Wethington v. Sir Goony Golf of Chattanooga, Inc.
| Decision Date | 15 November 2021 |
| Docket Number | 1:20-CV-00234-DCLC-CHS |
| Citation | 571 F.Supp.3d 888 |
| Parties | Randy S. WETHINGTON, Plaintiff, v. SIR GOONY GOLF OF CHATTANOOGA, INC., et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Tennessee |
Donna J. Mikel, Mikel & Hamill PLLC, Chattanooga, TN, for Plaintiff.
James S. McDearman, Grant, Konvalinka & Harrison, PC, Chattanooga, TN, for Defendants.
This matter is before the Court on Defendants' Joint Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. 19]. Plaintiff filed a response in opposition [Doc. 21], and Defendants replied [Doc. 23]. This matter is now ripe for resolution. For the reasons that follow, Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. 19] is DENIED .
Plaintiff Randy S. Wethington worked as the general manager for Defendant Sir Goony Golf of Chattanooga, Inc., from March 9, 2014, to October 22, 2019 [Docs. 21-1, pgs. 238-39; 22, pg. 5]. Sir Goony is a family fun center with various amusement attractions, such as go-karts and miniature-golf courses [Doc. 22, pg. 1]. Affiliated with Sir Goony are corporate Defendants Amusement Products, LLC, (Amusement Products) and Amusement Construction Company, Inc. (Amusement Construction). Amusement Products develops and manufactures attractions for family fun centers, and Amusement Construction provides related construction services . Amusement Products also conducts two seminars for family fun centers, part of which take place at Sir Goony's location . Additionally, Amusement Products uses Sir Goony as a test facility for its products .
The three corporate defendants share common management1 and the same president, Dutch Magrath [Docs. 21-5, pg. 12; 22, pg. 5]. Magrath oversees "all aspects of [Defendants' businesses] ... to make sure [they] stay profitable and solvent." [Doc. 21-1 (Magrath's deposition), pg. 52]. He reviews compensation for the employees at all three companies . Although Sir Goony's general manager handles the "day-to-day hiring" at that business, Magrath has input on promotions and occasionally would recommend his children or his friend's children be hired [Doc. 21-1, pg. 16, 82-83]. Indeed, Magrath's wife, two daughters, and son all worked for Defendants . He also directs Sir Goony's to minimize overtime to control costs [Id. , pg. 78-79].
Cindy Harrell serves as the vice president of operations at Amusement Products but "handles HR for [all the] businesses." [Id. , pg. 15]. She maintains all the employee files for the three companies, serves as the bookkeeper for Sir Goony and Amusement Products, and handles FMLA requests [Doc. 21-5, pg. 16-17, 21, 49]. She considers herself an employee of all three Defendants [Doc. 21-1, pg. 16-17]. Although part of her pay is based on her work with Sir Goony and its profitability, she only draws a salary from Amusement Products and Amusement Construction [Id. , pg. 27].
Wethington reported primarily to Harrell, but he consulted with Magrath on occasion about hiring decisions.2 [Docs. 21-2, pgs. 1-4; 21-8, pgs. 1-3; 21-10, pg. 1; 21-54, pg. 1]. He also would address any tasks Magrath "requested to be addressed." . When Sir Goony's attractions needed maintenance, Wethington requested assistance from Amusement Products's employees [Docs. 21-24, pg. 1; 21-63, pg. 1]. Wethington briefed Magrath about the functionality of the attractions at Sir Goony's [Docs. 21-18, pgs. 1-8; 21-21, pgs. 1-9; 21-22, pgs. 1-11; 21-46, pg. 1]. He also helped Amusement Products by conducting tests and reported back to Magrath about the results of those tests [Docs. 21-19, pg. 1; 21-20, pg. 1; 21-27, pg. 1]. Wethington consulted Magrath about winter season operations [Doc. 21-1, pg. 248-49]. He also entertained potential customers of Amusement Products [Doc. 21-28, pg. 1]. His annual bonus was based on the performance of each Defendant, not just the performance of Sir Goony's [Doc. 21-4, pg. 17].
The three corporate Defendants are separate legal entities, file separate tax returns, maintain separate general liability and workers' compensation insurance policies, but have a common shared health insurance policy for their employees [Docs. 22, pg. 16, 17; 21-5, pg. 78-80]. They use the same third-party vendor to handle all their payroll needs, share a combined office, and use this office as their principal address with the Tennessee Secretary of State [Doc. 22, pg. 16, 17, 23-23; 21-3, pg. 1-7].
Sir Goony's employs, at most, 25 employees from March 1 to November 1 each year during its busy season and maintains three to five employees during the winter . From 2017 through 2020, Amusement Products employed between 50 and 80 employees, and Amusement Construction employed 12 to 20 employees . In 2019, Defendants employed between 75 and 120 employees all together .
