Mulcahy v. Cook Cnty.
| Decision Date | 25 November 2020 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 17 C 8235 |
| Parties | COLLEEN MULCAHY, Plaintiff, v. COOK COUNTY, COOK COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, COOK COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Plaintiff Colleen Mulcahy brings this suit against defendants Cook County, Cook County Sheriff's Department ("CCSO"), and Cook County Department of Corrections ("CCDOC"), alleging claims under the American's with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. § 12111 et seq. Before the Court is defendant CCSO's motion for summary judgment [76]. For the reasons set forth below, the motion is granted in part and denied in part.
Plaintiff began her employment with the CCSO in 2003 as a corrections officer with the CCDOC. (Pl.'s Resp. Def's LR 56.1(a) Stmt., ECF 80 ¶ 1.) She currently serves as a deputy sheriff at the Cook County Jail (the "Jail.") (Id. ¶ 39.) Defendant CCSO provides various enforcement and correctional services, including oversight of the CCDOC and operations of the Jail. (Id. ¶ 2.)
Plaintiff alleges that she has a severe case of Crohn's disease and that she is a qualified individual with a disability under the ADA. (Id. ¶ 7.) On December 2, 2016, plaintiff filed a Charge of Discrimination ("Charge") with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"), and she received her right to sue letter on August 17, 2017. (Id. ¶¶ 11-12.). Plaintiff then filed this suit in which she alleges claims of (1) failure to accommodate; (2) discrimination; and, (3) retaliation. (Id. ¶ 8.)
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local Union 700 ("Teamsters Local 700") represents plaintiff and other correctional officers/deputy sheriffs for collective bargaining purposes. (Id. ¶ 13.) The CCSO and Teamsters Local 700 entered into a Collective Bargaining Agreement ("CBA") which governs the employment relationship between the CCSO and CCSO employees. (Id. ¶ 14.)
The CBA provides that the CCDOC will maintain at least forty-five (45) positions to assign to employees with medical restrictions or other limitations. (Id. ¶ 37.) None of these forty-five positions require an officer to directly oversee inmates unless another officer is also assigned to work in that position. (Id. ¶ 38.)
The CCSO has a written policy and practice to help employees obtain job accommodations related to a disability or medical condition. (Id. ¶ 31.) When an employee requests an accommodation, the employee must complete and submit a Reasonable Accommodation Request Form. (Id. ¶ 34.) She must also submit a form from her treating physician. (Id.)1 After an employee submits these forms, Rebecca Reierson, who is the Director of Employee Services for the CCSO and oversees accommodation requests for the CCSO, will contact the employee as well as CCDOC's operations personnel to determine whether there is a reasonable accommodation that would help the employee perform the essential functions of the job in which she requests an accommodation. (Id. ¶¶ 4, 35.) An employee's requested accommodation will be provided if it is possible and reasonable. (Id. ¶ 36.) If not, the CCSO will consider other options for the employee. (Id.)
The CCDOC completes a compound-wide bid every even year. (Id. ¶ 21.) During this process, all positions within the Department of Corrections are identified. (Id.) Thousands of correctional officers, by seniority, select their desired shift, detail, and division and/or unit. (Id.) A "division" refers to a physical building that houses a certain type of inmate. (Id.) A "detail" refers to the days off an officer gets each week. (Id.) A "shift" refers to the time an officer works. (Id.) An "assignment" refers to a position or post that an officer works at any given time within a division. (Id. ¶¶ 21-22.)2
The CBA provides that officers are not allowed to participate in the formal compound-wide bid process if they have certain designations, including "duty-injury, disability, maternity leave, leave of absence, or suspension of thirty (30) days or more." (Id. ¶ 23; Def.'s LR 56.1(a) Stmt., Ex. 2, Mulcahy Dep., Ex. 3, ECF 77-2 at 204.)3 Allowing a correctional officer with work restrictions to bid into a division where she could not work certain assignments would cause significant operational issues. (Id. ¶ 25.) This would cause the CCSO to reassign officers after the bid concluded to ensure that officers who were able to perform all job duties filled the positions. (Id.) This process would also be unfair to officers who were not awarded their bid because the position had been taken by an officer who could not perform all required duties. (Id.)
Whether an employee with restrictions can bid into another division depends on whether any positions or assignments within that division can accommodate her restrictions. (Id. ¶ 28.) If no positions are available, then she will remain in her current assignment, which can accommodateher restrictions. (Id.) As part of this process, the employer will also consider whether one of the 45 restricted positions in the desired division is open. (Def.'s Resp. Pl's Stmt. Add'l Facts, ECF 89 ¶ 27.) If one of the restricted positions is not open, then the employee is told that she cannot be accommodated in that division and will not be allowed to bid into it. (Id.)
