Reagan-Diaz v. Sessions, Civil Action No. 14–01805 (BAH)

• Decision Date: 30 March 2017
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 14–01805 (BAH)
• Citation: 246 F.Supp.3d 325
• Parties: Sharon–Lee REAGAN–DIAZ, Plaintiff, v. Jeff SESSIONS, United States Attorney General, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

246 F.Supp.3d 325

Sharon–Lee REAGAN–DIAZ, Plaintiff,

v.Jeff SESSIONS, United States Attorney General,¹ Defendant.

Civil Action No. 14–01805 (BAH)

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Signed March 30, 2017

Cedar P. Carlton, Geoffrey H. Simpson, Webster & Fredrickson, PLLC, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

Joshua M. Kolsky, U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, Washington, DC, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BERYL A. HOWELL, Chief Judge

The plaintiff, Sharon–Lee Reagan–Diaz, an employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), brings this suit against the Attorney General, in his official capacity, alleging that the FBI denied her a reasonable accommodation, and discriminated and retaliated against her, based on her disability, in violation of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. §§ 701 et seq. First Am. Compl. ("FAC"), ¶ 4, ECF No. 12. After the plaintiff sustained a debilitating workplace injury in September 2011, the FBI denied her request for what she alleges was a reasonable accommodation of working for no more than two hours per day. She then received worker's compensation during her recuperation, until her return to work, on a part-time basis, in May 2013. She currently remains gainfully employed on a full-time basis by the FBI. The plaintiff contends that, in reprisal for her equal employment opportunity ("EEO") activity, she was improperly denied two awards in 2012 and 2013, during which periods she was either recuperating or working part-time. Pending before the Court is the defendant's Motion to Dismiss and for Summary Judgment, ("Def.'s Mot."), ECF No. 25, pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 56.² For the reasons set forth below, the defendant's motion is granted.

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Plaintiff's 2011 Injury and Requests to Return to Work

In 2011, the plaintiff was employed as a GS–14 Management and Program Analyst in the Performance Management Unit ("PMU") of the Resource Planning Office ("RPO") of the FBI. FAC ¶¶ 17, 80. The plaintiff was assigned full-time to the FBI's "Sentinel" program, a team project to develop the web-based "Sentinel" application, which is "the FBI's current electronic case management system." Id. ¶¶ 18–19. The job was demanding, in a "fast paced environment," that required the plaintiff frequently to work nine or ten hour days to finish her work, and to attend numerous, often "impromptu," meetings. Def.'s Mot., Ex. 4, Deposition of Sharon–Lee Reagan–Diaz ("Pl.'s Dep.") at 25:2–4, 29:22–30, 31:9–13, 36:14–18, 45:9–10, 46:23–47:2, 48:7–20, 59:11–17, ECF No. 25–8. Additionally, much of the Sentinel team's work was conducted on a classified network, and thus could not be performed outside FBI facilities. Def.'s Mot. Decl. of Gordon D. Bitko, Chief Information Officer, FBI ¶ 9, ECF No. 25–3.

On September 7, 2011, while at work, the plaintiff suffered a serious injury, the details of which are not disclosed in the record, and was placed on medical leave. FAC ¶ 2. After her injury, the plaintiff was diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, or Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, a condition causing chronic, disabling pain in her extremities that affected the functioning of her circulatory and musculoskeletal systems and initially prevented her from engaging in routine activities such as walking or lifting objects. Id. ¶ 27. From the date of her injury to May 9, 2013, the plaintiff received workers' compensation payments pursuant to the Federal Employees' Compensation Act ("FECA"), 5 U.S.C. §§ 8101 et seq. Def.'s Mot., Ex. 1 at FBI 1206, ECF No. 25–5.

Several months after the injury, in January 2012, the plaintiff contacted RPO about returning to work and requested permission to telecommute. FAC ¶ 30. In the months that followed, the plaintiff and various FBI personnel engaged in a series of communications regarding the processes and requirements for her return to work. Initially, some supervisors suggested to the plaintiff that they merely had to grant her a "reasonable accommodation." For example, when the plaintiff first requested to return to work in January 2012, her direct supervisor, Gordon Bitko, told her that she needed to be in the office for more than just two hours, proposing a "reasonable accommodation" that the plaintiff work four hours in the office per day, with the rest completed at home. Id.

