McCully v. American Airlines, Inc.

• Decision Date: 03 March 2010
• Docket Number: Case No. 09-CV-0310-CVE-PJC.
• Citation: 695 F. Supp.2d 1225
• Parties: Megan McCULLY, Plaintiff, v. AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Oklahoma

695 F. Supp.2d 1225

Megan McCULLY, Plaintiff, v. AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC., Defendant.

Case No. 09-CV-0310-CVE-PJC.

United States District Court, N.D. Oklahoma.

March 3, 2010.

Joseph R. Farris, Millicent Leanne Hughes, Paula J. Quillin, Feldman Franden Woodard & Farris, Tulsa, OK, for Plaintiff.

Daniel Eduardo Gomez, David Ryan Cordell, Melinda Louise Kirk, Conner & Winters, LLP, Millicent Leanne Hughes, Feldman Franden Woodard & Farris, Tulsa, OK, for Defendant.

OPINION AND ORDER

CLAIRE V. EAGAN, Chief Judge.

Now before the Court is Defendant American Airlines, Inc.'s Motion for Summary Judgment & Brief in Support (Dkt. # 17). Plaintiff Megan McCully filed a Complaint (Dkt. # 2) alleging: disability discrimination in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. (ADA) and the Oklahoma Anti-Discrimination Act, OKLA. STAT. tit. 25, § 1101 et seq. (OADA); retaliation in violation of the ADA and OADA; interference in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act, 29 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq. (FMLA); retaliation in violation of the FMLA; breach of contract; and violation of Oklahoma public policy. American Airlines, Inc. (AA) argues that there are no genuine issues of material fact, and that it is entitled to summary judgment on each of McCully's claims.

I.

The following facts are undisputed. McCully was an AA employee until December 3, 2008. After several years in another department, she began working in AA's payroll group in 1997 or 1998. Dkt. # 17-2, at 5. McCully was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma on October 26, 2005. Dkt. # 31-3, at 5. Another employee, Stacy Bland, informed McCully's co-workers. Id. at 5-6. McCully took full-time, or "block," FMLA leave from December 12, 2005 to March 5, 2006. Dkt. # 31-3, at 29; 31-4, at 1. She then took unpaid sick leave and returned to work on July 3, 2006. Dkt. # 31-3, at 3. McCully then took intermittent FMLA leave from June 1, 2007 to May 31, 2008. Dkt. # 31-4, at 1. During this period she worked four days per week. AA never rejected any of McCully's requests for FMLA leave, nor did her supervisor, Robert Seaman, ever prevent her from taking time off relating to her illness. Dkt. # 31-3, at 29.

On October 13, 2008, McCully discovered that there were entries regarding her unscheduled absences in the C23 screen of the AutoTA, AA's computerized time and attendance system. Dkt. # 31-3, at 20. She looked at her own C23 entries, and those of other employees. Id. The C23 screen is a space for supervisors to record information about employee absences. McCully felt that the entries were misleading or erroneous because, while the entries were true, she thought C23 entries were for a supervisor's record of discussion, and no one had discussed the entries with her. Id. at 24. McCully asked Sue Ruhl, a Federal Tax Analyst in the payroll group and a "lead"¹ for the group, about the entries. Ruhl told McCully to talk to Seaman. Two days later, McCully met with Seaman. Id. at 31-33. Seaman was more concerned with how McCully accessed the C23 than why she was upset about the entries, because he thought that looking at other employees' records was a breach of confidentiality. Id. at 24. McCully refused to answer Seaman's questions regarding how she accessed the C23. Id. at 39.

AA began an investigation into McCully's viewing the C23s. McCully lodged a discrimination complaint with AA's employee hotline, arguing that she had been discriminated against when she returned from her first FMLA leave and through the C23 entries. She also requested that AA look into possible irregularities involving a promotion Sue Ruhl had previously received. Dkt. # 17-3, at 45. AA investigated McCully's complaint separately from the investigation into her viewing the C23s. However, Jeannie Forbes in human resources conducted both investigations. Dkt. # 31-3, at 40.

McCully's employment was terminated on December 3, 2008. Dkt. # 31-18. She appealed her termination to Brian McMenamy, the vice president and controller of AA, and Seaman's direct supervisor. Dkt. # 17-3, at 53. On January 7, 2009, McMenamy sent McCully a letter upholding Seaman's decision to terminate her. Id. at 61. McCully filed her Complaint in this Court on May 22, 2009. Dkt. # 2.

1. McCully's First Leave

Prior to her block FMLA leave, McCully was the 401(k) Payroll Tax Analyst. This was a Level 3 analyst position at AA. Dkt. # 17-2, at 95. Her duties included handling reconciliation and remittance issues. There was also a support staff-level employee, Kathy Knight, who handled day-to-day issues regarding 401(k)s, such as phone calls from employees. Dkt. # 17-2, at 8. McCully was Knight's lead. Knight handled most of the 401(k) function while McCully was on block leave.² Id. at 9.

