Gordon v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.

191 F. Supp. 3d 1271, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72681, 2016 WL 3129136
CourtDistrict Court, D. Utah
DecidedJune 2, 2016
DocketCase No. 2:13-cv-855-JNP
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 191 F. Supp. 3d 1271 (Gordon v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gordon v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., 191 F. Supp. 3d 1271, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72681, 2016 WL 3129136 (D. Utah 2016).

Opinion

[1274]*1274MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING HOME DEPOT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Jill N. Parrish, United States District Court Judge

Before the court is a Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket 93) filed by Defendant Home Depot, U.S.A., Inc. (“Home Depot”). The court held oral argument on the motion on March 29, 2016. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court took the motion under advisement. After considering the written submissions and the arguments presented at the hearing, the court issues this Memorandum Decision and Order Granting Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment.

INTRODUCTION

Jay Gordon brings this action claiming that Home Depot terminated his employment in violation of Utah public policy, and that Home Depot violated both the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Mr. Gordon alleges that he was fired because of his age, because he filed a workers’ compensation claim, and because he requested a reasonable accommodation for his disability. Mr. Gordon also alleges that Home Depot did not provide him with a reasonable accommodation required under the ADA.

Home Depot moved for summary judgment arguing that Mr. Gordon’s employment was terminated because of his poor customer service performance. It maintains that his termination was completely unrelated to Mr. Gordon’s age, worker’s compensation claim, or disability. Home Depot further argues that it provided Mr. Gordon with the reasonable accommodation that he requested pursuant to the ADA. For the reasons explained below, the court GRANTS Home Depot’s Motion for Summary Judgment.

FACTS

As a preliminary matter, the court expresses concern regarding the briefing in this case. In the plaintiffs response to the defendant’s Statement of Undisputed Material Facts, and the defendant’s response to plaintiffs Statement of Additional Material facts, the parties frequently purport to dispute the facts. However, as the court points out in footnotes, many of those alleged disputes are completely unsupported by the evidentiary record. Additionally; many of the facts included in the 94 pages of fact statements arid responses are never even referenced in the argument sections of the briefs. The court concludes that any fact not referenced in the parties’ argument is immaterial. The court therefore does not recite those facts in this opinion.

Finally, the convoluted nature of the statement of undisputed facts and the response to those facts is compounded by counsels’ inappropriate commentary. Both parties acknowledge that many of the facts are “undisputed,” but then proceed to include paragraphs of argument, additional facts, and characterizations; This type of commentary is inappropriate where a fact is undisputed. A party may not circumvent the page limits imposed on the argument section of a brief by including arguments in response to undisputed facts. Likewise, the local rulés do not allow a party to add additional facts in response to a fact that is undisputed. Rather, counsel should include additional facts in the “Additional Facts” section contemplated by DuCivR 56-1(c)(2)(C).

A. Mr. Gordon’s Employment

Mr. Gordon was hired by Home Depot in July of 2008 as a Pro Account Sales Associate for a store in Park City, Utah. Mr. Gordon was 58 years old at the time. A year later, in July of 2009, Mr. Gordon received his first periodic review. Home Depot’s periodic reviews include sections [1275]*1275for ratings in various categories as well as an overall rating. The rating system used by Home Depot has three choices: “0” for “Top Performer,” the highest rating; “V” for “Valued Associate,” the middle rating; and “I” for “Improvement Needed,” the lowest rating. Mr. Gordon received an overall rating of V, but he received a rating of I in two categories—“Respect” and “Solve.” Both of these categories relate to customer service. Mr. Gordon admits that his July 2009 periodic review was an accurate description of his performance up to that point.1

In November of 2009, Mr. Gordon suffered a back injury while he was at work. Mr. Gordon immediately reported the injury to an assistant store manager, Kyle Brown. He subsequently filed for workers’ compensation benefits. Mr. Gordon met with his store manager at the time, Dave Park, and together they completed an accident report and submitted a workers’ compensation claim.2 Mr. Gordon alleges that as a result of seeking workers’ compensation benefits, Home Depot “was very angry” and “really didn’t like” that he was seeking the benefits. Mr. Gordon also alleges that Home Depot wanted to “make an example” out of him.

Mr. Gordon’s next periodic review occurred in December of 2009. Mr. Gordon was given an overall rating of I, because of poor customer service performance. He again received a rating of I for customer service in the “Respect” and “Solve” categories. The review stated that he had received “two customer complaints about being rude to customers.” When Mr. Gordon was asked in his deposition if this review “was discriminatory against [him] in any way,” he responded “no.” Similarly, when Mr. Gordon was asked if this review “was retaliatory against [him] in any way,” he again responded “no.”3

In January of 2010, Mr. Gordon received a discipline notice from his manager, Mr. Horne, for committing a “minor work rule violation.” The notice stated that Mr. Gordon had checked out a Home Depot radio for his use, but had failed to return the radio at the end of his shift. It explained that “[f]ailure to return radios at the end of the shift could result in losing the radio and causing an unnecessary expense to the store.”

In the middle of 2010,4 Mr. Gordon requested an accommodation for his disability caused by his prior workplace injury. Specifically, Mr. Gordon requested a stool to use during his shifts. The formal paperwork for an accommodation was dated December 17, 2010. Mr. Gordon testified that he received the stool in February of 2011.5 [1276]*1276Mr. Gordon admits that the stool accommodated him, and that he needed no further accommodation. Mr. Gordon does claim, however, that he was mocked by other associates for using the stool. He claims that other associates would make remarks like “you can’t sit on that stool; that’s Jay’s special stool.”6 Mr. Gordon also believes that he was “overly scrutinized on every little thing he did” because of his requested accommodation.

Mr. Gordon’s next performance review was in late December of 2010. Mr. Gordon received an overall rating of V. He received a rating of I, in- the category of “Find.” .That customer service category had the, following description: “Makes customers the first priority, actively seeks out customers, greets all customers, offers assistance.” The review included a comment that “Jay has a good rapport with his customers and provides excellent knowledge for our customers from his years of experience.” But it also stated that “Jay needs to focus on qualifying every customer before solving their problem, Jay has been observed several times directing customers to other departments on issues he could have resolved.”

On April 13, 2011, Mr. Gordon told a customer he was assisting to go find “the big colored guy” in reference to an African-American Home Depot associate.

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Bluebook (online)
191 F. Supp. 3d 1271, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72681, 2016 WL 3129136, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gordon-v-home-depot-usa-inc-utd-2016.