Rhoads v. Fed. Deposit Ins. Corp.

• Decision Date: 30 October 2000
• Docket Number: No. 98-2374,98-2374
• Citation: 257 F.3d 373
• Parties: (4th Cir. 2001) LORI RHOADS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION, in its capacity as receiver for Standard Federal Savings Bank and Standard Federal Savings Association, Defendant-Appellee. GEORGETOWN APPELLATE LITIGATION CLINIC, Amicus Curiae. Argued:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 373

257 F.3d 373 (4th Cir. 2001)

LORI RHOADS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION, in its capacity as receiver for Standard Federal Savings Bank and Standard Federal Savings Association, Defendant-Appellee.

GEORGETOWN APPELLATE LITIGATION CLINIC, Amicus Curiae.

No. 98-2374

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

Argued: October 30, 2000

Decided: July 12, 2001

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore. Walter E. Black Jr., Senior District Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] COUNSEL ARGUED: Adam Nathan Steinman, Supervising Attorney, Appellate Litigation Program, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae. Robert Parker Fletcher, NIXON PEABODY, L.L.P., Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Lori Denise Rhoads, Appellant Pro Se. Leslie Paul Machado, NIXON PEABODY, L.L.P., Washington, D.C.; Kathryn R. Norcross, J. Scott Watson, FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION, Washington, D.C., for Appellee. Steven H. Goldblatt, Director, Richard D. Watkins, Student Counsel, Appellate Litigation Program, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae.

Before WILKINS and KING, Circuit Judges, and Frank J. MAGILL, Senior Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, sitting by designation.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded by published opinion. Judge King wrote the opinion, in which Judge Wilkins and Senior Judge Magill joined.

OPINION

KING, Circuit Judge:

Lori Denise Rhoads appeals from the judgment rendered against her on her claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act, 29 U.S.C. SS 2601-2654 ("FMLA"); the employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. SS 12101-12117, 12203 ("ADA"); and Maryland state law. The district court granted summary judgment to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC"), in its capacity as representative of Rhoads's former employers, on her ADA claims -for failure to make reasonable accommodations, discriminatory termination, and retaliation -as well as the state law claims. See Rhoads v. FDIC, 956 F. Supp. 1239 (D. Md. 1997). A jury subsequently found in the FDIC's favor on the FMLA claim, see Order of Judgment, No. B-94-1548 (D. Md. Mar. 4, 1998), and the court denied Rhoads's motion for judgment as a matter of law or, alternatively, for a new trial, see Order, No. B-94-1548 (D. Md. Aug. 12, 1998). As explained below, we affirm the district court in every respect except for its award of summary judgment on the ADA retaliation claim, which we vacate and remand for further proceedings.

I.

A.

Rhoads was hired as a financial analyst in September 1987 by Standard Federal Savings Bank ("SFSB"). When the bank failed in October 1992, the Resolution Trust Corporation ("RTC")¹ was appointed as its receiver, and a new federal mutual savings association, Standard Federal Savings Association ("SFSA"), was chartered with the RTC as its conservator. Although Rhoads's employment with SFSB was terminated at its receivership, she was hired simultaneously for the same position with SFSA.

Rhoads suffers from asthma and related migraine headaches -conditions exacerbated by exposure to cigarette smoke. After starting work at SFSB, in the bank's Gaithersburg, Maryland office, Rhoads began feeling the negative effects from breathing co-workers' secondhand smoke. Due to SFSB's inability to control smoking on the premises, even after the introduction of a countywide smoking ban in 1990, Rhoads periodically sought medical attention for recurring bouts of bronchitis, pneumonia, severe lung infections, and clustermigraine syndrome. The amount of secondhand smoke in the offices increased with the arrival of new RTC employees and managers when the bank became SFSA. Internal memoranda documented the detrimental effects of this smoke on Rhoads's health. See, e.g., April 27, 1993 Memorandum from Michael O'Hopp, III, J.A. 49 ("The smoking is having a devastating health effect on one of my employees. . . . Please stop smoking immediately. If not because it is illegal, then out of professional courtesy and human kindness."). Because of her condition, SFSA officials allowed Rhoads to take lengthy absences from work. Eventually, in May 1993, O'Hopp, who was then Rhoads's supervisor, arranged for her to work at home to avoid exposure to secondhand smoke.

