Meinen v. Godfrey Brake Serv. & Supply, Inc.
| Decision Date | 26 March 2012 |
| Docket Number | CIV. 10-5077-JLV |
| Parties | MICHAEL J. MEINEN and JESSIE MEINEN, Plaintiff, v. GODFREY BRAKE SERVICE & SUPPLY, INC., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of South Dakota |
Plaintiffs Michael Meinen and Jessie Meinen, husband and wife, filed this lawsuit, invoking this court's federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 451, 1331, 1337, 1343(a)(4), 1345 and 42 U.S.C. § 12117. Plaintiffs bring this action against Godfrey Brake Service & Supply, Inc. ("Godfrey Brake" or "Godfrey"), alleging discrimination and wrongful termination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), intentional infliction of emotional distress, and conversion. See Docket No. 1.
Pending before the court is a motion for partial summary judgment filed by plaintiffs. See Docket No. 28. Also pending before the court is a motion for summary judgment filed by the defendant. See Docket No. 36. The district court, the Honorable Jeffrey L. Viken, referred these motions to this magistratejudge for a recommended disposition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B). See Docket No. 56.
Godfrey Brake Service & Supply, Inc. is a South Dakota corporation located in Rapid City, South Dakota. See Docket No. 37 at ¶ 3. Dan Godfrey and Bob Godfrey, brothers, each own 50% of Godfrey Brake. See Docket No. 30-1 (B. Godfrey Depo. at 6). Godfrey is engaged in the business of selling parts and servicing trucks and equipment. See Docket No. 37 at ¶ 3.
Godfrey's maintains a written policy prohibiting discrimination. See Docket No. 30-1. However, neither Bob Godfrey nor Dan Godfrey were aware of the written policy nor do they conduct formal training for employees on disability discrimination. See Docket Nos. 30-1 (B. Godfrey Depo. at 9, 11-12); 30-2 (D. Godfrey Depo. at 8). However, Godfrey has continuously posted the required flyers and placards on the premises and Dan Godfrey testified that discrimination is not allowed at Godfrey Brake. See Docket Nos. 40 at ¶ 13; 30-2 (D. Godfrey Depo. at 8). Additionally, employees are provided with and asked to review a copy of the employee handbook when they are hired, which includes Godfrey's written policy prohibiting discrimination. See Docket No. 30-2 (D. Godfrey Depo. at 11-12).
Beginning in 2001, Michael Meinen became employed with Godfrey Brake and held a full-time position in the parts department. See Docket No.30-4 (Meinen Depo. at 7). Although an occasion employee assigned to other departments within Godfrey would assist at the parts counter, prior to December of 2007, Godfrey did not employ any part-time employees within parts department. See Docket Nos. 49 at ¶ 4, 50 at ¶ 6, and 40 at ¶ 3.
On or about December 29, 2007, Mr. Meinen became ill. See Docket No. 30-4 (Meinen Depo. at 11-12). Mr. Meinen indicated that when he got to work on December 29, 2007, he got dizzy but that he just tried to ignore it. Id. After finishing his shift at Godfrey, Mr. Meinen went home and his condition continued to worsen. Id. As a result, Mr. Meinen ended up in the hospital. Id. Eventually it was determined that Mr. Meinen was suffering from a form of multiple sclerosis ("MS"). See Docket No. 30-2 (D. Godfrey Depo. at 26).
Since getting sick, Mr. Meinen has struggled with his vision and has been taking antidepressants. See Docket No. 30-4 (M. Meinen Depo. at 15-18). Additionally, Mr. Meinen initially participated in physical and vocational rehabilitation. However, he stopped physical rehabilitation in 2008; he participated in vocational rehabilitation for only five or six months. Id. (M. Meinen Depo. at 16-19).
While Mr. Meinen was in the hospital, Dan Godfrey visited Mr. Meinen and told him to concentrate on getting better and not to worry about work at Godfrey Brake. See Docket Nos. 30-2 (D. Godfrey Depo. at 26); 30-4 (M. Meinen Depo. at 13-14). Dan Godfrey testified that he had hoped and believedthat Mr. Meinen would eventually recover and would be able to return to Godfrey as a full-time employee. See Docket Nos. 40 at ¶ 6; 30-2 (D. Godfrey Depo. at 33). Dan Godfrey also testified that after Mr. Meinen became ill, two part-time positions were created within Godfrey Brake in order to cover the parts counter and retain a position for Mr. Meinen when he was able to return to work. See Docket Nos. 40 at ¶ 4; 30-2 (D. Godfrey Depo. at 33). Although Dan Godfrey asserts that these part-time positions were never intended to be permanent, Mr. Meinen disputes this fact and indicates that he was never told the position was intended to be temporary. See Docket No. 43 at ¶ 1.
