Narayanan v. Midwestern State Univ.
| Decision Date | 24 October 2022 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action 7:21-cv-00046-O |
| Parties | N. SUGUMARAN NARAYANAN, Plaintiff, v. MIDWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Texas |
Before the Court are Defendant Midwestern State University's Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF Nos. 19-21), filed June 20 2022; Plaintiff's Response (ECF Nos. 24-25), filed July 15, 2022; and Defendant's Reply (ECF No. 27), filed July 29, 2022. For the reasons stated below, the Court GRANTS Defendant's Motion in its entirety.
Plaintiff Dr. N. Sugumaran Narayanan became employed as an Assistant Professor by Defendant Midwestern State University on September 1, 2007.[1] He was granted tenure in 2013 and was promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor in September 2015.[2] Plaintiff held the title of Associate Professor until the time of his termination in May 2020.[3]
In 2016, Plaintiff filed suit against Defendant for denial of a promotion based on retaliation as well as race, color, and national origin.[4] This lawsuit was settled.[5] Based on perceived retaliation for filing the 2016 lawsuit, in January of 2019, Plaintiff filed another charge against Defendant with the EEOC based on retaliation and continued discrimination based on race, color, and national origin.[6]
Starting in 2017-2018, Plaintiff began to experience stress-related health issues - anxiety and hypertension.[7] Plaintiff requested and was granted leave to tend to these health issues.[8] Once he recovered, Plaintiff requested to teach summer classes for the summer 2018 session but was denied the opportunity.[9]
On September 6, 2018, Plaintiff requested a two-year leave of absence, to begin in Spring 2019.[10] He provided little explanation in his request, writing: “I am seeking to apply for a two-year leave of absence (without compensation) for good cause, beginning the Spring semester of 2019.”[11] Defendant denied Plaintiff's request due to the hardship it would impose on the Political Science Department, which was short-staffed at the time.[12] Plaintiff took extended leave anyway. On November 28, 2018, Plaintiff requested expedited advanced funding for travel to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, to present a paper at a conference in December 2018.[13] It was on this trip that Plaintiff was diagnosed with cervical spondylotic myelopathy.[14] According to Plaintiff's Amended Complaint, cervical spondylotic myelopathy is a neck condition that arises when the spinal cord becomes compressed due to wear-and-tear changes that occur in the spine as one ages.[15] In January 2019, Plaintiff told Defendant his Malaysian doctor told him that flying long distance could be extremely hazardous to his health.[16]
On January 8, 2019, just before the start of the Spring semester, Plaintiff submitted a two-page “Documentation of Disability” form from his Malaysian doctor saying that he “cannot fly,” and giving the time frame of “at least six months” before he could resume his job functions.[17] At that time, Defendant “had no choice but to cancel the classes [Plaintiff was] scheduled to teach for the Spring 2019 semester.”[18] On January 16, 2019, Defendant granted Plaintiff 341 additional hours of paid leave from Defendant's Sick Leave Pool, as Plaintiff had already exhausted all of his allotted paid sick leave at that point.[19] In total, Defendant granted Plaintiff the maximum lifetime sick leave pool benefit of 720 hours of paid leave.[20] Defendant allowed Plaintiff to continue on unpaid leave after the 341 additional hours were exhausted beginning on March 28, 2019.[21]
A. Plaintiff Requests Additional Leave of Absence
On January 16, 2019, Defendant informed Plaintiff that he would receive teaching assignments for Fall 2019.[22] On May 13, 2019, Defendant notified Plaintiff of his teaching assignments for Fall 2019, and wrote: “If for any reason you will not be returning to teach, please notify [Defendant] as soon as possible.”[23] On August 12, 2019, one week before the start of the fall semester, Plaintiff emailed Debra Higginbotham, Defendant's Director of Disability Support Services, and attached to that email a completed Request for Accommodation and Documentation Review form.[24] In this form, Plaintiff listed his disability and stated he is “unable to fly, especially long distances, therefore unable to return to work.”[25] On the form, Plaintiff further stated “standing or sitting long time not possible,” and requested “at least 6 months leave, possibly 12 months.”[26]
