EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION v. HUSSEY COPPER LTD.

• Decision Date: 12 March 2010
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 08-809.
• Citation: 696 F. Supp.2d 505
• Parties: EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff, v. HUSSEY COPPER LTD., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Pennsylvania

696 F. Supp.2d 505

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff, v. HUSSEY COPPER LTD., Defendant.

Civil Action No. 08-809.

United States District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania.

March 12, 2010.

M. Jean Clickner, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Pittsburgh, PA, for Plaintiff.

Kurt A. Miller, Jeffrey R. Gordon, Thorp Reed & Armstrong, LLP, Pittsburgh, PA, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

NORA BARRY FISCHER, District Judge.

I. Introduction

This case involves Plaintiff, the Equal Opportunity Commission's ("EEOC"), claim under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (the "ADA"), 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., and Title I of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 against Defendant, Hussey Copper Ltd. ("Hussey"). The EEOC brought suit to challenge the employment practices of Hussey regarding its treatment of disabled applicants and to provide appropriate relief to Donald Teaford ("Teaford"), who the EEOC claims was adversely affected by such practices. (See Docket No. 23). In its Amended Complaint, the EEOC alleges that Hussey discriminated against Teaford because he was a recovering addict in a supervised rehabilitation program when it withdrew his conditional offer of employment. (Id. at 3-4). The EEOC seeks a permanent injunction against Hussey preventing it from engaging in further discriminatory practices on the basis of disability, as well as damages including back pay for Teaford. (Id. at 4-5). The matter comes before the Court on Hussey's Motion for Summary Judgment. (Docket No. 35). Upon consideration of the parties' filings, and for the following reasons, Hussey's Motion is DENIED.

II. Factual Background

Unless otherwise specified, the facts of record are uncontested. Viewed in the light most favorable to the EEOC, they are as follows.

A. The Parties

1. Donald Teaford

Donald Teaford is 53 years old and has worked throughout his adult life in the military and industrial settings. (Docket No. 45 at ¶¶ 132-135). He has completed community college courses in electronics technology, and in the 1970s, he apprenticed as a machinist. (Id. at ¶ 133). Teaford served in the Air Force between 1974 and 1979 as an electronics technician, and in the 1980s he worked as a laboratory technician at Mobay Chemical. (Id.). His duties with the Air Force included repair and maintenance of radar navigation and bomb plotting systems, and operation of various milling machines. (Id. at ¶ 134). Subsequently, he worked in the automotive industry at General Motors Corporation as a manufacturing engineer and, after he was laid off, he worked as an electronics service technician, plastics extruder operator, and was employed by a steel company where he performed production jobs in a steel plant. (Id. at ¶¶ 133, 134).

At the time he applied for a position with Hussey in July 2007, Teaford was recovering from a prior addiction to illegal opiates, including Oxycodone.¹ (Docket No. 45 at ¶ 132). His treatment for same included participation in drug treatment and counseling with Health Masters, Inc.² ("Health Masters"), an out-patient methadone clinic he entered on May 1, 2007. (Id.). Throughout his employment, he was never disciplined or discharged because of drug use. (Id. at ¶ 133).

2. Hussey Copper, Ltd.

Hussey is in the business of casting, rolling, extruding and fabricating copper and copper alloy products.³ (Docket No. 36 ¶ 1). Hussey employs approximately 350 salaried and hourly employees in its facilities in Leetsdale, Pennsylvania, which include a fully integrated copper mill where copper and metal alloys are melted, rolled, packaged and shipped to customers. (Id. at ¶¶ 2-3). The mill includes blast furnaces and casting areas, large pits containing open and exposed flames, moving molten metal, cranes, rolling mills, acid and lead baths, forklift trucks, coils of copper traveling above and knives used to cut copper. (Id. at ¶ 3).

The United Steelworkers of America represents the hourly and salaried employees at Hussey and their employment is governed by a collective bargaining agreement. (Id. at ¶¶ 4-5). Said agreement contains a seniority provision requiring vacant positions to be filled through posting and bidding, thereby allowing qualified current employees to fill vacancies based on their seniority. (Id.). Under the agreement, any newly hired production employee is initially hired as laborer and assigned various production jobs in the mill, acting as a "floater" at times, and is required to serve a probationary period of 100 hours of actual work. (Id. at ¶¶ 6-7). In particular, production laborers work throughout the mill on an as-needed basis and rotate assignments until they can bid on a permanent position. (Id. at ¶¶ 8-9). All production and maintenance positions in Hussey's mill are considered safety sensitive positions. (Id.).