In October of 2008, ten months after Mr. Meinen fell ill, he was able to return to work at Godfrey and filled a part-time position at the parts counter. See Docket No. 30-2 (D. Godfrey Depo. at 18). When he returned to work, Mr. Meinen presented Dan Godfrey with a doctor's opinion that he could work up to two hours per day, three days a week. See Docket No. 40-1. A month later, Mr. Meinen provided Dan Godfrey a slip from his doctor indicated that Mr. Meinen should be allowed to sit while at work.1 See Docket No. 30-4(M. Meinen Depo. at 27-29). These were the only doctor's opinions that Mr. Meinen provided to Godfrey. Id. (M. Meinen Depo. at 25).
Some time after resuming work at Godfrey, Mr. Meinen met with Dan Godfrey and told him that he could not work more than four hours per day or twenty hours per week.2 Id. (M. Meinen Depo. at 32). Mr. Meinen testified that he became fatigued after working more than four hours. Id. Mr. Meinen also testified that upon returning to work he missed more days than he had prior to getting sick and that Godfrey worked with him on allowing him to either not come in to work or to leave early. Id. (M. Meinen Depo. at 43-44).
While Mr. Meinen was employed in his part-time position and because of his visual impairment, Godfrey initially attempted to install special software on their existing computers to assist Mr. Meinen in the performance of his job. Id. (M. Meinen Depo. at 38-39). However, the software Godfrey attempted to install would not load properly. Id. As a result, Mr. Meinen obtained a special computer from the State of South Dakota that was designed to assist with visual impairment by enlarging the information on the screen. Id. (M. Meinen Depo. at 37-38). Godfrey purchased a required cable and paid a computer technician to connect Mr. Meinen's computer into their system. See Docket No. 30-2 (D. Godfrey Depo. at 35).
Upon returning to work at Godfrey, Mr. Meinen was supervised by Kevin Vaughn. See Docket No. 30-3 (Vaughn Depo. at 13-14). Mr. Vaughn testified that upon Mr. Meinen's return, Mr. Meinen required a lot of help from other Godfrey employees in seeing parts to determine what they were, in finding parts in parts catalogs, and in locating parts in the building. Id. (Vaughn Depo. at 14). Mr. Vaughn did not believe that Mr. Meinen was able to perform his job 100 percent and discussed this informally with Dan Godfrey. Id. Mr. Vaughn testified that business-wise, it bothered him that other employees had to help Mr. Meinen because it was taking time away from other things that needed to be done. Id. (Vaughn Depo. at 16). Mr. Vaughn never did a formal performance evaluation on Mr. Meinen or any other employee; Mr. Vaughn testified that he himself never received a formal performance evaluation while employed at Godfrey. Id. (Vaughn Depo. at 14-15).
Mr. Vaughn indicated that Mr. Meinen was pleasant to work with and that he had good interactions with other employees and customers. Id. (Vaughn Depo. at 19-20). Mr. Vaughn also noted that he never had any disciplinary concerns with Mr. Meinen, but testified that Mr. Meinen was not able to perform his job as required. Id.
Mr. Meinen continued to work part-time for Godfrey until February 22, 2010, when he was discharged from Godfrey. See Docket No. 29 at ¶ 41. Dan Godfrey testified that a business decision was made to staff the partsdepartment with a full-time employee, as Godfrey had done prior to Mr. Meinen falling ill, rather than with two part-time employees.3 See Docket No. 30-2 (D. Godfrey Depo. at 54-55). As a result, Godfrey discharged the two part-time employees who were staffing the parts counter, Mr. Meinen and Robert Nelson, and hired one full-time employee to replace them. Id.
Dan Godfrey asked Mr. Vaughn whether Mr. Vaughn believed the part-time positions at the parts counter should be eliminated in favor of hiring a full-time employee. See Docket No. 30-3 (Vaugn Depo. at 20-21). Mr. Vaughn agreed that a full-time employee at the parts counter would be preferable because Mr. Meinen required a lot of help which took away from other employees' time. Id.
Dan Godfrey testified that the decision to discharge the part-time employees and hire a full-time employee was made in part for continuity purposes. See Docket No. 30-2 (D. Godfrey Depo. at 54-55). Dan Godfrey noted that because there was an overlap in the schedules of the part-time employees, on occasion issues would arise where each employee believed the other was handling a particular issue, with the end result being that no one handled it. Id. Dan testified that it was a business decision to hire a full-time employee so that there was only one person to go to when issues arose. Id. (D.Godfrey Depo. at 56-57). Dan Godfrey did not offer the full-time position to either Mr. Meinen or Mr. Nelson, nor did he discuss splitting the full day between the Mr. Meinen's and Mr. Nelson's schedules. Id. (D. Godfrey Depo. at 56-58). Dan Godfrey did testify however, that he had previously spoken with Mr. Meinen regarding the number of hours Meinen was available to work and was told by Mr. Meinen that he could not work more than 20 hours per week. Id. (D. Godfrey Depo. at 72).4
Dan Godfrey also noted in his explanation to the South Dakota Department of Labor, Unemployment Compensation Division, that it would cost him less to have...
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