During the time period that she worked at home, Rhoads's department was transferred to SFSA's Frederick Operations Center in Frederick, Maryland ("Frederick Center"). In June 1993, SFSA adopted a smoke-free workplace rule, to take effect on September 1 of that year, at which time smoking would be banned throughout the Frederick Center. That July, RTC officials discovered that Rhoads was being allowed to work at home and, subsequently, asked her to report to the Frederick Center for work. During meetings there on August 12 and 18, and in telephone conversations and letters, bank officials and Rhoads debated whether she would work at the Frederick Center, continue to work at home, or submit the necessary medical certification for disability leave. Ultimately, W. Marshall Jones, SFSA's Senior Vice President for Human Resources, informed Rhoads in an August 25 letter that she should report to work at the Frederick Center on September 1, to coincide with the date the building was to become smoke-free. Jones also said the bank would provide an air purifier for Rhoads's office.

Rhoads maintains, however, that she suffered a significant relapse of asthma and migraine headache symptoms because of her exposure to cigarette smoke at the Frederick Center during the two August meetings there. She saw four doctors during the period of August 1231 and sought treatment in a hospital emergency room on August 21. Rhoads was given a variety of medications at varying dosages, and the treatments for asthma apparently compounded her migraine headaches. According to Rhoads, on August 31, one of her physicians, Alan S. Chanales, M.D., instructed her not to report to work the following day or for the rest of the week.

Thus, instead of reporting to the Frederick Center on September 1, Rhoads called James Pavlonnis, her immediate supervisor at the time, to relay her doctor's advice and postpone her expected return to work until the following week. On September 7, Rhoads informed Pavlonnis that she remained ill, her physician instructed her not to report to work that week, and she was using sick leave. Pavlonnis, SFSA's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, telephoned Rhoads on September 9 and insisted that she provide a doctor's note immediately. At Rhoads's request, Dr. Chanales faxed Pavlonnis a letter that same day. This note, dated September 2, had been composed in response to SFSA's earlier suggestion that Rhoads submit medical documentation supporting a need for disability leave; without mentioning Rhoads's current condition, it indicated that she must work in a smoke-free environment or be allowed such leave. Pavlonnis consequently called Rhoads on September 10 and asked her if she was requesting disability leave. Rhoads -who had not seen Dr. Chanales's letter -replied that she did not know and did not feel that she had to decide because she was using accrued sick leave.

That same day, in a letter from Jones, Rhoads was threatened with disciplinary action if she did not report to work by September 13.² When Rhoads did not do so, she received a "final warning" letter from Jones, advising her that she had been placed on probation due to her "refusal to report to work the past eight business days[,]" and that her employment would be terminated if she failed to report on September 14. J.A. 269. The plan to terminate Rhoads under these circumstances was approved by a committee of SFSA officials.

Following receipt of the September 13 letter, Rhoads informed Jones by phone and by fax that she remained too ill to work and that her doctor would be sending SFSA further documentation of her condition within a few days. Indeed, on September 13, Dr. Chanales composed a letter stating:

[Rhoads] continues to require treatment for her asthmatic disease which has been exacerbated by exposure to smoke on your premises. This treatment has been complicated by the development of severe headaches as a side effect of some of the medications that are being used to treat her asthma. She still is not in good enough shape to return to work, and I certainly continue to maintain that she should not be allowed in your work place unless it is certifiably free of cigarette smoke.

J.A. 273. Dr. Chanales did not, however, fax the letter to SFSA until September 16 -one day after senior officials in the RTC's Atlanta office authorized Rhoads's termination. A termination letter from Jones was hand-delivered to Rhoads during the evening of September 15, informing her that she had been fired for refusing to return to work for ten consecutive days "[w]ithout supervisory approval and in direct defiance of my repeated instructions." J.A. 349. The letter explained:

In light of the accommodations we have made for any health condition you may have, your continued refusal to report to work cannot be tolerated.

Contrary to the assertions in your letter of September 13, 1993, the notes from your physicians do not state that you are sick and cannot or should not be working. The notes state unequivocally that you can work if provided a smokefree environment. As such, we have done everything your physicians have requested and more. We allowed you to work at home while smoking was still permitted at the Frederick Operations Center. On September 1, 1993, however, the Frederick Operations Center became a no-smoking building. We even provided a further accommodation for you beyond that your physicians requested, placing an air purifier in your work area....