Coubal v. Power Sys. AHS
| Decision Date | 16 May 2022 |
| Docket Number | CIVIL 20-2296 ADM/JFD |
| Parties | Derek Coubal, Plaintiff, v. Power Systems AHS, LLC, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota |
Sam Kramer, Esq., and Joshua A. Newville, Esq., Madia Newville LLC, Minneapolis, MN, on behalf of Plaintiff.
Hal A Shillingstad, Esq., and Colin H. Hargreaves, Esq., Ogletree Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., Minneapolis, MN, on behalf of Defendant.
On February 17, 2022, the undersigned United States District Judge heard oral argument on Defendant Power Systems AHS, LLC's (“PS”) Motion for Summary Judgment [Docket No. 27]. Plaintiff Derek Coubal (“Coubal”) asserts a single cause of action for an alleged violation of the Minnesota Whistleblower Act, Minn. Stat. § 181.932. For the reasons set forth below, Defendant's Motion is granted.
PS is a critical sector business that provides hydraulic systems and components for other critical sector businesses, including those in the agricultural, transportation, energy, and power industries. Kramer Decl. Ex. A (Steinkamp Dep.) at 17:18-18:3; Shillingstad Decl. Ex. I [Docket No. 31, Attach. 2] at PSAHS000212. PS has its headquarters in Chanhassen, Minnesota, and has satellite locations in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. Steinkamp Dep. at 16:15-18.
PS' operations at the Chanhassen facility include manufacturing and assembly, an engineering department, purchasing, warehouse and shipping, outside sales, and inside sales and service. Id. at 47:20-48:5.
Coubal worked as a Customer Service Sales Representative (“CSSR”) in the Chanhassen headquarters from 2001 until he was terminated in September 2020. Kramer Decl. Ex. C (Coubal Dep.) [Docket No. 51] at 9:13-15, 11:21-12:6, 14:4-12; Steinkamp Dep. At 14:18-24.[1] He was one of six CSSRs employed at the Chanhassen facility. Coubal Dep. at 63:22-25. The CSSRs were supervised by Jeff Winkels (“Winkels”). Id. at 24:3-11; Steinkamp Dep. at 23:5-7.
CSSRs are vital to the company's operations, and PS does not operate without a CSSR at the facility. Coubal Dep. at 22:19-23:4. The job duties of a CSSR include processing customer orders and requests received by phone, email, fax, walk-in customers, and outside sales associates, recommending products from PS' internal inventory, reviewing customer orders and pending quotes to ensure timely shipments, and providing backup support to other associates within the facility. Shillingstad Decl. Ex. E at PSAHS000001.[2]
Although many CSSR job functions can be completed by computer or phone, CSSRs occasionally perform the following in-office daily activities: service walk-in customers at the “will call” window; pull items from warehouse shelves to ensure timely shipment of rush orders; physically examine and evaluate items returned from customer returns; visually verify warehouse inventory of low-stock items to ensure PS does not promise an item to a customer that is no longer in stock; assist in product assembly for rush or custom orders; and provide backup support within the location. Coubal Dep. at 20:7-11, 21:4-22:18, 26:12-25, 30:19-31:13, 34:2342:1, 44:15-45:12, 46:16-47:11, 48:4-15; 49:9-24; Shillingstad Decl. Ex. E. CSSRs also receive requests from other CSSRs working in satellite offices to visually check inventory in the Chanhassen warehouse to confirm the availability of an item, or to physically check the status of a production order in the warehouse. Kramer Decl. Ex. D (Winkels Dep.) [Docket No. 40, Attach 23] at 18:7-11, 20:6-22.
The frequency of the CSSRs' on-site duties varies from day to day depending on customer demand, and it is not possible to predict when the need to perform these duties will arise. Coubal Dep. at 42:9-43:8. Coubal estimates that he spent no more than 30 minutes per week on duties that required him to be in the office. Id. at 143:20-144:8.
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Shillingstad Decl. Ex. B (Executive Order 20-20) at 2. In the weeks that followed, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz issued a series of stay-at-home orders aimed at preventing the community spread of COVID-19. Id. The orders included Executive Order 20-20 and Executive Order 2048 (the “Executive Orders”), which both include a provision stating:
All workers who can work from home must do so. Workers in . . . Critical Sectors, who are performing work that cannot be done at their home or residence through telework or virtual work and can be done only at a place outside of their home or residence are exempted from the [stay-at-home] prohibition ....