Ms. Higginbotham responded to Plaintiff on August 20, 2019, attaching to her email an Employee Individual Accommodation Plan.[27] In this Plan, Ms. Higginbotham acknowledged Plaintiff's disability and offered the following recommendations for accommodation: [28] Plaintiff responded on August 21, 2019, requesting that the Individual Accommodation Plan reflect his inability to travel for at least another six months.[29] In her response on August 28, 2019, Ms. Higginbotham changed the Individual Accommodation Plan to recommend “[l]eave time unless such accommodation would have undue hardship on the functioning of the department or university.”[30] Plaintiff never signed or returned this proposed Accommodation Plan.[31] On August 29, 2019, Plaintiff responded to Ms. Higginbotham's email asking her to remove the phrase “unless such accommodation would have undue hardship on the functioning of the department or university” from the Plan.[32]
That same day, August 29, 2019, Defendant's Director of Human Resources, Dawn Fisher, emailed Plaintiff that Defendant could offer the following accommodations: “Chair available in classroom when teaching,” “Ergonomic furniture in office,” and “Limits on extended University related travel (ex. conferences, recruitment, presentations).”[33] Ms. Fisher further stated, “To impose a continued leave of absence would impose an undue hardship for the University and cannot be accommodated.”[34] Attached to Ms. Fisher's email were emails from Dr. James Johnston, Defendant's Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Dr. Sam Watson, the Dean of the Political Science Department as well as a Professor of Political Science.[35] In his email, Dr. Watson wrote that a “continued leave of absence up to two additional semesters would impose an undue hardship for the Department of Political Science.”[36] Dr. Watson stated that Plaintiff's “physical presence is required to instruct his specialty areas, advise majors and minors; and, participate in committee work that is essential to the operation of the Department, College, and University.”[37] Dr. Johnston, in his email, agreed with Dr. Watson that Defendant could not accommodate Plaintiff's request for extended leave.[38] Plaintiff did not request any further disability accommodation other than the additional leave of absence.[39]
The faculty meetings to mark the start to the Fall 2019 semester were held on August 19, 2019.[40] Plaintiff was not in attendance and did not tell anyone he was not going to be in attendance until after the fact on August 21, 2019.[41] Plaintiff did not appear to teach his first classes of the semester on August 26, 2019.[42] B. Plaintiff's failure to return an employment contract or outside employment disclosures
Defendant requires its faculty to sign annual faculty contracts for each academic year.[43]The contract for the 2019-2020 academic year was sent to Plaintiff on or about July 21, 2019.[44] The contract needed to be signed and returned by the start of the Fall semester on August 19, 2019.[45] Plaintiff was sent a reminder to return his faculty contract on August 8, 2019, and again on August 20, 2019.[46] Plaintiff responded to the August 20 reminder on August 21, saying that he was waiting to sign the contract until his disability accommodation plans were finalized.[47]Defendant states “the contractual relationship is a separate status that is independent from any workplace disability accommodation,” and therefore, Plaintiff was still expected to return his contract on time.[48] Plaintiff never returned his faculty contract.
Defendant also has a policy requiring faculty to fill out and return an outside employment or activity disclosure form each year.[49] The reporting requirements are mandated by Texas law.[50]After traveling to Malaysia, Plaintiff refused to respond to multiple requests for his completed Outside Employment or Activity disclosure form.[51] Ms. Fisher emailed Plaintiff reminders to return the completed form for Fiscal Year 2019 and then Fiscal Year 2020 on September 21, 2018; February 25, 2019; March 7, 2019; April 15, 2019; August 29, 2019; September 12, 2019; October 15, 2019; October 23, 2019; and January 9, 2020.[52] Plaintiff did not return any disclosure forms until January 2020.[53]
C. Defendant cancelled Plaintiff's contract and revoked Plaintiff's tenure and termination of Plaintiff
As noted, Plaintiff did not return his faculty contract by the start of the academic year on August 19, 2019 and did not report to teach his assigned courses.[54] As such, on August 27, 2019, Defendant's President, Suzanne Shipley wrote to Plaintiff, informing him that she took Plaintiff's failures to return the contract and report to teach his classes as Plaintiff declining Defendant's offer of employment.[55] President Shipley therefore cancelled Plaintiff's employment contract.[56] There are no similarly situated faculty comparators who remained employed with Defendant after failing to submit a contract and report to work at the start of the academic year (why is this sentence...
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