Hegre v. Alberto-Culver Usa, Inc.

• Decision Date: 23 April 2007
• Docket Number: No. CV 105-031.,CV 105-031.
• Parties: Gia HEGRE, Plaintiff, v. ALBERTO-CULVER USA, INC., d/b/a Beauty Systems Group, Inc. d/b/a Sally Beauty Company, d/b/a Macon Beauty Systems, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Georgia

485 F.Supp.2d 1367

Gia HEGRE, Plaintiff, v. ALBERTO-CULVER USA, INC., d/b/a Beauty Systems Group, Inc. d/b/a Sally Beauty Company, d/b/a Macon Beauty Systems, Defendants.

No. CV 105-031.

United States District Court, S.D. Georgia, Augusta Division.

April 23, 2007.

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John Paul Batson, Augusta, GA, for Plaintiff.

John F. Meyers, John T. Murray, Kathleen E. Mones, Seyfarth Shaw, Atlanta, GA, for Defendants.

ORDER

WOOD, District Judge.

Plaintiff brought, the captioned case pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"), 28 U.S.C. § 2601, et seq. The matter is before the Court on Defendants' motion for summary judgment. (Doc. no. 36.) For the reasons discussed below, the motion is GRANTED.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Plaintiff's Complaint

Plaintiff, a former employee of Defendant Beauty Systems Group, Inc. ("BSG"), worked as the manager of a cosmetics store in Augusta, Georgia, until she was fired on March 4, 2003. In her complaint, Plaintiff contends that, in September 2002, she asked her supervisor, District Manager Steve Norris, for "about a month off to adjust to new medication that she would take at the beginning of the leave." (Compl. ¶ 22.) Mr. Norris allegedly asked her to wait until arrangements could be made to ensure that the Augusta store's operations were not interrupted. (Id. ¶¶ 23-24.) These arrangements included hiring new staff for the store. Nevertheless, Defendant BSG allegedly failed to take proper action to hire new employees for the Augusta store, leaving Plaintiff overworked and unable to take her desired leave. (Id. ¶¶ 25-28.)

On February 24, 2003, Plaintiff allegedly filled out a "leave request form" requesting "more than five days" of "sick leave" and gave it to Mr. Norris. (Id. ¶¶ 29-30.) This form was never processed. (Id. ¶¶ 31-32.) On Friday, February 28, 2003, Plaintiff gave Mr. Norris a note stating that she would not be working March 1-2, 2003. Later that day, Mr. Norris and Plaintiff got into an argument regarding whether it was Plaintiff's responsibility to arrange for BSG employees from other stores to operate the Augusta store in Plaintiff's absence; following this disagreement, Mr. Norris suspended Plaintiff for the "pretextual" reason that she had allegedly called him a vulgar name. (Id. ¶¶ 26-40.)

Plaintiff was terminated a few days later. She maintains that she was actually terminated "for attempting to exercise rights protected under the FMLA or in retaliation for attempting to exercise rights under the FMLA." (Id. ¶ 42.) This is her sole claim in the captioned case.

B. The Pertinent Evidence

Plaintiff, who suffers from bipolar disorder and hypertension, was under the care of three different healthcare providers between 2001 and her termination in March 2003:(1) Dr. Robert Edward Shervette, III, a psychiatrist, (2) Dr. Ruth Ann Nelson-Abbott, a clinical psychologist, and (3) Dr. Kellie Vaughn Lane, a cardiologist. Although Plaintiff's doctors apparently considered changing some of her prescriptions contrary to the allegations of Plaintiff's complaint, none of Plaintiff's healthcare providers ever recommended that Plaintiff take a leave of absence in order to adjust to new medications. (See Nelson-Abbott Dep. at 9-12; Shervette Dep. at 14-15; Lane Dep. at 18, 20-21.) Nor is there any evidence in the record that a change in Plaintiff's medications has ever caused her to miss work.

That said, in August 2001, Plaintiff was hospitalized following a manic episode. (Pl.'s Dep. at 20; Pl.'s Dep. Ex. 1; Norris Dep. at 21-22.) Plaintiff was granted a medical leave of absence and returned to her work as manager of the Augusta store in October 2001 without any restrictions. (Bartrug Decl. Ex. 1; Pl.'s Dep. at 50, 52, 75.) Plaintiff also had a cardiac catherization in May 2002, but there is no indication that Plaintiff had to miss work as a result of the procedure. (See Lane Dep. at 8.)

Also of note, on February 17, 2003, Mr. Norris issued Plaintiff a written "corrective action" for her alleged failure to maintain a professional environment and to manage her employees at the Augusta store properly. (Norris Dep. at 50-51; Norris Dep. Ex. 4.) After receiving this written reprimand, Plaintiff developed a nosebleed and left the store to see Dr. Lane. Dr. Lane recommended that Plaintiff take two days off in order to ensure that her blood pressure was properly regulated. (Lane Dep. at 14-15.) Noting Plaintiff's apparent stress at work, Dr. Lane also asked Plaintiff to consider looking for a different job. (Id. at 18.)

