Doe v. U.S. Postal Service, 01-5395.

• Decision Date: 07 February 2003
• Docket Number: No. 01-5395.,01-5395.
• Citation: 317 F.3d 339
• Parties: John DOE, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE and United States of America, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

317 F.3d 339

John DOE, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE and United States of America, Appellees.

No. 01-5395.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued December 10, 2002.

Decided February 7, 2003.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 00cv01398).

Dale Edwin Sanders argued the cause for appellant. With him on the briefs was Patricia A. Smith.

Daniel Bruner was on the brief for amicus curiae Whitman-Walker Clinic Legal Services Program in support of appellant.

Sherri Evans Harris, Assistant U.S. Attorney, argued the cause for appellees. With her on the brief were Roscoe C. Howard, Jr., U.S. Attorney, and R. Craig Lawrence, Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Before: GINSBURG, Chief Judge, and SENTELLE and TATEL, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge TATEL.

TATEL, Circuit Judge:

An HIV-positive postal worker who first revealed his medical condition to Postal Service officials as part of a request for leave pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act alleges that one of those officials disclosed his HIV status to his co-workers in violation of both the Privacy Act and the Rehabilitation Act. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Postal Service on both claims. Because we conclude that appellant has raised a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Postal Service officials disclosed information retrieved from his leave request form, and that the form constitutes an employer "inquiry" subject to the Rehabilitation Act's confidentiality requirement, we reverse.

I.

This case concerns the interaction between three statutory schemes. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), 29 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq., entitles eligible employees, including certain federal government employees, to take up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave per year for medical and other specified reasons. Id. §§ 2611(2), 2612(a)(1). The Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, generally forbids federal agencies from "disclos[ing] any record which is contained in a system of records by any means of communication to any person, or to another agency, except pursuant to a written request by, or with the prior written consent of, the individual to whom the record pertains." Id. § 552a(b). Finally, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq., which generally prohibits federal government employers from discriminating on the basis of disability, also forbids such employers from disclosing employees' private medical records, incorporating by reference the medical examination confidentiality provision of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 12112(d). See 29 U.S.C. §§ 791(g), 794(d). That provision is more specific than the Privacy Act. A general prohibition on employer inquiries into employees' medical conditions, it contains two exceptions: one for "voluntary medical examinations ... which are part of an employee health program available to employees at that work site," and another for "inquiries into the ability of an employee to perform job-related functions." 42 U.S.C. § 12112(d)(4)(B). Medical information obtained under either exception must be treated as a confidential record. Id. § 12112(d)(4)(C).

These three statutory schemes converged when John Doe, a maintenance worker at the United States Postal Service's Brentwood facility in Washington, D.C., missed several weeks of work in March and April 1998 while suffering from an AIDS-related illness. In late April, Doe's direct supervisor, Patricia Downs, sent him a letter about his extended absence. The letter instructed Doe to complete and submit, within five calendar days, a Postal Service administrative form and a medical certificate "provid[ing] an explanation of the nature of [his] illness." If he failed to submit these forms, the letter warned, he would face potential disciplinary action for being absent without leave. The letter also stated:

Your condition may qualify you to be covered by the Family and Medical Leave Policies. Also[] included for your convenience are[] Department of Labor Form WH 380 (Certification of Health Care Provider) and PS Form 3971 [the Postal Service administrative form], in the event that you believe your absence qualifies you under the Family and Medical Leave Act. You must still contact me within five (5) calendar days advising me of the status of your absence.

Faced with these options, Doe chose to complete Department of Labor Form WH 380, the FMLA medical certification form. One portion of that form requires the employee's health care provider to certify that the employee suffers from a "serious health condition" and to "[d]escribe the medical facts which support [the] certification." 29 C.F.R. pt. 825 app. B. Responding to these questions, Doe's physician stated that Doe had "AIDS related complex" and "chronic HIV infection." Although Postal Service employees usually submit such forms to their direct supervisors, Doe, having never told anyone at the Postal Service about his HIV status, was hesitant to reveal this sensitive information to Downs. On her recommendation, he instead submitted the form to Postal Service administrative assistant Paul Neff. For reasons not relevant here, the Postal Service ultimately denied Doe's FMLA request.