When McCully returned to work in July 2006, she was assigned the position of Stock Options Tax Analyst. McCully's compensation, benefits, and seniority did not change. In fact, she received a raise when she returned to work. Dkt. # 17-2, at 95-96. Seaman thought it did not make sense to have McCully resume her 401(k) duties because a support staff person had handled them while she was out. Id. at 9. He put McCully in the stock options position because it had the same reconciliation and remittance issues as McCully had handled in the 401(k) position. Id. at 10. Ruhl had handled the stock options desk before McCully's return. Id. at 42.

McCully felt the stock options job was a demotion because she "wasn't necessarily being given analyst-type duties," and she was no longer a lead. Id. at 100. Initially, the stock options duties took a fair amount of time. However, within a few weeks, they began to take only about five minutes per day because few employees were exercising stock options. Dkt. # 31-3, at 9. When the stock option responsibilities lessened, McCully was designated as the backup for Canadian payroll, worked on pilot salary continuance issues, and a census report. Id. at 46. She was also assigned to write desk manuals. Id. at 8.

McCully states that she attempted to talk to Seaman about her dissatisfaction with the new position, but he was reluctant to discuss it. Id. At the time, she did not complain to human resources or to Seaman's superiors. Id. at 19. Another analyst-level employee was brought in to the payroll group to handle stock options after McCully was terminated. Dkt. # 17-2, at 46.

2. Reaction to McCully's Illness

In her deposition, McCully testified that Knight was unsympathetic when McCully was first diagnosed with cancer. She stated that, on October 15, 2005, Knight said "you had better not plan on using any more sick time or being gone because that's not going to work; I have vacation scheduled and I plan on using it, and she does not want to cover my desk." Dkt. # 31-3, at 5. McCully testified that Knight acted "very put out, almost as if she was lying." Id. at 6. After McCully returned, she felt that Knight would not communicate with her at all, and did not want to work with her again. Dkt. # 31-3, at 4. Knight provided a written statement to Forbes explaining that Knight had become very frustrated with McCully's attendance because she had to manage McCully's desk when she was out. Dkt. # 31-27. Knight stated that she "planned on finding another job when McCully returned from block leave because she didn't want to work with her again." Id.

McCully also testified that Ruhl made fun of McCully's inability to remember things quickly after she returned from block leave. She said that Ruhl "would jab you about it" if you couldn't remember something quickly. Dkt. # 31-3, at 17. McCully remembers the feeling of being talked down to. Dkt. # 31-3, at 17. She also testified that she thought Ruhl was trying to be funny. Id. at 19.

McCully stated that, during her 2007 performance review for the year 2006, she asked Seaman if there were going to be raises that year. He responded, "well, if we do, don't you think it should go to the people that have actually been here, contributed and made a contribution to the company." Dkt. # 31-3, at 53.

At some point, McCully asked Seaman if he had any knowledge of Knight's reaction to her, and he said no. Id. at 11. Seaman stated that he did not notice any change in attitude toward McCully after she returned from her block FMLA. Dkt. # 31-7, at 18. McCully had the general feeling that her co-workers, particularly Knight, Ruhl, and Seaman, thought she was going to have a relapse or die.

3. Recording of Unscheduled Absences

Employees in Seaman's group worked on a "flex time" policy. Normal working hours at AA were from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. However, employees in Seaman's group were allowed to work different hours, based on their jobs. Dkt. # 31-7, at 7. The "fundamental principle" of flex time was that employees needed to be there to make sure their jobs were done. Dkt. # 31-7, at 8.

In July 2008, Seaman had a conversation with Ruhl about attendance issues. Ruhl told Seaman that she was concerned about McCully's and another employee's attendance.³ Dkt. # 31-7, at 14. Seaman stated that he began to be concerned about McCully's attendance because "there were times when she didn't come to work, and others had to compensate." Dkt. # 31-7, at 8. He was concerned about Kelly's attendance because she was taking unscheduled absences. Id. at 9. On July 28, 2008, Seaman began keeping a list of unscheduled absences. Id. He stated that he did not speak to McCully about her attendance because it wasn't a problem at that point in time—he was keeping a list because he was concerned that it was going to become a problem in the future. Id. Ruhl stated that unscheduled vacations create a burden on the payroll tax group because the group is one person per function and unscheduled absences mean the group may not be staffed to cover all functions. Dkt. # 31-10, at 10.

At Seaman's direction, Ruhl kept track of flex time usage and unscheduled time off for the eight employees in...