King v. Preferred Technical Group

• Decision Date: 28 January 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-1538,98-1538
• Parties: 75 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,743, 137 Lab.Cas. P 33,800, 5 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 146, 14 NDLR P 164 Regina R. KING, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PREFERRED TECHNICAL GROUP, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 887

166 F.3d 887

75 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,743, 137 Lab.Cas. P 33,800,

5 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 146, 14 NDLR P 164

Regina R. KING, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PREFERRED TECHNICAL GROUP, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 98-1538.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Oct. 30, 1998.

Decided Jan. 28, 1999.

Christopher C. Myers (argued), Myers & Geisleman, Fort Wayne, IN, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Kathleen M. Anderson, Barnes & Thornburg, Fort Wayne, IN, Steven C. Ellingson (argued), Smith, Currie & Hancock, Atlanta, GA, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before CUMMINGS, KANNE, and DIANE P. WOOD, Circuit Judges.

KANNE, Circuit Judge.

Regina King initially claimed that Preferred Technical Group ("PTG") discriminated against her by terminating her employment in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") and in retaliation for exercising her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA" or "Act"). King began her employment with PTG as an assembler/packer in February 1995 at the company's Columbia City, Indiana, facility. During King's employment with PTG, the employees of that facility were members of the United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America Union, Local 2049 ("Union"). The Union's collective bargaining agreement provided that an employee could be terminated automatically upon a failure to return to work at the expiration of a period of approved leave of absence, unless the employee requested and was granted an extension. PTG also had an attendance policy which provided that an employee In June 1996, King began experiencing significant health problems, including unexplained weight loss, nausea, dizziness, and blurred vision. King requested a leave of absence as a result of these problems. Dawn Adams, PTG's human resources manager, initially denied King's request for leave because Adams was not convinced that King's health problems met the statutory requirements of the FMLA. As such, PTG offered King only short-term disability benefits. However, after further consultation with her physician, King was diagnosed as having sarcoidosis. This condition, for which there is no known cure, causes swelling and dysfunction of certain bodily organs as well as skin lesions. Upon being diagnosed with this illness, PTG treated King's leave of absence as one pursuant to the FMLA.

could be terminated upon a failure to return to work on the work day preceding the expiration of any leave period.

After the expiration of her initial leave period, King provided PTG with documentation from her physician on five separate occasions indicating that her leave would need to be extended. PTG granted each of the five extensions. King's condition gradually improved, and her physician cleared her to return to work without restrictions on August 25, 1996. Despite this clearance, King failed to return to work, and PTG terminated her the following day.

The parties dispute the underlying circumstances that resulted in King's termination. King alleges that during the week immediately preceding her termination, she met with Adams to discuss her return at the expiration of her leave period. During this meeting, Adams supposedly informed King that some of the doctor's slips documenting her need for extensions of her medical leave during July 1996 were missing from her personnel file. According to King, Adams also instructed her that she would not be able to return to work unless she could account for the missing slips. Complicating matters for King, neither Adams nor any other member of PTG's Human Resources Department could identify which slips were missing from King's file. In reliance on the instructions received from Adams, King did not return to work on August 25. This absence resulted in King's termination. Adams denied this version of events.

King then filed suit against PTG alleging that her termination violated the ADA and the FMLA. PTG moved for summary judgment. The District Court concluded that King was not a qualified individual with a disability under the ADA and that she failed to present sufficient evidence that the termination of her employment was in retaliation for the exercise of her rights under the FMLA. Accordingly, the District Court granted PTG's motion for summary judgment on King's ADA and FMLA claims. On appeal, King challenges only the District Court's grant of summary judgment on the FMLA claim.

ANALYSIS

A. Summary Judgment Standard

We review a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo, drawing our own conclusions of law and fact from the record before us. See Thiele v. Norfolk & Western Ry. Co., 68 F.3d 179, 181 (7th Cir.1995). Summary judgment is proper when "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); see also Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). We must bear in mind that "[t]his standard is applied with added rigor in employment discrimination cases, where intent and credibility are crucial issues." Sarsha v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 3 F.3d 1035, 1038 (7th Cir.1993). In determining whether a genuine issue of material fact exists, courts must construe all facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party and draw all reasonable and justifiable inferences in favor of that party. See Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 157, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970).