The situation was soon clarified, however, that the plaintiff could not receive a "reasonable accommodation" while still receiving worker's compensation payments. On January 11, 2012, Elizabeth Stoddard, a Supervisor in RPO, Def.'s Mot., Ex. 6, Deposition of Elizabeth Stoddard, at 10:16–18, ECF No. 25–10, explained to Bitko that "[e]mployees on Worker's Compensation do not go through the Reasonable Accommodation Process. Instead they go through a process that is facilitated by [the Worker's Compensation Unit ("WCU") ] called Alternative Work Assignments ("AWA")," Def.'s Mot., Ex. 14 at FBI 1671, ECF No. 25–18; see also Pl.'s Corrected Opp'n Def.'s Mot. ("Pl.'s Opp'n") at 4, ECF No. 34 ("The FBI decided that Plaintiff would not go through the ‘Reasonable Accommodation Process,’ but instead would proceed under the Alterative Work Assignment (‘AWA’) process of workers' compensation directed by Michael Huff." (citations omitted)). Under the AWA process, Michael Huff, the Unit Chief of the FBI's WCU, would have to draft an AWA "job offer" for the plaintiff and submit it to the Department of Labor ("DOL") for approval.³ Pl.'s Opp'n at 4 (citing Pl.'s Opp'n, Ex. 6, Deposition of Michael Huff, Unit Chief, Workplace Injury Liaison Unit, FBI ("Huff Dep."), at 159–61, ECF No. 31–6). As explained by Stoddard, the AWA process is similar to the "reasonable accommodation" process, but the plaintiff would be compensated by DOL instead of the FBI. Def.'s Mot., Ex. 14 at FBI 1671. As part of this process, the plaintiff had to communicate to WCU about the job activities she could and could not perform given her medical condition. Id.

On March 22, 2012, Stoddard advised the plaintiff via email that she could start working once the RPO had completed the AWA process in coordination with WCU, stating that "[t]here are several projects that we are eager to get you engaged in as soon as you're able and we've complete [sic] the appropriate processes." Def.'s Mot., Ex. 15 at FBI 2206–07, ECF No. 25–19; see also Pl.'s Opp'n, Ex. 26 at FBI 2257, ECF No. 31–26. Stoddard listed a number of job duties that they were hoping the plaintiff could "support." Pl.'s Opp'n, Ex. 26 at FBI 2257. Stoddard asked the plaintiff in the March 22 email to confirm the work activities she could perform given her current medical condition, telling her that "[t]o be clear, my understanding is that [Huff], [Bitko], and I all need positive confirmation from you that you feel comfortable in performing these roles; otherwise we would want to re-evaluate them such that you are comfortable." Def.'s Mot., Ex. 15 at FBI 2207. One week later, on March 29, 2012, the plaintiff responded, but stated only that she was having email problems, asked to have messages sent to another email address, and explained that she would "proceed to review the work duties" and would let Stoddard know if she had any questions. Id. at FBI 2206.

Several weeks later, on April 19, 2012, RPO Assistant Director David Schlendorf informed the plaintiff that they were still "waiting to hear back from [the plaintiff] about ... the work duties." Id. at FBI 2206. The plaintiff responded that she had, in fact, replied to Stoddard's March 22 email "regarding the work duties," stating that "[a]t the time [Stoddard] sent me the e-mail with the work duties I din't [sic] have any questions" and that "I am sure once we have an oficial [sic] starting work date we will need to regroup and see if these work duties need to be updated." Id. at FBI 2205–06. Stoddard and Huff then expressed confusion to one another, as neither of them had seen a response from the plaintiff specifically regarding the job duties. Id. at 2205. Stoddard wrote to Huff, stating that "[t]he only response I saw to the work duties" was the plaintiff's March 29 email and that to Stoddard's knowledge, the plaintiff had "not positively confirmed that the work duties were okay and appropriate for her medical circumstances, as requested." Id.

Five days later, Huff wrote to Schlendorf, telling him that "[t]here is nothing more [Schlendorf] or anyone else in RPO needs to do" and that they were still "waiting on [the plaintiff] to provide a response to [Stoddard's] email and provide [Huff's] office with updated medical [information] from her doctor and a completed safety check list." Def.'s Mot., Ex. 16 at FBI 1741, ECF No. 25–20. Huff explained that "[o]nce these three issues are resolved, then [they could] proceed with making a light duty job offer to [the plaintiff]." Id . Yet, no evidence is in the record that the plaintiff ever substantively responded to the March 22 email from Stoddard confirming the work duties she was comfortable performing.

On May 18, 2012, however, the plaintiff again wrote in an email to Huff that she had "been cleared to work 2 hours a day 5 days a week close to home on a trial basis." Def.'s Mot., Ex. 18 at FBI 1838, ECF No. 25–22. Huff responded by referring to an apparent oral conversation the plaintiff had with Huff two weeks earlier on May 3, 2012. Id. According to Huff's email, in this conversation, Huff and the plaintiff discussed that they would have to wait until the plaintiff's doctor cleared her to work for four hours per day and that the plaintiff had stopped having, in her terms, "bad days."⁴ Id. at FBI 1838; FAC ¶¶ 43–44. The plaintiff responded to Huff's email by reiterating her desire to return to work "on a gradual basis." Def.'s Mot., Ex. 18 at FBI 1837. Huff replied that he had discussed the matter with RPO leadership, including Schlendorf, resulting in the "unanimous" decision that the plaintiff "need[ed] to concentrate...