In November 2018, Wethington's family situation dramatically changed. His wife was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer
, which had metastasized and spread throughout her body [Doc. 21-4, pg. 66; 21-34, pg. 1]. Wethington informed Magrath that his wife's cancer was terminal and that she likely had 12 weeks to live [Docs. 21-33, pg. 1; 21-34, pg. 1]. Wethington asked Magrath for time off to help care for her, as well as his four-year-old child [Doc. 21-35, pg. 1; 21-38, pg. 1]. Magrath agreed and paid him his full salary throughout this period. Wethington took his wife to her chemotherapy and immunotherapy appointments and tended to other familial obligations that now fell on him because of her condition [Doc. 21-35, pg. 1]. He promised to continue to do his job and asked Magrath not to "give up on [him]" and not to "give [his] job away." [Id. ]. He kept Magrath and Harrell informed about his wife's condition and his absences from Sir Goony's [Docs. 21-1, pgs. 172, 175, 202; 21-5, pg. 101; 21-40, pg. 1; 21-41, pg. 1; 21-43, pg. 1; Doc. 21-62, pg. 1].
In 2019, Wethington's wife was accepted as a patient into a clinical trial program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City [Docs. 21-47, pg. 1; 21-48, pg. 1-2]. As a result, Wethington needed more time off work . He requested 17 days off in August 2019 to take her to those appointments [Id. ]. Although Wethington attempted to minimize the impact on Sir Goony's, , inevitably, he missed days at work to meet his wife's unexpected medical needs [Doc. 21-1, pg. 184].
During this time, no one complained about Wethington's job performance . Wethington updated both Harrell and Magrath about his scheduled absences and when he could return to Sir Goony's to finish his tasks [Docs. 21-11, pg. 1; 21-12, pg. 1; 21-13, pg. 1; 21-36, pg. 1; 21-37, pg. 1; 21-39, pg. 1; 21-43, pg. 1; 21-47, pg. 1; 21-50, pg. 1; 21-51, pg. 1]. Notably, Wethington never requested FMLA leave, and he received his full salary during his absences to care for his wife [Doc. 21-4, pg. 59]. In fact, Magrath never threatened to reduce his salary for the days he took off [Id. , pg. 236].
On October 16, 2019, Wethington emailed both Magrath and Harrell to confirm the days off that he would need for the rest of the year [Doc. 21-49, pg. 1]. He stated that his request for those days off had "already been verbally ok'd and or approved by both [Magrath] and [Harrell]." [Id. ]. He assured Magrath and Harrell that, "[u]nless there is an emergency or a reason for a transfusion, [he did] not foresee the dates changing or any additional ones being added." [Id. ]. He listed nine workdays during which he was scheduled to be either in New York City or Atlanta for his wife's treatment. The next day, Wethington advised Magrath by email that Sir Goony's profits increased by "almost $17,000" from the previous year and that "the maintenance of all of the attractions [had] never been better." [Doc. 21-53, pg. 1].
On October 18, 2019, Magrath met with Wethington. What happened at this meeting is in dispute. Wethington claims Magrath told him Magrath could no longer tolerate his absences, that he was willing to "put up with [the] situation when it was his understanding that [Wethington's] wife was terminus and now that it appears that she may go on to live for several years he's not sure if he can continue to do that and he has a company to protect." [Doc. 21-4, pg. 49]. Magrath also criticized Wethington's job performance at that time .
According to Magrath, however, Wethington stated that he "can't do this anymore." [Doc. 21-1, pg. 243]. In response, Magrath asked Wethington if he should resign . Magrath claims he did not want to fire him and did not want Wethington to quit "but if he can't do the job, [Wethington's] words not [Magrath's], what other choice is there." [Id. , pg. 244]. Wethington denies saying this [Doc. 21-4, pg. 48]. At that point, Magrath claims Wethington told Magrath that he "cannot afford to not have unemployment, can we work this out where I can get unemployment[?]" [Doc. 21-1, pg. 244].
Wethington, instead, claims he refused to resign, and that Magrath had to fire him "like a man." [Doc. 21-4, pg. 51]. Magrath terminated Wethington as the general manager but agreed to indicate on the separation notice that Wethington was laid off due to "lack of work," which would allow Wethington to claim unemployment benefits [Docs. 21-1, pgs. 243-46; 21-4, pgs. 48-51; 21-56, pg. 1]. Magrath also wrote that Wethington had "been an excellent manager for Sir Goony's over the past 6 years." [Doc. 21-56, pg. 1]. On October 22, 2019, Magrath wrote a letter of recommendation that praised Wethington's "organizational skills," and stated...
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