Jennings v. Mid-American Energy Co.
| Decision Date | 17 September 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 3:02 CV 90069.,3:02 CV 90069. |
| Citation | 282 F.Supp.2d 954 |
| Parties | Wendy JENNINGS, Plaintiff, v. MID-AMERICAN ENERGY COMPANY, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Iowa |
Robert S. Gallagher, Gosma & Gallagher PLC, Davenport, IA, for Plaintiff.
Arthur W. Eggers, Califf & Harper PC, Moline, IL, for Defendant.
Plaintiff Wendy Jennings brings this cause of action against her former employer, Defendant Mid-American Energy Company ("MEC"), after she was forced to resign in December 2001. Plaintiff's complaint alleges that MEC violated her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act 29 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq. ("FMLA"), and that MEC tortiously interfered with Plaintiff's prospective business advantages after she had separated from MEC. Presently before the Court is Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment that asks the Court to dismiss Plaintiff's complaint in its entirety. The parties have filed all necessary moving and resisting papers, and the matter is fully submitted. For the reasons explained below, Defendant's motion is granted in part and denied in part.
Wendy Jennings began working as a customer service associate for MEC in May 1998. At some point after she started working for MEC, Plaintiff was diagnosed with autoimmune disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis. Plaintiff notified MEC of her condition upon diagnosis, and the parties agreed to an arrangement allowing Plaintiff to take intermittent medical leave as necessary for her condition under the FMLA.
On December 15, 2001, Plaintiff arrived for her scheduled shift before 7:00 a.m. Shortly thereafter, at around 9:15 a.m., Plaintiff went to her supervisor, Heidi De-Brobander, and told her that she was not feeling well and that she may have to leave early if she did not start feeling better. Jennings continued to work, but her right hand began to swell as a result of her autoimmune disorder, making it difficult for her to operate her computer mouse. At 2:45 p.m., Plaintiff again went to her supervisor and showed Ms. DeBrobander her hand, claiming that she felt "achy all over." Ms. DeBrobander offered to send Jennings home because of the swelling in her hands. Plaintiff claims that she did not ask to leave, but Jennings felt that she "should go home at that time" because she was having difficulty "operating on a continual basis the computer keyboard and the computer mouse." Plaintiff left work after she was sent home because of her swollen hand. On her way home, however, Plaintiff stopped at Toys-R-Us to purchase a gift for a co-worker's baby shower the next day. While in the store, Plaintiff saw one co-worker, Michelle Hecker, and spoke with another co-worker, Jeffrey Clark. Jennings attended the baby shower the next afternoon.
On Monday, December 17, 2001, Plaintiff's next scheduled work day, Jennings reported to MEC that she would not be in that day because she was not feeling well. Later that evening, Plaintiff was again seen shopping by one of her co-workers. The co-worker, Rachelle Ohlweiler, provided a written statement to MEC, claiming to have spotted Plaintiff in the check out line at Super Target with a "cart full of goodies." Ohlweiler further noted that Plaintiff's hair and makeup were "done up," and that Jennings "did not look at all like she was sick." Plaintiff, however, denies that she was at Super Target on Monday evening.
Plaintiff called in sick to work again the next day. On December 20, 2001, Plaintiff was not scheduled to work, but she was called in for a meeting with her supervisors. During the meeting, Plaintiff was asked about her activities on December 15th and 17th. After admitting that she had been gone to Toys-R-Us on December 15th after she was sent home sick from work, Plaintiff was given the choice of resigning or being terminated for misusing leave time. Jennings opted to resign and was immediately escorted out of the building without being allowed to retrieve her personal belongings from her desk. MEC then collected and destroyed any personal papers left in Plaintiff's desk.
Plaintiff admits that MEC held an honest belief that she was using FMLA leave time to shop on both December 15 and 17, 2001. Plaintiff contends, however, that she was constructively terminated because she was taking intermittent FMLA leave time, which Plaintiff's supervisor, Heidi DeBrobander, allegedly informed Jennings was "costing [MEC] a lot of money." Plaintiff further contends that her forced resignation was prompted by her presence on an alleged "watch list" of employees who MEC wanted to "get rid of."