B. The FMLA Claim

1.

The FMLA establishes two categories of broad protections for employees. First, the FMLA contains prescriptive protections that are expressed as substantive statutory rights. The Act provides eligible employees of a covered employer the right to take unpaid leave for a period of up to twelve work weeks in any twelve-month period for a serious health condition as defined by the Act. 29 U.S.C. § 2612(a)(1). After the period of qualified leave expires, the employee is entitled to be reinstated to the former position or an equivalent one with the same benefits and terms of employment that existed prior to the exercise of the leave. 29 U.S.C. § 2614(a). To insure the availability of these guarantees, the FMLA declares it "unlawful for any employer to interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of or the attempt to exercise, any right provided." 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a)(1).

When an employee alleges a deprivation of these substantive guarantees, the employee must demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence only entitlement to the disputed leave. In such cases, the intent of the employer is immaterial. See Diaz v. Fort Wayne Foundry Corp., 131 F.3d 711, 713 (7th Cir.1997) ("We shall continue to resolve suits under the FMLA ... by asking whether the plaintiff has established, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he is entitled to the benefit he claims."); see also Hodgens v. General Dynamics Corp., 144 F.3d 151, 159 (1st Cir.1998) ("Because the issue is the right to an entitlement, the employee is due the benefit if the statutory requirements are satisfied, regardless of the intent of the employer.").

In addition to the substantive guarantees contemplated by the Act, the FMLA also affords employees protection in the event they are discriminated against for exercising their rights under the Act. See 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a)(1) & (2). Specifically, "[a]n employer is prohibited from discriminating against employees ... who have used FMLA leave." 29 C.F.R. § 825.220(c). Furthermore, an employer may not consider the taking of FMLA leave as a negative factor in employment actions. Id. Because the FMLA's implementing regulations bar certain discriminatory conduct, the protections contemplated by these sections have been characterized as proscriptive in nature. See Hodgens, 144 F.3d at 160.

In contrast to what an employee must show to establish a deprivation of a substantive guarantee under the Act, when an employee raises the issue of whether the employer discriminated against an employee by taking adverse action against the employee for having exercised an FMLA right, the question of intent is relevant. The issue becomes whether the employer's actions were motivated by an impermissible retaliatory or discriminatory animus. Id. ("In such a case, the employer's motive is relevant, and the issue is whether the employer took the adverse action because of a prohibited reason or for a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason.").

King contends that PTG abridged her rights under this second set of protections contemplated by the FMLA. Thus, the issue of intent is central to her claim. King asserts that PTG violated the FMLA when it terminated her employment because she took leave to which she was entitled under the FMLA. When a plaintiff alleges a retaliatory discharge under other anti-discrimination laws, courts employ the familiar burden-shifting framework established by the Supreme Court in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 800-06, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), in the absence of direct evidence of an employer's intent. See, e.g., Vanasco v. National-Louis Univ., 137 F.3d 962, 965 (7th Cir.1998) (Age Discrimination in Employment Act); Drake v. Minnesota Mining & Mfg. Co., 134 F.3d 878, 885 (7th Cir.1998) (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964); Sherrod v. American Airlines, Inc., 132 F.3d 1112, 1121 (5th Cir.1998) (ADA); Williams v. Widnall, 79 F.3d 1003, 1005 & n. 3 (10th Cir.1996) (Rehabilitation Act). The McDonnell Douglas framework provides "a sensible, orderly way to evaluate the evidence in light of common experience as it bears on the critical question of discrimination." United States Postal Serv. Bd. of

                Governors v. Aikens, 460 U.S. 711, 715, 103 S.Ct. 1478, 75 L.Ed.2d 403 (1983)

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