McCoy v. Maytag Corp.

• Decision Date: 30 July 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06-2417.,06-2417.
• Citation: 495 F.3d 515
• Parties: Thomas McCOY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MAYTAG CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

495 F.3d 515

Thomas McCOY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MAYTAG CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 06-2417.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued February 8, 2007.

Decided July 30, 2007.

Stephen W. Stone (argued), Howerton, Dorris, Stone & Phelps, Marion, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Michael R. Lied (argued), Howard & Howard, Peoria, IL, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before RIPPLE, MANION, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

MANION, Circuit Judge.

Maytag Corporation terminated Thomas McCoy's employment for failing to comply with the notice provision of its collective bargaining agreement after McCoy did not provide a medical update to justify his absence from work after his leave of absence expired. McCoy then sued Maytag, alleging that Maytag terminated him in retaliation for his filing of a workers' compensation claim and that his termination breached the collective bargaining agreement. The district court granted summary judgment to Maytag on both claims. We affirm.

I.

Thomas McCoy was an assembly line employee in Maytag Corporation's ("Maytag") washer and dryer manufacturing facility in Herrin, Illinois. On April 21, 2003, McCoy injured his left shoulder while moving washing machine bases as part of his job duties. McCoy felt something pop in his left shoulder, and then his arm began to go numb and he experienced a tingling sensation.

That same day, McCoy reported the incident to his supervisor, Gordon Dailey. A physician's assistant, Chris Shadowens, examined McCoy that day and diagnosed him as suffering from rotator cuff tendinitis, but he ruled out a tear. Shadowens opined that McCoy was fit to return to light-duty work the next day, with the restriction that McCoy may not use his left arm to lift objects weighing more than five pounds. Later that day McCoy provided Shadowens' written medical evaluation to nurse Kathy LeMay, who worked in Maytag's on-site medical office, which was located within the manufacturing facility. McCoy also testified that in the past he had provided medical documents, such as doctor's notes, both to LeMay and to Maytag's Senior Workers' Compensation Specialist, Marie Brasher. Brasher, unlike LeMay, worked in Maytag's human resources office.

McCoy returned to work the next day. An unidentified doctor then modified Shadowens' prior work limitations to restrict McCoy from using his left arm and stated in his written medical evaluation that McCoy could return to work the next day. McCoy discussed the new restriction with Dailey. Unfortunately for McCoy, Dailey informed him that Maytag had no jobs that could accommodate his restriction. McCoy left work on April 22, 2003, and never returned to work at Maytag.

McCoy testified that at some point shortly thereafter, he had a conversation with LeMay during which he requested "a form to fill out for work comp." According to McCoy, LeMay gave him a Maytag form entitled "Statement of Claim for Accident or Sickness Benefits" ("A & S form").¹ McCoy then completed the A & S form and dated it April 28, 2003. On the form, McCoy indicated that he had been injured at work and that he intended to present a workers' compensation claim. McCoy's personal physician, Edward Corder, M.D., completed the physician portion of McCoy's A & S form and signed and dated it May 7, 2003. Two days later, McCoy sent to Maytag a facsimile of his completed A & S form.² McCoy stated that no one at Maytag discouraged him from filing an application for A & S benefits, and he acknowledged that he received A & S benefit payments.

McCoy testified that, at the time he completed the A & S form, he mistakenly believed it was a form to apply for workers' compensation benefits. On the same day that McCoy completed his portion of the A & S form, however, he completed, signed, and dated a separate workers' compensation benefits application at his attorney's office. The record indicates that McCoy filed his workers' compensation claim with the Illinois Industrial Commission,³ and that Maytag initially disputed McCoy's claim. In May 2004, McCoy and Maytag ultimately settled his workers' compensation claim for a lump sum payment to McCoy of $8,856.69.

In the months that followed his application for A & S benefits, McCoy stayed in touch with Brasher and provided to her medical evaluations forms completed by his treating physicians indicating the status of his condition and limitations. Some of the documents that McCoy submitted were completed versions of Maytag's own "Health Insurance Claim Group Disability Income" forms ("Maytag forms"), while others were evaluations written on his treating physicians' letterheads. For example, McCoy submitted to Maytag an evaluation from one of his treating orthopedists, William Harryman, M.D., dated August 4, 2003, and written on Dr. Harryman's letterhead, which stated that he was unable to work until after his next evaluation on August 25, 2003.⁴ On August 11, 2003, McCoy and Dr. Corder completed, signed, and dated a Maytag form indicating that McCoy remained totally disabled and unable to work. Dr. Harryman re-evaluated McCoy on August 25, 2003, and McCoy testified that he believed that he provided to Maytag another letter on Dr. Harryman's letterhead indicating that McCoy may not return to work until after undergoing surgery.