Subsequent to her separation with MEC, Plaintiff found employment selling insurance. At some point thereafter, Plaintiff alleges that she made several business appointments with former MEC co-workers and that MEC supervisors knew of these prospective business relationships. Before the appointments could be completed, however, Plaintiff alleges that the meetings were cancelled by the prospective customers because they had been instructed, by their MEC supervisors, not to meet with Jennings. Plaintiff contends that the alleged interference caused several prospective customers to discontinue their business relationship with her. To show the likelihood that these business appointments would have led to sales, Plaintiff cites a "statistic" from her current employer that "for every ten people you contact, three will give you an appointment, and one will become a customer," but Plaintiff admits that the business maxim is not indicative of how much product a prospective customer might purchase.
Rule 1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure states that all Rules, including Rule 56, "be construed and administered to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action." Summary judgment, however, is not a paper trial. "The district court's role in deciding the motion is not to sift through the evidence, pondering the nuances and inconsistencies, and decide whom to believe." Waldridge v. American Hoechst Corp., 24 F.3d 918, 920 (7th Cir.1994). In a motion for summary judgment this Court has but one task, to decide, based on the evidence of record as identified in the parties' moving and resistance papers, whether there is any material dispute of fact that requires a trial. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); 10A Charles A. Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Mary Kay Kane § 2712, at 574-78. The parties then share the burden of identifying the evidence that will facilitate this assessment. Waldridge, 24 F.3d at 921.
As employment actions are inherently fact based, the Eighth Circuit has repeatedly cautioned that summary judgment should "seldom be granted ... unless all the evidence points one way and is susceptible to no reasonable inferences sustaining the position of the nonmoving party." Hindman v. Transkrit Corp., 145 F.3d 986, 990 (8th Cir.1998) (citations omitted). See also Crawford v. Runyon, 37 F.3d 1338, 1341 (8th Cir.1994) (citing Johnson v. Minnesota Historical Soc'y, 931 F.2d 1239, 1244 (8th Cir.1991)), ("summary judgment should seldom be used in employment-discrimination cases"); Hillebrand v. M-Tron Indus., Inc., 827 F.2d 363, 364 (8th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 1004, 109 S.Ct. 782, 102 L.Ed.2d 774 (1989). This is because "inferences are often the basis of the claim ... and `summary judgment should not be granted unless the evidence could not support any reasonable inference' of discrimination." Breeding v. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., 164 F.3d 1151, 1156 (8th Cir.1999) (quoting Lynn v. Deaconess Med. Ctr.-West Campus, 160 F.3d 484, 486-87 (8th Cir.1998)). Nevertheless, the plain language of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c) mandates the entry of summary judgment, after adequate time for discovery and upon motion, against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); see also Snow v. Ridgeview Med. Ctr., 128 F.3d 1201, 1205 (8th Cir.1997) (citing Bialas v. Greyhound Lines, Inc., 59 F.3d 759, 762 (8th Cir.1995)).
Summary judgment is properly granted when the record, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and giving that party the benefit of all reasonable inferences, shows that there is no genuine issue of material fact, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Walsh v. United States, 31 F.3d 696, 698 (8th Cir.1994); United States v. City of Columbia, 914 F.2d 151, 153 (8th Cir.1990); Woodsmith Publ'g v. Meredith Corp., 904 F.2d 1244, 1247 (8th Cir.1990). The moving party must establish its right to judgment with such clarity that there is no room for controversy. Jewson v. Mayo Clinic, 691 F.2d 405, 408 (8th Cir.1982).
The party seeking summary judgment bears the initial burden of demonstrating the absence of a genuine issue of material fact based on the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions on file, and affidavits, if any. Celotex Corp. 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548; Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505. Once the moving party has carried its burden, the nonmoving party must go beyond the pleadings and, by affidavits or by the depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, designate specific facts showing that there is genuine issue for trial. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c),(e); Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548; Anderson, 477 U.S. at 257, 106 S.Ct. 2505. "[T]he mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat a motion for summary judgment; the requirement is that there be no...
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Chapter § 1-45 29 CFR § 825.216. Limitations on an Employee's Right to Reinstatement
...job elsewhere was not so inconsistent with FMLA leave as to warrant denial of reinstatement). • Jennings v. Mid-Am. Energy, Co., 282 F. Supp. 2d 954 (S.D. Iowa 2003) (employee on FMLA leave was entitled to reinstatement; employer argued that because she was shopping during intermittent leav......
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Chapter § 1-32 29 CFR § 825.203. Scheduling of Intermittent or Reduced Schedule Leave
...of leave, must be decided along a continuum. The following two cases illustrate the end points: • Jennings v. Mid-Am. Energy Corp., 282 F. Supp. 2d 954 (S.D. Iowa 2003) (plaintiff took intermittent leave, but was terminated when co-workers saw her shopping; she brought claims for interferen......