Id. at 4; Shillingstad Decl. Ex. P (Executive Order 20-48) at 7 (emphasis in original).
Also in March, PS announced that it was phasing some of its staff to working remotely from home. Kramer Decl. Ex. 5 [Docket No. 40, Attach 2]; Coubal Dep. at 61:13-18; Steinkamp Dep. at 41:14-23. Employees were advised to “work with your immediate supervisor or team lead for plans specific to you and your location.” Kramer Decl. Ex. 5. During this time, PS expected that its business volume would decrease by 30 to 50 percent due to the pandemic. Steinkamp Dep. at 39:10-17, 172:22-25.
Coubal and three other CSSRs from the Chanhassen headquarters began working remotely in March, while the remaining two CSSRs and supervisor Winkels continued to come into work each day. Shillingstad Ex. H [Docket No. 31, Attach. 2] at PSAHS000214; Winkels Dep. at 24:21-25:3; Coubal Dep. at 60:10-24; Steinkamp Dep. at 42:4-43:15. Coubal came into the office on Tuesdays because the orders for one of his customer accounts typically shipped on that day of the week, and Winkels asked him to be in the office in case issues arose with the processing and shipping of those orders. Coubal Dep. at 60:3-6; 62:15-16, 64:7-23; Winkels Dep. at 28:8-29:3.
When working from home, Coubal could not perform in-person duties such as visually verifying inventory, picking items from the warehouse shelves for rush orders, preparing and packaging orders from will call customers, or helping other associates needing in-person assistance at the warehouse. Coubal Dep. at 24:24-25:14; 26:12-25; Winkels Dep. 34:9-24. Other employees performed those duties for Coubal when he was working remotely. Coubal Dep. at 25:3-14, 26:12-25, 41:12-42:1; Shillingstad Decl. Ex. G (Wishy Dep.) at 12:13-13:16, 15:8-22, 23:23-24:3.
On July 8, 2020, PS' general manager, Thomas Steinkamp (“Steinkamp”), sent an email to all supervisors advising them that employees should return to in-person work by July 20, 2020, unless there was a specific reason that an employee must work from home. Kramer Decl. Ex. 6 at PSAHS000125. A primary reason for requiring employees to return was that PS did not experience the anticipated reduction in business, and actually orders increased significantly during June and July. Steinkamp Dep. at 153:5-8, 172:22-173:8; Shillingstad Decl. Ex. I at PSAHS000221. Additionally, one of the CSSRs who had been working in the Chanhassen office during the pandemic resigned in June. Shillingstad Decl. Ex. I at PSAHS000215; Coubal Dep. at 102:6-9. Steinkamp determined that more CSSRs were needed in the office to meet the needs of PS' critical industry customers and to alleviate the added burden on CSSRs who were working in the office and handling a disproportionate share of the remote CSSRs' tasks. Steinkamp Dep. at 153:2-154:19. Coubal's supervisor, Winkels, forwarded the email to Coubal the next day to inform him about returning to work at the facility on July 20, 2020. Kramer Decl. Ex. 6 at PSAHS000125.
On July 15, 2020, Coubal sent an email to Winkels stating that he would not return to working in the office because he had been at the facility the previous day and observed employees in a conference room not wearing masks or social distancing. Id. at PSAHS000124. Coubal further stated: Id. Coubal attached the State's General Industry Guidance, which is directed toward “Non-Critical Sector businesses and employers” and includes several protocols, including a social distancing protocol stating: “Maximize remote-working - Workers who are able to work from home must work from home.” Kramer Decl. Ex. E [Docket No. 40, Attach. 24] at PSAHS000127-28.
On July 17, 2020, Steinkamp emailed Coubal advising him that Coubal's concerns had been forwarded to “Corporate HR and Legal, ” and that changes to the State of Minnesota's Executive Orders were expected soon. Kramer Decl. Ex. 7 at PSAHS000134. Steinkamp told Coubal that Id.
On July 20, 2020, Coubal sent a reply email to Steinkamp that repeated his concerns about the lack of social distancing in the office. Id. at PSAHS000133. Coubal stated that “[p]er MN Dept. of Health and CDC guidelines we all should always be trying to maintain a 6-foot social distancing and if that is not possible then a mask should be worn.” Id.
On July 23, Steinkamp emailed Coubal to inform him...
To continue reading
Request your trial