Handshoe v. Mercy Medical Center

34 F. App'x 441
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 18, 2002
DocketNo. 00-4172
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 34 F. App'x 441 (Handshoe v. Mercy Medical Center) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Handshoe v. Mercy Medical Center, 34 F. App'x 441 (6th Cir. 2002).

Opinion

KENNEDY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Teresa Handshoe appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants Mercy Medical Center and Mercy Health System — Western Ohio 1 on her claims under the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Ohio Revised Code §§ 4112.02(A) and 4112.02(1), and 4112.99, and Ohio public policy. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I. Background

The following relevant facts are taken from the record, as viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Beginning in 1993, Teresa (“Terri”) Handshoe, who is deaf, was employed as a Program Coordinator with Community Services for the Deaf in Springfield, Ohio (“CSD”). The position of Program Coordinator included duties such as providing community education regarding deafness, program development, client advocacy, case management services, referral services, community networking, and representing the deaf in the community. The position also included some supervisory duties, although the record is not clear as to the extent of those duties. Handshoe was responsible for the performance evaluations of her one subordinate, Pam Funderburg, the Interpreter Coordinator for CSD. Funderburg’s duties included teaching sign language classes, putting together a newsletter for the deaf community, scheduling interpreter services, and providing interpreter services for Handshoe and for deaf clients. Funderburg also did some typing for Hand-shoe. Handshoe, in turn, was supervised by Doug Lineberger, the Executive Director of West Central Ohio Hearing and Speech Center. Lineberger also played a significant role in supervising Funderburg, given the small size of the deaf services staff and his management style. Although Handshoe would prepare performance evaluations for Funderburg, and Funderburg would “report to” Handshoe, Lineberger was also involved in Funderburg’s day-to-day performance and would typically handle any discipline. Neither Lineberger nor Funderburg are deaf.

On May 1, 1995, CSD merged with defendant Mercy Medical Center and was renamed Mercy Speech and Hearing Center (“MSHC”). After the merger, Lineberger was named the director of the new MSHC. Not much changed with respect to [443]*443the deaf services organization immediately after the merger. Handshoe’s and Funderburg’s duties remained essentially the same. In other areas of the West Central Ohio Hearing and Speech Center, Lineberger was making changes in reporting structure. He eliminated a position known as office manager, so that all of the front office staff reported directly to him. But Lineberger had not formally changed the reporting structure of the MSHC. He had, however, taken over the task of evaluating Funderburg’s performance. On June 30, 1995, and again on July 18, 1995, Lineberger completed and signed performance appraisals of Funderburg.

On June 17, 1995, Mercy sponsored a picnic for the Springfield deaf community. Both Handshoe and Funderburg were in attendance. A deaf man named Tim Medina, a friend of Handshoe’s from Washington D.C., was also at the picnic. Funderburg conversed with a number of the deaf individuals in sign language. At one point, Funderburg was conversing with a thirteen-year-old deaf girl. Funderburg signed to her that she looked “old.” Apparently, Funderburg meant to sign to the girl that she looked grown up, but did not know of a sign for “grown up.” Medina witnessed this conversation, and interrupted Funderburg, telling her that she should have used the sign for “more mature.” A dispute ensued, with Funderburg telling Medina to stop criticizing her signing, as he had also corrected her earlier in the day. Handshoe did not witness this incident, but learned of it through complaints within the deaf community. Handshoe then spoke to Funderburg about the incident and reported the situation to Lineberger.

On July 17, one month after the picnic, Medina sent a strongly-worded letter to Lineberger, with copies to other Mercy officials, Handshoe, and Funderburg. In the letter, Medina accused Funderburg of treating the deaf individuals at the picnic poorly, by ignoring them, insulting them, and berating them. He also criticized her signing skills. Lineberger thought that Handshoe was taking Medina’s side, and should have provided more support to her colleague Funderburg in the matter. Lineberger spoke with other Mercy officials about the matter. At one point, he spoke with Richard Rogers, the Vice-President in charge of Human Resources, who took notes of the conversation. Rogers testified that he didn’t recall whether the notes were of things he told Lineberger, or of things Lineberger told him. Later, however, he testified that they were “just notes of Doug Lineberger communicating to me.” (J.Á. at 886.) The notes included the following:

Has not shown the capability to supv. Pam [Funderburg],
Demonstrated distrust of hearing people.
9 months ago — stated—didn’t trust hearing people.
Terri has made “mean” comments to Pam — as communicated to Doug, (before or after process) has reacted angry on issues generally — “an angry deaf person” (cumulation of issues)
Relative to Issue
No support — no opinion on issue— did not support staff
Final Straw
Change in reporting alignment parallei @ this pt., they’re both supv. by Doug L.

(J.A at 774.)

On July 24, Lineberger held a meeting with Handshoe, at which he told Handshoe that her supervisory duties were being taken away, that Funderburg was now to report directly to Lineberger, and that [444]*444Funderburg would no longer assist Hand-shoe in her duties. A few days later, Lineberger gave Handshoe a copy of a document reviewing the items discussed at the meeting. (J.A. at 228-29.) The document contained the following notations:

— Pam Funderburg will report directly to Doug Lineberger; Terri will no longer supervise Pam
— Pam will function as your interpreter when possible and will schedule other qualified interpreters as needed
— Terri will write/compose her own correspondence, make own phone calls etc ... Pam will type + provide office support when appropriate

If you cannot perform your responsibilities as discussed, changes can be made. (J.A. at 228.) The document went on to outline Handshoe’s job duties, which were otherwise substantially the same as her duties prior to the incident.

Handshoe viewed the change as a demotion, and protested. She filed a grievance and met with Richard Rogers. Rogers later met with Handshoe and Funderburg. He concluded that there were no issues of employment discrimination, but that serious communication, perception, and team relationship problems existed in the department. He recommended that Lineberger, Handshoe, and Funderburg participate in a “team building initiative” to be conducted by an outside consultant. All three agreed.

After the July 24 change in reporting structure, Mercy began receiving a series of letters from the deaf community. These letters decried Handshoe’s demotion and criticized Funderburg’s abilities and treatment of deaf individuals.

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34 F. App'x 441, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/handshoe-v-mercy-medical-center-ca6-2002.