Williams v. FedEx Corporate Servs.

• Decision Date: 24 February 2017
• Docket Number: No. 16-4032,16-4032
• Citation: 849 F.3d 889
• Parties: Steven R. WILLIAMS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. FEDEX CORPORATE SERVICES, a Delaware corporation; Aetna Life Insurance Company, a Connecticut corporation, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

849 F.3d 889

Steven R. WILLIAMS, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.FEDEX CORPORATE SERVICES, a Delaware corporation; Aetna Life Insurance Company, a Connecticut corporation, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 16-4032

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

Filed February 24, 2017

D. Scott Crook, D. Scott Crook Law, PC, Salt Lake City, Utah, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Patrick Daniel Riederer (Carl K. Morrison and Ashley Satterfield Patterson with him on the brief), Federal Express Corporation, Memphis, Tennessee, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before HOLMES, MATHESON, and McHUGH, Circuit Judges.

McHUGH, Circuit Judge.

Steven Williams alleges that his former employer, FedEx Corporate Services, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by discriminating against him based on his actual and perceived disabilities, and by requiring his enrollment in the company's substance abuse and drug testing program. Mr. Williams further alleges that Aetna Life Insurance Company, the administrator of FedEx's short-term disability plan, breached its fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income and Security Act (ERISA) when it reported to FedEx that Mr. Williams filed a disability claim for substance abuse. Both FedEx and Aetna filed motions for summary judgment, which the district court granted. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(j), we affirm in part, and reverse and remand in part.

I. BACKGROUND¹

Mr. Williams began working for FedEx in 1989 and, with the exception of a two-year hiatus from 2000 to 2002, continued his employment with FedEx until 2014. In December 2010, FedEx realigned its sales territories. After a few months, Mr. Williams complained to his supervisor, Kevin Wilczynski, that the change doubled his workload. Mr. Wilczynski explained that Mr. Williams had a workload similar to other employees, that he needed to prioritize his responsibilities, and that further complaints would be unwelcomed. Mr. Wilczynski also began calling Mr. Williams "Mr. Secondary" because he thought Mr. Williams spent too much time on secondary sales accounts.

In May 2011, Mr. Wilczynski moved to another position and Michael Bautch took over as Mr. Williams's supervisor. Mr. Williams repeated to Mr. Bautch the complaint that the new sales territory was too big to manage. In response, Mr. Bautch berated Mr. Williams, told him to stop whining, and said he was "being a baby." Mr. Bautch also counseled that Mr. Williams had been spending too much time on sales calls not aligned with his territory.

At the time he sought help with his workload, Mr. Williams's duties included entering sales calls into a database known as iSell. But Mr. Williams did not record his calls in iSell from June 13 to August 25, 2011. Although Mr. Williams claimed he later attempted to enter the calls but had technical difficulties, iSell representatives could not identify any login attempts for Mr. Williams's account during the relevant period.² On September 9, 2011, Mr. Bautch emailed Mr. Williams to ask about the missing entries, but Mr. Williams did not respond.

As of September 16, 2011, Mr. Williams still had not recorded the missing calls or responded to Mr. Bautch. At this point, David Trease took over as Mr. Williams's supervisor and attempted to schedule an in-person meeting with him. Mr. Trease received no response until September 18, when Mr. Williams indicated through email that he had been in the emergency room and would be out of the office until September 21. On September 19, Mr. Bautch, Mr. Trease, and a human resources representative discussed Mr. Williams's failure to record his calls in iSell. They decided not to take disciplinary action at that time because Mr. Williams had applied for a sales position with FedEx Trade Network (FTN). Mr. Williams interviewed for the position, but he later withdrew his application because Mr. Bautch allegedly threatened "to stop [Mr. Williams] from going to [FTN]" and took steps to follow through on this threat.

At the time Mr. Bautch and Mr. Trease were trying to talk with Mr. Williams about his iSell entries, Mr. Williams was experiencing symptoms related to withdrawal from prescribed pain medication. Mr. Williams started taking OxyContin

in 2008 for chronic neck pain caused by a car accident. And he continued to take OxyContin for about two years until he visited a pain specialist who documented his chief complaint as "addiction to narcotics." The specialist diagnosed Mr. Williams with opioid dependency and prescribed Suboxone to replace the OxyContin.³

Mr. Williams continued taking Suboxone

for about a year, but in fall 2011 he went to a pain clinic to taper his Suboxone use. On September 9, 2011—the day Mr. Bautch emailed about Mr. Williams's iSell entries—Mr. Williams visited his primary care physician "to discuss how to handle the side effects of Suboxone withdrawal." Mr. Williams went to the emergency room two days later, on September 11, and the next morning he requested a few sick days. Throughout the rest of September, Mr. Williams visited his doctor multiple times with reports of "continued concerns about Suboxone withdrawal symptoms" and requests for "continued followup of his withdrawal from prescribed narcotics."