Although Plaintiff contends that she was required to open and close the store on February 18-19, 2003, she acknowledges that she was otherwise allowed to take those days off in accordance with Dr. Lane's instructions.¹ (See Pl.'s Dep. at 99.) On February 24, 2003, Plaintiff allegedly filled out a request for an indefinite period of medical leave; according to Plaintiff, Mr. Norris failed to have it processed. (See Pl.'s Dep. Ex. 3.)

Later, on February 27, 2003, during an appointment with Dr. Nelson-Abbott, Dr. Nelson-Abbott advised Plaintiff to stop working more than five days per week. (Nelson-Abbott Dep. at 10-11.) Plaintiff told Dr. Nelson-Abbott that she could handle her work schedule and rejected Dr. Nelson-Abbott's offer to write a letter to her employer about her need for a reduced work schedule. (Id. at 7-8, 10-11.)

At approximately 1:00 p.m. the following day, Friday, February 28, 2003, Plaintiff gave Mr. Norris a note complaining that she was "overextended" and would not be working the following two days, March 1-2, 2003. Plaintiff did not further explain her need to take the days off or provide any further documentation regarding her request. (Norris Dep. at 71-72.) Later that day, Plaintiff and Mr. Norris got into an argument regarding whether it was Plaintiff's responsibility to ensure that the Augusta store was "covered" during her absence. (See 2004 Norris Dep. at 69; 2004 Pl.'s Dep. at 245.) According to Mr. Norris, during this conversation Plaintiff called him an "asshole." (2004 Norris Dep. at 72, 75.)

While in Plaintiff's presence, Mr. Norris called Mr. Doug Olson of BSG's human resources department to inform him of what had just happened. (2004 Pl.'s Dep. at 246.) After informing Mr. Olson of the alleged profanity, Mr. Norris suspended Plaintiff without pay; on March 4, 2003, she was fired. (Id. at 28, 247; see also 2004 Norris Dep. at 72, 79.) This decision to terminate Plaintiff was made jointly by Mr. Olson and Mr. Joseph Krimmer, BSG's Regional Manager. (See 2004 Krimmer Dep. at 52, 57-58.) Although Plaintiff denies using profanity, she took no action to challenge her suspension or her termination. (Bartrug Decl. ¶¶ 20.)

II. REQUIREMENTS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

The Court should grant summary judgment only if "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Facts are "material" if they could affect the outcome of the suit under the governing substantive law. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The Court must view the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986), and must draw "all justifiable inferences in [its] favor," United States v. Four Parcels of Real Property, 941 F.2d 1428, 1437 (11th Cir.1991) (en banc) (internal punctuation and citations omitted).

The moving party has the initial burden of showing the Court, by reference to materials on file, the basis for the motion. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). How to carry this burden depends on who bears the burden of proof at trial. Fitzpatrick v. City of Atlanta, 2 F.3d 1112, 1115 (11th Cir.1993). If the movant bears the burden of proof at trial, that party "must show that, on all the essential elements of its case, ... no reasonable jury could find for the non-moving party." Four Parcels, 941 F.2d at 1438. On the other hand, if the non-movant has the burden of proof at trial, the movant may carry the initial burden in one of two ways-by negating an essential element of the nonmovant's case or by showing that there is no evidence to prove a fact necessary to the non-movant's case. See Clark v. Coats & Clark, Inc., 929 F.2d 604, 606-08 (11th Cir.1991) (explaining Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970) and Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986)). Before the Court can evaluate the non-movant's response in opposition, it must first consider whether the movant has met its initial burden of showing that there are no genuine issues of material fact and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Jones v. City of Columbus, 120 F.3d 248, 254 (11th Cir. 1997) (per curiam). A mere conclusory statement that the non-movant cannot meet the burden at trial is insufficient. Clark, 929 F.2d at 608.

If — and only if — the movant carries its initial burden, the non-movant may avoid summary judgment only by "demonstrat[ing] that there is indeed a material issue of fact that precludes summary judgment." Id. Again, how to carry this burden depends on who bears the burden of proof at trial. If the movant has the burden of proof at trial, the non-movant may avoid summary judgment only by coming forward with evidence from which a reasonable jury could find in its favor. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505: If the non-movant bears the burden of proof at trial, the non-movant must tailor its response to the method by which, the movant carries its initial burden. If the movant presents evidence affirmatively negating a material fact, the non-movant "must respond with evidence sufficient to withstand a directed verdict motion at trial on the material...