Once a correctional officer is placed into a restricted job position to accommodate her disabilities, she is not required to leave or participate in the bidding process. (Id. ¶ 13.) The 45 restricted positions cannot be bid into and have never been completely filled. (Id. ¶¶ 13, 14.) The employer has the exclusive right to permanently or temporarily assign any employee within the same division/unit. (Id.)
The CBA provides that officers "will be afforded the opportunity to work extra hours/shifts . . ." contingent upon the needs of the employer. (Def.'s Resp. Pl's Stmt. Add'l Facts, ECF 89 ¶ 31; Def's LR 56.1(a) Stmt., Ex. 2, Mulcahy Dep., Ex. 3, ECF 77-2 at 16.) Pursuant to the CBA, a correctional officer may work overtime so long as she has not done any of the following in the preceding three months: (1) used any sick leave when she had no accrued sick leave on the books; (2) been absent no call; or (3) been absent late call without documented justification reasonably acceptable to the employer, including approved FMLA. (Pl.'s Resp. Def's LR 56.1(a) Stmt., ECF 80 ¶ 15.) When an officer is deemed ineligible to work overtime because of a CBA violation, she is placed on a "90 Day" list and is not allowed to work voluntary overtime for a ninety (90) day period from the date of her last infraction. (Id. ¶ 16.) Supervisors of every division/unit receive a copy of the list.
A correctional officer may also be deemed ineligible to work overtime if she is unable to work the position due to any work restrictions, including medical restrictions. (Id. ¶ 18.) If, however, the position can accommodate her work restrictions, she may work overtime in that position. (Id.) Having medical restrictions or appearing on a modified duty list or the ADA list should not render an officer ineligible for overtime. (Def.'s Resp. Pl's Stmt. Add'l Facts, ECF 89 ¶ 33.) An officer who has medical restrictions should not be limited to working overtime in one of the 45 ADA/restricted positions and should be able to work overtime in any position so long as it fits the officer's restrictions. (Id. ¶ 34.)4 To volunteer for overtime, an officer would add her name, the overtime shift, and her seniority date to an "Overtime Log" in the division in which she seeks to work overtime. (Pl.'s Resp. Def's LR 56.1(a) Stmt., ECF 80 ¶ 20.) An officer who places her name on the overtime log is not guaranteed overtime. (Id.)5
The CBA and CCSO policy allow an officer to use benefit time to cover paid absences from work such as medical/sick, vacation, personal, and compensatory time. (Id. ¶ 29.) An officercan take up to eighty (80) hours of unpaid leave. (Id.)6 Pursuant to the CCDOC's Unauthorized Absence Procedure, an officer who attempts to use benefit time or FMLA but has already exhausted her time for the year will be given an "unauthorized" absence and will be subject to progressive discipline for subsequent violations. (Id. ¶ 30.) When an officer calls-in, the call-in personnel do not have access to employee medical files and do not consider whether an officer has a documented disability. (Id. ¶ 32.)
Plaintiff's employment with the CCSO
Plaintiff began her employment with the CCSO in August of 2003. (Id. ¶ 39.) She worked in multiple divisions until the end of 2015. (Def.'s Resp. Pl's Stmt. Add'l Facts, ECF 89 ¶ 1.)7 From May 6, 2013 through August of 2015, plaintiff served as a tier officer overseeing inmates in various divisions of the Jail. (Pl.'s Resp. Def's LR 56.1(a) Stmt., ECF 80 ¶ 40.) In this role, plaintiff's responsibilities included securing inmates on her tier as well as overseeing and securing the inmates' daily movements and living activities. (Id. ¶ 41.)8 An officer who is assigned to a tier and is prohibited from leaving the tier unattended during her shift must obtain permission from her supervisor before leaving the tier for any reason. (Id. ¶ 43.)9
In 2015, plaintiff was transferred to a Division known as External Operations, Lot A, which is not a tier position. (Def.'s Resp. Pl's Stmt. Add'l Facts, ECF 89 ¶ 1.)10 Lot A is a restricted position. (Id. ¶ 14.) Plaintiff testified that she believed her assignment in Lot A would be perfect because it was a little guard shack with its own bathroom, and her duties would be limited to checking the I.D.s of employees entering the Cook County employee lot. (Pl.'s Resp. Def's LR 56.1(a) Stmt., ECF 80 ¶ 52.) While working in Lot A, plaintiff had her own bathroom and unfettered access to use the toilet at her discretion. (Id. ...
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