On September 25, 2003, five months after his injury, Dr. Harryman performed surgery on McCoy's shoulder. In a letter on Dr. Harryman's letterhead and signed by Dr. Harryman, he stated that McCoy "[m]ay NOT return to work for at least 8 weeks" following his surgery. Both McCoy and Dr. Harryman also completed a Maytag form dated September 29, 2003, indicating that McCoy was presently disabled and unable to work. McCoy testified that Dr. Harryman's office sent to Brasher a facsimile of both of Dr. Harryman's written medical evaluation forms. Maytag acknowledges that it received the forms and that they were kept in its manufacturing facility's medical office. However, neither LeMay nor David Wittenbrink, Maytag's other on-site nurse, received Dr. Harryman's September medical evaluations. Janice McConnaughy, Maytag's Manager of Employee Relations, also testified that she did not know the documents existed and that she never received copies.

It was at that point that the situation became convoluted. Maytag states that it was working under the belief that McCoy had a duty to provide it with status reports regarding his medical condition every thirty days pursuant to Article 13.5 of its collective bargaining agreement ("CBA"). Prior to his surgery, McCoy provided periodic updates within the required thirty-day time frames, and Maytag accordingly paid A & S benefits to McCoy. It is uncontested, however, that following his surgery and submission of Dr. Harryman's medical evaluation forms, McCoy did not provide any further status updates to Maytag for at least thirty days. Based on its interpretation of the CBA, Maytag determined that without any updated status reports, McCoy's A & S benefits and leave of absence expired on October 21, 2003.

LeMay asked McConnaughy to advise McCoy that he was delinquent in submitting his updated status reports.⁵ In a letter dated November 6, 2003, sent via certified mail, McConnaughy informed McCoy that "we have not heard from you or received medical documentation since your leave of absence expired on October 21, 2003." McConnaughy's letter requested that McCoy "submit documentation necessary to support your absence for the past three weeks by 9:00 a.m. on Friday, November, 14, 2003 for us to review to determine your employment status" and warned him that "[i]f we do not hear from you by that date, we will have assumed that you have terminated your employment."

From November 6, 2003, through November 14, 2003, Maytag did not receive a response from McCoy, nor did it receive a certified mail receipt evincing delivery of the letter. On November 14, 2003, McConnaughy sent an e-mail to LeMay and Wittenbrink, asking, "[c]an you please tell me if you received updated medical documentation for Thomas McCoy[,]" as well as "[w]hat address do you have for Thomas?" Wittenbrink responded that he had not received an update from McCoy, and that McCoy had provided "an address different than his original paperwork" on his last continuation form. McConnaughy then sent to McCoy a second letter via certified mail, which was dated November 17, 2003.⁶ That letter stated that because Maytag had not heard from McCoy since October 21, 2003, "effective immediately, [his] employment with Maytag [ ] has been terminated. If you can provide documentation to support that you have been reporting your absences to Maytag [ ], please submit them for our review."

On November 20, 2003, McCoy accepted delivery of both of Maytag's certified letters. That same day McCoy contacted his then-attorney, Mark Prince, who in turn contacted Maytag's attorney, Michael Keefe, regarding getting McCoy reinstated. According to McCoy, "nothing came of" Prince's efforts, and McCoy did not speak with anyone at Maytag regarding his termination.⁷ McCoy did not, however, contact his union representative or submit any additional documents to Maytag for review for approximately two months. Not until January 15, 2004, did McCoy contact his union representative, Steve Jones, regarding his termination. Jones declined to file a grievance on McCoy's behalf, based on his conclusion that a grievance would have been untimely because it was well past the CBA's forty-eight-hour deadline to file such a grievance.

McCoy filed this lawsuit against Maytag approximately four months later. McCoy alleged that Maytag terminated his employment in retaliation for his exercise of his workers' compensation rights and that Maytag breached the CBA.⁸ Following discovery, Maytag moved for summary judgment. The district court granted Maytag's motion. McCoy appeals.

II.

On appeal, McCoy first argues that the district court should not have granted summary...