B. Teaford's Conditional Offer of Employment

In July 2007, Hussey began reviewing applications to hire five or six new production laborers in the manufacturing area of the mill. (Id. at ¶ 10). Teaford completed an application for an hourly production laborer position on July 25, 2007. (Id. at ¶ 11). Every production job to which Teaford would have been assigned would have been a safety sensitive position. (Id. at ¶ 12; Docket No. 45 at ¶ 12). Indeed, Teaford knew that there were safety risks and dangers in working in a mill environment. (Docket No. 36 at ¶ 13; Docket No. 45 at ¶ 13). He was interviewed for a position as a laborer in the Production Department on July 27, 2007. (Id. at ¶ 14). Wendy Jones, a Human Resources Generalist with Hussey, contacted Teaford by telephone on July 28, 2007 and informed him that he was being given a conditional offer of employment as a production laborer. (Id. at ¶ 15). His offer was conditioned upon his passage of a physical and drug test, and the satisfactory completion of a background check. (Id.).

C. Teaford's Physical Examination

Teaford was referred to Heritage Valley Health System—Business Care⁴ ("Heritage Valley"), located in Hopewell, Pennsylvania, for his pre-employment, post conditional offer physical. (Docket No. 36 at ¶ 16; Docket No. 45 at ¶ 16). Heritage Valley is an occupational medicine facility that provides professional medical screening to its clients, including evaluations for pre-employment physicals, company physicals, drug screening, and other occupational medicine needs. (Docket No. 45 at ¶ 65). Heritage Valley is the only facility that Hussey contracts with for these services in Pennsylvania. (Id. at ¶ 65).

On July 30, 2007, Nurse Practitioner Elizabeth Salyards conducted Teaford's physical examination at Heritage Valley. (Docket No. 36 at ¶ 17; Docket No. 45 at ¶ 17). As part of his evaluation, Teaford completed a medical history record form, which asked if a doctor or clinic had treated him in the past five years or if he was currently taking any prescribed drugs. (Docket No. 36 at ¶¶ 19-20; Docket No. 45 at ¶¶ 19-20). Teaford failed to disclose that he was currently being treated by a doctor at the Health Masters methadone clinic for opiate dependency and that he was presently taking methadone. (Id. at ¶ 20). Teaford's physical examination included a drug urine sample, which tested positive for methadone. (Id. at ¶¶ 21-22; Docket No. 45 at ¶¶ 21-22).

D. Dr. Nackley's Evaluation & Recommendation

Dr. Daniel Nackley, M.D., M.S.C., was the Medical Director at Heritage Valley at the time Teaford was examined.⁵ (Docket No. 36 at ¶ 23; Docket No. 45 at ¶ 23). He has been board certified in Occupational Medicine since 1992 and as a Medical Review Officer since 1996. (Docket No. 36 at ¶¶ 24-25). He has practiced exclusively in the field of occupational medicine and industrial hygiene for seventeen years. (Id.).

On July 31, 2007, he reviewed Teaford's positive drug test results for methadone. (Id. at ¶ 26). Then, on August 1, 2007, he contacted Teaford by telephone to discuss the positive test results and asked Teaford to list all the medications that he was currently taking. (Id. at ¶¶ 27-29; Docket No. 45 at ¶¶ 27-29). Teaford acknowledged that he was taking methadone pursuant to a doctor's prescription, upon which Dr. Nackley asked how long he had been taking it and under what circumstances. (Id. at ¶¶ 30-31). Teaford answered that he was being treated for chemical dependency on opiates and that his methadone prescription was administered through a supervised methadone clinic. (Id. at ¶ 32). Upon Dr. Nackley's request, Teaford provided the name and telephone number of his prescribing physician, Dr. Patricia Bonitatibus, M.D., the name of his clinic, Health Masters, and agreed to provide documentation confirming the legitimacy of his methadone prescription. (Id. at ¶¶ 33-34).

The EEOC maintains that Teaford told Dr. Nackley that he had obtained information on an "ADA website" suggesting that he did not have to disclose his methadone use; however, Hussey contends that Teaford told Dr. Nackley that his drug counselor, Amanda Hovancik ("Hovancik"), instructed him not to mention that he was taking methadone. (Docket No. 36 at ¶ 35; Docket No. 45 at ¶ 35; Docket No. 50 at ¶ 35). Upon further inquiry by Dr. Nackley, Teaford indicated that he had not participated in Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous and that he was not attending meetings with either group. (Docket No. 36 at ¶ 36).

The following series of events occurred on August 3, 2007. Dr. Nackley received a letter from Hovancik and Dr. Bonitatibus verifying Teaford's treatment at Health Masters, and providing additional information concerning Teaford's treatment and counseling.⁶ (Docket No. 36 at ¶ 37; Docket No. 45 at ¶ 37; Docket No. 38-7). Dr. Nackley then called Health Masters to speak with Dr. Bonitatibus and Hovancik, but was unable to reach them and left messages. (Id. at ¶ 38). He next sent Wendy Jones a copy of Teaford's drug test results, on which he stated his initial recommendation that Teaford not perform safety sensitive work due to...