Bair v. Crystal Glass, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedMarch 31, 2024
Docket2:21-cv-13027
StatusUnknown

This text of Bair v. Crystal Glass, Inc. (Bair v. Crystal Glass, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bair v. Crystal Glass, Inc., (E.D. Mich. 2024).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN SOUTHERN DIVISION

ANTHONY BAIR,

Plaintiff, Case No. 2:21-cv-13027

v. Honorable Jonathan J.C. Grey

CRYSTAL GLASS, INC.,

Defendants. ___________________________________/

OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (ECF No. 11)

Anthony Bair has a serious hip condition that required surgery. He asked his employer, Crystal Glass, to lay him off so that he would be eligible for unemployment and to rehire him once he recovers. Crystal Glass agreed to do so if Bair provided a doctor’s note medically clearing him to work. Instead, after he recovered, Bair gave his doctor’s note to two other employers and worked for those other employers. Bair is suing Crystal Glass, claiming that it did not rehire him after his hip surgery because of his disability, thus violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. Crystal Glass filed a motion for summary judgment under Civil Rule 56(a), but a hearing is not necessary. E.D. Mich. LR 7.1(f)(2). Since

there is no adverse employment action or evidence of pretext, the motion for summary judgment is GRANTED. I. BACKGROUND

Bair’s employment with Crystal Glass began in July 2014. (ECF Nos. 1, PageID.2; 11, PageID.65.) Crystal Glass is a contractor that specializes in the installation of glass and entrusted Bair with his “first

job in the glass industry,” (ECF No. 11-3, PageID.105), assigning him with tasks often performed outdoors, several stories high, navigating precarious balances on ladders and scaffolding. (ECF No. 11, PageID.65.)

Bair’s employment at Crystal Glass included periods of hiring, termination, rehiring, and eventual separation, underpinned by COVID- 19 and the fluctuating needs of Crystal Glass and Bair’s preexisting

medical condition—a long-term degenerative-hip condition known as avascular necrosis.1 Bair’s initial departure from Crystal Glass occurred in September

1 “Avascular necrosis is a condition of bone deterioration or bone death due to deficient blood supply to the area.” Middleton v. Sec’y of Health & Hum. Servs., 904 F.2d 36 n.4 (6th Cir. 1990) (per curiam) (unpublished table decision) (citing THE SLOANE-DORLAND ANNOTATED MEDICAL-LEGAL DICTIONARY 476). 2015. Crystal Glass attributes that separation to numerous disputes that

Bair had with coworkers at job sites. (ECF No. 11-4, PageID.192 (“[H]e had given us problems in the past and was kind of didn’t get along with a lot of the guys.”). Bair contends that Crystal Glass “has no details” and

“denie[s] that h[is employment] was terminated.” 2 (ECF No. 14, PageID.329 n.1.) Bair’s HR record says “Fired.” (ECF No. 11-5, PageID.242.)

Approximately 17 months later, Bair called Crystal Glass and “asked” to be rehired. (ECF Nos. 11, PageID.66; 11-6, PageID.253–254; see also ECF No. 1, PageID.2.) Crystal Glass “was reluctant,” (ECF No.

11-6, PageID.253), but Bair “apologized . . . for his behavior” and was “enduring a brutal divorce and custody battle,” so Crystal Glass agreed to rehire Bair to work “sporadically.” Id. at PageID.254. He was rehired

in late February 2016. (ECF No. 11-5, PageID.242.) Bair “quit” his job exactly 17 months later, on July 27, 2017. Id. Sometime in early 2019, (see ECF No. 14-1, PageID.353), Bair was

2 This statement seems inconsistent with Bair’s prior allegation that he “ceased being employed by Crystal Glass in or around 2017.” (ECF No. 1, PageID.2.) working for an undisclosed employer where “he fell from a ladder.”3 (ECF

No. 11-7, PageID.292.) As a result, he “exacerbated,” (ECF No. 14, PageID.329), his preexisting “avascular necrosis of both hips.” (ECF No. 14-1, PageID.353.)

Bair has not disclosed the details of what happened after his injury, but he eventually “reached out to” Crystal Glass again “to convince [them] that it would be a good idea to bring him back.” (ECF No. 11-6,

PageID.255.) Four members of Crystal Glass’s management took Bair’s request “under consideration . . .[,] discussed it[,] and . . . were desperate enough to try again.” Id. Bair’s third stint at Crystal Glass began on

November 22, 2019. (See ECF No. 11-5, PageID.242.) The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 ushered in a period of uncertainty and operational shutdowns for Crystal Glass, which

laid off its entire workforce, including Bair, from March 22–May 11, 2020.4 (ECF No. 11-6, PageID.257). It was during this tumultuous time

3 Another part of the record states that Bair told Crystal Glass that he “had fallen off a roof and through some trusses” while working for “Damico.” (ECF No. 14-4, PageID.378.) But it is not altogether clear if the two incidents are the same one. Bair has not provided the exact date of either incident but believes it “took off during an injury at damico and progressed at crystal glass.” (ECF No. 14-2, PageID.361.) 4 Two of the glaziers were not called back to work due to a lack of work that Bair’s health greatly declined.

On May 19, 2020—one week into his fourth term of employment— Bair disclosed his avascular necrosis to Crystal Glass for the first time. (ECF No. 11-7, PageID.292.). He had “suffered a flare up.” (ECF No. 14,

PageID.329.) In the same conversation, Bair told Crystal Glass’s scheduler that it was the scaffolding work which worsened his pain, asked to be given other work, had his request granted, and was told “to

speak up if [he] can’t do something.” (ECF No. 11-8, PageID.294–295.) Bair testified “that was the last scaffolding job [he] was on.” (ECF No. 11- 3, PageID.118 (emphasis omitted).) Indeed, Crystal Glass told Bair that

it would continue to send him to jobs “with that light duty,” but that such jobs were “limited” due to COVID-19. (See ECF No. 11-11, PageID.301.) On May 31, 2020, Bair texted Crystal Glass’s CFO, saying he was

getting a “resurfacing” surgery for his hip on June 16, 2020. (ECF No. 14- 2, PageID.356.) The resurfacing surgery required six weeks of recovery and would have Bair “returning to light duty after that.” Id. Bair

responded that he was hesitant to work during the 15 days before his surgery because further tissue decay might lead to a full hip replacement,

(ECF No. 11-6, PageID.258). so he asked if he could go “on short term disability.”5 Id. Crystal Glass

told Bair that it does not offer short-term disability and thus referred Bair to the Social Security Administration. Id. at PageID.356–357. Bair countered, asking if Crystal Glass would “l[ay him] off the week of the

surgery.” Id. at PageID.357. Crystal Glass agreed to “lay [Bair] off.” Id. at PageID.359. The next day, Bair and Crystal Glass’s CFO spoke on the phone.

Bair changed his requested accommodation, asking if he could be laid off at least one week before his surgery because it required him to quarantine to avoid contracting COVID-19. (See ECF No. 11-3,

PageID.132.) Bair said that he wanted to be laid off rather than to receive unpaid medical leave so that he could receive unemployment benefits, enhanced due to COVID-19 legislation, until he returned to work. (See

ECF No. 11-4, PageID.202.) Crystal Glass granted Bair’s accommodation request—five days sooner than Bair even wanted it. Bair testified that having his

accommodation request granted earlier than he wanted “didn’t bother

5 Bair’s reasoning seems to contradict his later testimony that this level of necrosis “could take five years.” (ECF No. 11-3, PageID.132.) [him],” because it “was close enough to [his required] week quarantine.”

(ECF No.

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