Magness v. Harford Cnty.
| Decision Date | 27 March 2018 |
| Docket Number | Civil No. ELH-16-2970 |
| Parties | JONATHAN MAGNESS, Plaintiff, v. HARFORD COUNTY, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maryland |
In this employment discrimination case, plaintiff Jonathan Magness has sued his former employer, Harford County (the "County"), under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA"), codified, as amended, at 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et seq., and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, codified, as amended, at 29 U.S.C. §§ 791 et seq. See ECF 14-2 ("Amended Complaint"). Magness alleges discrimination based on disability, hostile work environment, and retaliation. He avers, inter alia, that he is "learning disabled," has "a low IQ," and suffers from limited "neurological" and "cognitive functioning," which impair his ability to speak and to comprehend. Id. at 2l.
The County has moved to dismiss the Amended Complaint. ECF 17 ("Motion"). Plaintiff opposes the Motion (ECF 18, "Opposition"), and the County replied. ECF 19 ("Reply"). Subsequently, plaintiff filed a "Motion for Leave to File Surreply." ECF 20 ("Surreply Motion"). Defendant has not responded to the Surreply Motion (see Docket), and the time to do so has expired. See Local Rule 105.2.a ().
No hearing is necessary to resolve the motions. See Local Rule 105.6. For the reasons stated below, I shall deny defendant's Motion in part and grant it in part. Additionally, I shall deny plaintiff's Surreply Motion, as moot.
Magness, who was 40 years of age when he filed the Amended Complaint, asserts that he has a "low IQ" and is "learning disabled." ECF 14-2 at 2. He "has been diagnosed with cognitive impairments" that include "severe word retrieval difficulties," "expressive language delay," impaired language comprehension, and "severe articulation disorder." Id. These conditions impair plaintiff's "speech production" abilities. Magness also suffers from an "auditory processing disorder," has impaired "reading comprehension," and is unable to express himself in writing. Id. Moreover, Magness is "substantially limited" in the "functions of the brain," including "neurological" and "cognitive functioning." Id.
The County employs more than 500 people. Id. at 3. Plaintiff began working for the County in 1998. Id. Since that time, he has held several positions. See id. at 6-25. For each position, plaintiff was paid at an hourly rate and performed manual labor, such as "digging holes, repairing water and sewer lines," and working with "concrete and asphalt." Id. at 3, 7. During winter, Magness "plowed with a truck and manually shoveled" snow. Id. at 7. He also performed road crew work. Id. at 9.
Magness avers that "disability discrimination and harassment" against him "commenced in approximately 2007," when several of his supervisors began regularly to call him a "'retard'", "'dumb farmer'", "'idiot'", "'f------g idiot'", "'stupid'", "'dumb'", and "'asshole.'" ECF 14-2 at 6-7. The supervisors who made such comments included Crew Chief David Gosnell, Crew Chief George Dawson, Crew Leader Ginelle Johnson, Ed Kimmel, and "George K." ECF 14-2 at 6.2 Nondisabled employees were not called such names. Id.
According to plaintiff, in view of "the discriminatory and harassing conduct of supervisors the County's employees "were empowered to taunt, tease and harass Mr. Magness due to his disabilities." Id. Two of Magness's coworkers "would smoke cigarettes on the job (although it was not allowed) and blow smoke in Mr. Magness's face." Id. at 6. Plaintiff does not identify the coworkers who engaged in such conduct.
In 2007, Magness was a Utility Worker in the Harford County Water and Sewer Department. Id. at 7-8. However, he "regularly asked to transfer . . . due to the disability discrimination and harassment" he experienced. Id. at 8. Plaintiff submitted applications to transfer positions and made "written and oral requests to be transferred." Id. However, an unidentified supervisor "refused to release Mr. Magness for a transfer." Id.
In June 2009, Matthew Rutherford filed suit in this Court under the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA. See CCB-9-1562, ECF 1. Magness was not a party to that litigation. Id. However, during mediation in that case, held on May 18, 2010, "Magness was identified as a person who was and/or had been being [sic] discriminated against by the Defendant on account of a 'mental' disability." ECF 14-2 at 4. He avers that "the discrimination against [him] intensified" after he was mentioned in the May 2010 mediation. ECF 14-2 at 4. Additionally, Magness states that he was fired by the County in November 2010, "about six months after the Rutherford mediation." ECF 14-2 at 4, 21.
