southwest ordered Corbin to "provide a doctor's note documenting her inability to fly," and Kass refused her requests for reemployment. (Docket Entry No. 23 at 5). Southwest disputes these allegations and notes that the Pull Sheets, the business records routinely used to track pilots' schedule changes and leave requests, do not include Corbin's alleged reemployment requests in May and June 2007. (Docket Entry No. 31 at 7).
Corbin alleges that she informed her unit leadership of Southwest's refusal to reemploy her in a nonflying position and applied to her Air Force Reserve Unit for incapacitation pay. (Docket Entry No. 23 at 5). Corbin alleges that in response to her request, Kass sent Corbin a letter in July 2007, stating that "[o]ur policy is not to allow our Pilots to return to active status until they arecleared by their Physicians for full work duty without any restrictions." (Docket Entry No. 32, Ex. 2).
Corbin had back surgery in July 2007. She extended her medical leave to January 2008, when she returned to her position as a first officer flying commercial passenger aircraft at Southwest. (Docket Entry No. 31 at 6). Corbin alleges that she had received "threatening phone calls" from Kass during her medical treatment and recuperation, asking why she was "well enough to be in home" but "not well enough to come back to the cockpit." (Docket Entry No. 23 at 5). Southwest's Pull Sheets show that, in December 2007, Corbin asked to extend her leave and for reemployment in an administrative position. (Id.). Corbin alleges that she believed that if she did not return to Southwest soon, her employment would likely be terminated. (Id. at 6). When Corbin returned to Southwest, she learned that her longevity date had been moved from October 15, 2003, to June 28, 2004, extending it 257 days because of her military leave. (Id.).
In September 2010, SWAPA and Southwest signed a "Side Letter 3: Longevity Accrual While on Maternity Leave," revising the collective-bargaining agreement to allow pilots on maternity leave to keep the same longevity date without having it taxed for the time spent on maternity leave. (Docket Entry No. 31 at 5).
In January 2017, Corbin learned that Southwest did not tax the longevity date of another female pilot who had taken maternity leave in 2004, around the same time Corbin did. (Id. at 6-7). Corbin alleges that she believed the difference in treatment was because the other woman was not a military pilot and "had never taken any military leave from Southwest." (Id.). Corbin complained to her chief pilot in 2017, right after she learned of the different treatment.
In early February 2017, Corbin contested the extension of her longevity date by the length of both her maternity and medical leaves of absence. Corbin and Southwest participated in a mediation, during which Southwest acknowledged that it had made a mistake in taxing Corbin's longevity date and promised to "make Corbin whole." (Docket Entry No. 32 Ex. 11 at 24:6-9). Southwest agreed to move back Corbin's longevity date for her 2006 maternity leave and her 2007 military leave, from June 28, 2004 to February 20, 2003. (Docket Entry No. 23 at 8). Southwest rejected Corbin's request to set the longevity date back to February 13, 2003. (Id.).
On January 4, 2014, Corbin flew the Houston-to-Dallas route at 10:00 p.m. (Docket Entry No. 23 at 14). The hour-long flight was the only one Southwest scheduled Corbin to do that day. (Docket Entry No. 32, Ex. 1 at 188-89). Mark Williams was the captain for the flight, Corbin was the first officer, and Barry Dowell, a newly hired employee, was in the jump seat. (Id.). Dowell was also a military pilot. During the flight, Corbin encouraged Dowell to "hang on" to his job with Southwest and with the military, because "Southwest [does not] mind if you drop a trip...
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