On September 26, 2011, FedEx granted Mr. Williams a medical leave of absence. Mr. Williams's doctor later signed a Certification of Health Care Provider for Employee's Serious Health Condition (Family and Medical Leave Act), which identified "chronic neck pain[ and] severe anxiety" as the conditions for which he sought leave.

On September 30, 2011, Mr. Williams called Aetna, the claims administrator for the Federal Express Corporation Short Term Disability Plan (the Plan), and initiated a claim for short-term disability benefits. During his conversation with Aetna's intake representative, Mr. Williams explained that he was requesting short-term disability benefits for work-related stress and anxiety. But he also told the representative that his withdrawal from Suboxone

was currently preventing him from working.

The Plan provides up to twenty-six weeks of benefits for an "Occupational Disability," which includes "the inability of a Covered Employee, because of a medically-determinable physical impairment or Mental Impairment

, to perform the duties of his regular occupation." But the Plan limits benefits to thirteen weeks for a "Chemical Dependency," defined as "the habitual or addictive use of alcohol or any controlled substance." Although Aetna approved Mr. Williams's claim, it determined he suffered from a "Chemical Dependency" and therefore authorized benefits for only thirteen weeks.

Shortly after Mr. Williams filed his claim under the Plan, Aetna notified FedEx that Mr. Williams had "filed a disability claim for alcohol or substance abuse." As a result, Mr. Trease instructed Mr. Williams to call People Help, the vendor that assists FedEx employees with substance abuse problems. Mr. Williams asked why he should contact People Help and clarified that he had taken medical leave for work-related stress. Indeed, Mr. Williams had begun seeing a counselor for "recent stress and anxiety issues related particularly to his work environment," and the counselor diagnosed Mr. Williams with adjustment disorder.

In a November 9, 2011 letter to Mr. Williams, Mr. Trease explained that Aetna reported Mr. Williams's medical leave was "due to an alcohol/drug related illness." Enclosed with the letter was a copy of FedEx's Alcohol/Drug Free Workplace Policy (ADFWP), which states that "[e]mployees who seek assistance for drug/alcohol abuse will be subjected to return-to-duty-testing and placed in the Follow Up Testing Program for five (5) years." Mr. Trease also told Mr. Williams that Aetna's report triggered a mandatory referral to People Help, and warned that failure to comply is a violation of company policy that would result in his termination.

This letter upset Mr. Williams because he felt FedEx was threatening his job when he had not sought help for a drug-related illness. Even so, Mr. Williams reported to People Help, which provided him a letter stating he had "completed a substance abuse assessment which resulted in no current substance abuse/dependence diagnosis." Mr. Williams forwarded this letter to FedEx and Aetna, along with letters from his attorney and medical providers, asserting that Mr. Williams did not have a substance-abuse problem.

Despite these letters, FedEx determined its ADFWP applied based on Aetna's statement that Mr. Williams self-reported a drug-related illness. So, before Mr. Williams could return to work, he had to sign a Statement of Understanding, in which he "agree[d] to undergo a post treatment drug screen and/or alcohol test and have a negative test before returning to work." FedEx also placed Mr. Williams in its follow-up drug testing program for five years, and required him to disclose his use of prescription medications.

While on leave, Mr. Williams further communicated with Aetna about his short-term disability benefits. As explained, Aetna determined Mr. Williams had a "Chemical Dependency" and originally approved benefits for only thirteen weeks. Aetna provided benefits for two extra weeks when Mr. Williams had neck surgery, but it terminated his benefits on December 26, 2011, based on authorization from his doctor that he could return to work on December 27, 2011. Mr. Williams appealed the discontinuance of benefits, but Aetna denied the appeal.

Mr. Williams returned to work in early February 2012. On February 23, 2012, FedEx issued a Letter of Counseling for Unacceptable Performance and Conduct that related back to Mr. Williams's failure to record calls in iSell the previous year. Mr. Williams continued to work at FedEx until he resigned approximately two years later, on March 31, 2014.

On February 23, 2015, Mr. Williams filed his Third Amended Complaint, the operative complaint in this case, in which he asserted six causes of action against FedEx and/or...