In the interim, in August 2009, unnamed supervisors "misstated and made intentional errors about Mr. Magness's attendance" in an attempt to fire him. Id. at 8. However, the County "rescinded its proposed termination" of plaintiff after he retained an attorney. Id.
In October 2009, Magness was transferred to a position with the Harford County Department of Highways. Id. at 9. Plaintiff does not state whether he applied for this transfer. As a result of the transfer, plaintiff was "demoted to a lower job classification — that of a laborer." Id. However, plaintiff's pay was not reduced. Id. Linda Rickey was plaintiff's new supervisor in the Department of Highways. Id. From the Amended Complaint, it appears that the transfer occurred after plaintiff raised claims of discrimination and harassment against County employees who worked in the Water and Sewer Department. Id.
On an unspecified date, Rickey and HR Director Scott Gibson placed plaintiff on a "supervised sick leave plan." Id. at 9. Plaintiff was told that "the sick leave plan" was responsive to his "attendance issues." Id. at 10. However, plaintiff contends that he did not have attendance issues. Id. Nor had plaintiff abused the County's sick leave policies. Id. Under the "supervised sick leave plan Rickey was "not to waive any lateness for Mr. Magness" and was to "promptly inform [Gibson] if Mr. Magness was one-minute late or missed a day from work . . . ." Id. 9-10. On unspecified dates, but after the "supervised sick leave plan" was implemented, plaintiff was twice late to work. Id. at 10. The first time he was late by approximately fifteen minutes, and the second time by approximately three minutes. Id. However, each time plaintiff had called the County to inform his supervisor that he would be a few minutes late. Id. Plaintiff received a written warning for each late arrival and was "placed on unpaid leave for which he has not received back pay. Id. at 11. Plaintiff provides no dates as to these incidents, however.
In January 2010, plaintiff transferred to the Division of Litter Control, where his duties related to the operations of a landfill. Id. at 11. Although plaintiff does not say so explicitly, it appears that he did not request this transfer. Id. He states that, by transferring him to the Division of Litter Control, the County was "trying to 'park' its mentally disabled workers in the Landfill . . . ." Id.
Dale Johnson was plaintiff's supervisor in the Division of Litter Control and Ginelle Johnson was his Crew Leader. Id. at 11.3 Plaintiff had two coworkers, Laura Costa and Gregg Henn, who "at various times, and with the knowledge and/or approval" of Ginelle, called plaintiff a "'dumb redneck'", "'stupid'", and "'dumb.'" Id. at 12. They also asked plaintiff, "'when are you going to talk right[?]'" Id. Additionally, Costa "made fun" of plaintiff's "speech impediment" by asking him to "repeat what he had just said."
On an unspecified date, plaintiff informed, inter alia, Rex McDowell, the Union Shop Steward, about "the discrimination and harassment" he experienced in the Division of Litter Control. Id. at 13. On May 24, 2010, McDowell met with Gibson and County Attorney Deborah Duvall. Id. At that meeting, McDowell stated that he was "aware" that Magness "was being harassed, bullied and picked on because of his disability." Id.
On May 26, 2010, Magness's parents received an anonymous handwritten letter, stating, ECF 14-2 at 14 (capitals in original): The letter also indicated that it had been "Sent to [the] County Executive." Id. Plaintiff provided the County's HR director with the original letter. Id. According to plaintiff, the County did not investigate the incident. Id.
Plaintiff avers that, between June and November 2010, Henn and Costa "'doubled-down' on epithets and name calling directed against and about" Magness. Id. at 15. Plaintiff reported Henn and Costa to McDowell, who met with Gerald Scanlon, the Chief of Solid Waste for Harford County, to discuss the "disability-related discrimination and harassment." Id.
Ginelle gave Magness a verbal warning on July 2, 2010, as well as a written warning, after he left the job site and drove his personal truck to a nearby Wendy's restaurant to purchase lunch. Id. at 15-16. According to plaintiff, Costa laughed at him when he was being disciplined by Ginelle. Id. at 16. After counsel for plaintiff contacted Gibson, the verbal and written warnings were rescinded. Id. at 16-17. However, "harassment" against Magness "escalated" thereafter. Id. at 17.
On September 3, 2010, plaintiff went to the dump to unload trash. Id. at 18. There, he spoke with a County coworker, who was also Henn's girlfriend, and he referred to Henn as "'queer boy'" and "'bitch.'" Id. Plaintiff had previously heard this coworker use such "vulgar language." Id. However, the coworker immediately reported Magness's statements by calling "an employee hotline." Id. Within...
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