When Doe returned to work, he discovered that his HIV status had become common knowledge among his co-workers, many of whom commented to him about it. Several identified Doe's management-level supervisor, Melvin Tahir, as the source of the information.

Relying on the ADA's medical confidentiality provision, Doe filed a Rehabilitation Act complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which commenced an investigation. When the statute of limitations began to run out on his Privacy Act claim, Doe withdrew his EEO complaint and filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that Postal Service officials disclosed medical information contained in his FMLA certification form in violation of both the Privacy Act and the Rehabilitation Act. The district court granted the Postal Service's motion for summary judgment on both claims, concluding that (1) Doe had failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to whether a Postal Service employee had improperly disclosed information that had been retrieved from his medical records in violation of the Privacy Act, and (2) the FMLA form was not an employer inquiry subject to the ADA's medical confidentiality requirement. Doe v. United States Postal Serv., No. 00-1398, mem. op. at 24-25, 29-31 (D.D.C. Sept. 10, 2001). Doe appeals. Our review is de novo. See Aka v. Wash. Hosp. Ctr., 156 F.3d 1284, 1288 (D.C.Cir. 1998).

II.

We start with Doe's Privacy Act claim. Enacted to "safeguard[] the public from unwarranted ... dissemination of personal information contained in agency records," the Privacy Act generally prohibits "nonconsensual disclosure of any information that has been retrieved from a protected record," unless that information falls into one of a number of statutory exceptions, none of which applies here. Bartel v. FAA, 725 F.2d 1403, 1407, 1408 (D.C.Cir.1984). The Postal Service does not dispute that Doe's FMLA certification form was contained in an agency record subject to the Privacy Act's confidentiality requirements, nor does it argue that the information on the form qualifies for one of the statutory exceptions. It claims only that Doe has offered insufficient evidence that a Postal Service employee (1) disclosed information about Doe's medical condition that (2) the employee had retrieved from Doe's FMLA certification form. In considering this argument, we keep in mind that summary judgment may not be granted if the record reveals a genuine issue of material fact — 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, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Moreover, "[c]redibility determinations, the weighing of the evidence, and the drawing of legitimate inferences from the facts are jury functions, not those of a judge ... on a motion for summary judgment." Id. at 255, 106 S.Ct. at 2513.

Applying this standard, we think Doe produced enough evidence of disclosure to survive summary judgment. As to the first disputed element of the Privacy Act cause of action — that a Postal Service official disclosed confidential medical information — Doe points to record evidence indicating that his management-level supervisor, Melvin Tahir, told co-workers about his HIV status. Specifically, one of Doe's co-workers testified at his deposition that he first learned of Doe's HIV status from an acting supervisor, who in turn identified his source as Melvin Tahir. Three other co-workers said either that Tahir had told them directly about Doe's HIV status or that they overheard Tahir telling others of it.

To be sure, the record contains conflicting accounts of Tahir's role in spreading the news of Doe's HIV status. Most important, Tahir denies having told anyone about Doe's condition, claiming he knew nothing about it until he was scheduled to answer Doe's EEO complaint. Pointing to this and other conflicts in the evidence, the district court quite properly declined to rest its grant of summary judgment for the Postal Service on this ground. Doe, mem. op. at 28-29. Instead, the district court granted summary judgment on the second disputed element of the Privacy Act cause of action — that Doe provided no evidence "that gives rise to a reasonable inference that USPS supervisors became aware of Plaintiff's condition through his FMLA form," as opposed to some other source, or even simple speculation. Id. at 27, 29-31. On this point, we disagree.

As we view the record, Doe offered two pieces of evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that a Postal Service employee...