Fosness v. Minnesota Sex Offender Program

CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedMay 26, 2023
Docket0:20-cv-01511
StatusUnknown

This text of Fosness v. Minnesota Sex Offender Program (Fosness v. Minnesota Sex Offender Program) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fosness v. Minnesota Sex Offender Program, (mnd 2023).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA

DEANNA S. FOSNESS,

Civil No. 20-1511 (JRT/LIB) Plaintiff,

v. MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR MINNESOTA SEX OFFEDER PROGRAM, SUMMARY JUDGMENT MINNESOTA DEPERTMENT OF HUMAN

SERVICES, and JODI HARPSTEAD, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services,

Defendants.

Amarita Singh, Graham M. Martin, Jennifer Moore, and Kristin C. Hendrick, TRAUTMANN MARTIN LAW, PLLC, 619 South Tenth Street, Suite 201, Minneapolis, MN 55404, for plaintiff.

Amanda E. Prutzman, MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE, 445 Minnesota Street, Saint Paul, MN 55101, for defendants.

Plaintiff Deanna S. Fosness was a Special Teacher with the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (“MSOP”) who suffers from narcolepsy and needed certain accommodations to do her job. Fosness brings failure-to-accommodate and retaliation/reprisal claims under both federal and state law against the MSOP, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (“MDHS”), and Jodi Harpstead, the MDHS Commissioner in her official capacity. Fosness argues that she never received the full extent of the accommodations requested and that the MSOP retaliated against her for submitting charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) related to her disability.

The Defendants now move for summary judgement. The Court will grant summary judgement as to the failure to accommodate claims because the ability to flex her time was not part of Fosness’s accommodation request. The Court will also grant summary judgement on the retaliation claims because Defendants provide legitimate reasons for

their actions and Fosness does not present evidence of pretext.

BACKGROUND I. FACTS

A. Fosness’s Disability Fosness was hired as a Special Teacher at the MSOP in April 2015. (Decl. of Deanna S. Fosness Opp. Mot. to Dismiss (“Fosness Decl.”) ¶ 5, Oct. 2, 2020, Docket No. 17.) Her work included teaching MSOP clients in group and individual tutoring sessions. (Id.) The

instructions included adult basic education, GED preparation, and high school diploma credit. (Decl. of Jason Marisam, Ex. B, at 80, Sept. 30, 2022, Docket No. 105-1.) Fosness’s work hours were originally from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. (Fosness Decl. ¶ 6.) However, Fosness testified at her deposition that her

schedule changed over time and that start times varied from 7:30 to 8:00 a.m. and the ending times varied from 4:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Marisam Decl. Ex. A (“Fosness Dep.”), 61:5–13, at 17, Sept. 30, 2022, Docket No. 105-1.) Before the end of 2015, Fosness was diagnosed with narcolepsy, which is a chronic disorder that affects the brain’s ability to control sleep-wake cycles, for which there is no

cure. (Fosness Decl. ¶ 7.) Her narcolepsy makes it very difficult for her to wake up, which sometimes requires another’s help, and she needs to sleep 10–16 hours each night. (Id. ¶ 8.) As a result of the fatigue caused by her narcolepsy, Fosness would occasionally

arrive late to work, but if she did, she would make up lost time by “flexing that time,” which meant that she would work later into the day. (Id. ¶ 9.) Fosness admits that no one explicitly told her this was an acceptable practice, but she was also not told that she

could not “flex” her time in this matter. (Fosness Dep. 64:2–21, at 17.) Additionally, Fosness claims that prior to her diagnosis, her supervisor—Karen Dalluge—“never had any issues” with Fosness flexing work time. (Fosness Decl. ¶ 9.) Fosness’s doctor recommended that she work four 10-hour shifts per week instead

of five 8.5-hour shifts, as this would allow her to get more sleep in the middle of the week. (Id. ¶ 10.) Her doctor also recommended that her start time be between 7:30 and 8:30 in the morning. (Marisam Decl. Ex. B, at 94.) Fosness informed Dalluge of her diagnosis and requested an accommodation. (Fosness Decl. ¶ 11.) After a meet and confer

between the MSOP, Fosness’s union, and Fosness, the MSOP initially denied the accommodation. (Id. ¶¶ 12–13.) B. First EEOC Complaint and Accommodation Fosness filed a Charge of Discrimination with the EEOC on July 18, 2017 (the “2017

Charge”), alleging that the MSOP did not accommodate her disability. (Marisam Decl. Ex. B, at 95.) On September 5, 2017, the MSOP granted Fosness’s requested accommodation. (Marisam Decl. Ex. B, at 93.) Her new schedule called for a total of 10.5 hours because her union contract required a 30-minute non-working lunch. (See 1st Decl. of Karen

Dalluge (“1st Dalluge Decl.”) ¶ 8, Sep. 30, 2022, Docket No. 104.) Thus, her new hours were from 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Morning classes for MSOP clients began at 8:00 a.m. (Dalluge Decl. ¶ 5.) Besides Fosness, the MSOP had only one other Special Teacher providing educational services to

clients. (Id.) The second teacher’s hours were from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., Monday through Friday. (Id.) The MSOP did not allow either teacher to flex from their set scheduled times. (Id.) Clients were not available for classes between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. because they had their supper meal, followed by a mandatory count in their units.

(Id. ¶ 6.) C. Alleged Retaliation Fosness claims that after filing her first EEOC complaint, Dalluge’s attitude towards her changed and that she was denied requests that would previously be approved, such

as attending professional development trainings. (Fosness Dep. 91:6–93:18, at 24–25.) Fosness claims that prior to her EEOC complaint, she never had to submit formal requests. (Fosness Dep. 93:19–95:25, at 25.) In October 2017, Fosness was denied her request to attend the Department of Homeland Security’s “L4” leadership program. (Dalluge Decl. ¶ 10.) The MSOP claims the

L4 request was denied because “it was too time consuming and would have required [Fosness] to miss classes she taught to MSOP clients.” (Id.) Fosness was also denied a request to attend a brain-based learning class after the MSOP determined it did not fit with their curriculum. (Dalluge Decl. ¶ 9.)

Fosness also claims that Dalluge interfered with required trainings, including with the second day of a two-day training conference for teachers that was required as part of the 100 paid professional development hours she was allotted each year. (Fosness Decl.

¶ 19.) Fosness declared that Dalluge only approved of the second day once the union president became involved. (Id.) Similarly, Fosness claims that Dalluge refused to give permission to attend a veteran’s event by failing to respond to her email requesting time off to attend, causing Fosness to miss the event. (Id. ¶ 20.)

On August 10, 2018, Fosness amended her pending EEOC charge to assert that the MSOP had retaliated by “denying flexible start times . . . professional development hours previously approved . . . training requests” and for having “FMLA reevaluated which has led to unapproved absences.” (Marisam Decl. Ex. B, at 96.)

D. Resignation and Second EEOC Complaint On February 7, 2019, Fosness was denied a three-month professional development leave from June 1 through August 31, 2019, to attend summer classes at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where Fosness was pursuing her Ph.D. (Marisam Decl., Ex. B, at 115.) The rationale provided by the MSOP was that the denial was based on staffing needs and the impact on client programing. (Id.) Fosness resigned her position two

weeks later on February 27, 2019. (Id. at 141–42.) Fosness filed another EEOC Charge of Discrimination on April 30, 2019 (the “2019 Charge”). On the 2019 Charge form, Fosness listed only “Retaliation” as the basis of discrimination. (Decl. of Cicely Miltich (“Miltich Decl.”), Ex. C, at 3, Sept. 11, 2020, Docket

No.

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