Hardenburg v. Dunham's Athleisure Corp.

963 F. Supp. 2d 693, 2013 WL 4042663, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112420
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedAugust 9, 2013
DocketCase No. 11-15630
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 963 F. Supp. 2d 693 (Hardenburg v. Dunham's Athleisure Corp.) 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
Hardenburg v. Dunham's Athleisure Corp., 963 F. Supp. 2d 693, 2013 WL 4042663, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112420 (E.D. Mich. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

LAWRENCE P. ZATKOFF, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This matter is before the Court on Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment [dkt. 24]. The Motion has been fully briefed. The Court finds that the facts and legal arguments are adequately presented in the parties’ papers such that the decision process would not be significantly aided by oral argument. Therefore, pursuant to E.D. Mich. L.R. 7.1(e)(2), it is hereby ORDERED that the Motion be resolved on the briefs submitted. For the following reasons, Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

Plaintiff Darrell Hardenburg (“Plaintiff’) was hired by Defendant Dunham’s Athleisure Corporation (“Defendant”) as an accounts payable clerk in October of 1997. Plaintiff was supplied with Defendant’s Associate Handbook, which, among other things, expressed that Defendant had a company policy prohibiting discriminatory conduct and harassment. The handbook also provided a reporting mechanism for victims or witnesses of discriminatory conduct or harassment as follows: the victim or witness notifies Defendant by either (1) informing a supervisor or manager; (2) informing a department head; (3) informing the Director of Human Resources; or (4) calling the alert hotline. If the victim or witness believes that matter remained unresolved, he or she must contact the Senior Vice President of Human Resources. Plaintiff acknowledged that he read and fully understood the policies contained in the handbook, as evidenced by his signature on the “Associate Handbook Receipt” page.1

Plaintiffs duties as an accounts payable clerk comprised processing/retailing/updating vendor invoices (collectively referred to as “processing invoices”), processing store receiving paperwork (“processing store paperwork”), and opening the mail. The invoices were divided among four accounts payable clerks, with Plaintiff being responsible for vendors S-Z. Likewise, the task of processing the store paperwork was divided among the four clerks.

[697]*697In approximately 1999, Plaintiff transitioned into an auditing position (ie., a second position) which required auditing vendor invoices. Plaintiff felt this assignment to be “more stressful” than his initial job. Late in 2006, Plaintiff again transitioned into an “extremely stressful” position (ie., a third position) where his primary duties included matching invoices to receipts and researching problems with Defendant’s distribution center.

Plaintiff suffered a stroke on July 1, 2008, and remained off work for a number of weeks. According to Plaintiff, he is now cognitively deficient as a result of the stroke. On August 11, 2008, Plaintiff returned to work on a part-time basis. Plaintiff and Lynette Kelley (“Kelley”)— Plaintiffs direct supervisor — agreed that Plaintiff would return to his first assignment as an accounts payable clerk, but with reduced responsibilities to facilitate his assimilation back to work and to accommodate his part-time schedule. Specifically, Plaintiffs job duties only entailed processing vendor invoices A-E. Although processing store paperwork was a duty normally assigned to an accounts payable clerk, Plaintiff was relieved of that responsibility in the interim.

Plaintiff was cleared by his doctor to return to full-time status on September 15, 2008. Plaintiff gradually attempted to “[take] on more responsibilities” of his initial position, such as opening the mail. Plaintiff was, however, unable to process store paperwork subsequent to his stroke — this responsibility was eventually shouldered to the other three similarly-situated accounts payable clerks. Plaintiff admitted during his deposition that, although he hoped that he could return to processing this paperwork after his stroke, such a goal was unrealistic because Plaintiff struggled to maintain pace with his already-reduced responsibilities. ■

An employee evaluation of Plaintiff dated February 26, 2009, notes, among other things, that Plaintiffs invoices were accurate; that Plaintiff must improve his quantity of work as he “does not come close” to finishing his assigned tasks; that Plaintiff “continued to fall behind in his responsibilities;” that Plaintiff cannot complete the same quantity of work as the other accounts payable clerks; and that the other accounts payable clerks completed Plaintiffs share of processing store paperwork.2 This evaluation form was signed by Plaintiff, Kelley, and Joan Long, Defendant’s Vice President and Controller.

On August 25, 2009, Kelley approached Plaintiff about some overdue invoices. According to Kelley, Plaintiff became upset, stated that he was disabled, and explained that his disability prevented him from doing the “same amount of work as everyone else.” Plaintiff also threatened to sue Defendant for discrimination. In response to Plaintiffs meeting with Kelley, Plaintiff met with Jan Rieckhoff (“Rieckhoff”), Defendant’s Director of Human Resources, and Dan Cieslak (“Cieslak”), Defendant’s Senior Vice President of Human Resources, on September 17, 2009. The purpose of this meeting was two-fold: (1) to address Plaintiffs “outburst” on August 25;3 and (2) in response to Plaintiffs claim of disability, to determine if any type of aecommodation(s) could be made to help Plaintiff adequately perform his job. Notably, Rieckhoff and Cieslak told Plaintiff to “think about” how Defendant could fur[698]*698ther accommodate him (aside from a change in job positions and already-reduced duties), and to follow-up with either Rieckhoff or Cieslak with any suggestions or proposals. Plaintiff failed to do so.

A second evaluation of Plaintiff was drafted on April 15, 2010. Of import, the evaluation states that Plaintiffs productivity is “well below the accounts payable department standards;” that he consistently fails to complete his assigned work; that portions of his assigned tasks must be shifted to other clerks to meet deadlines; that Plaintiff rarely communicates when he falls behind on assigned tasks; and, overall, that Plaintiffs quantity of work did not improve since his last evaluation. Plaintiff likewise signed this evaluation.

Plaintiff reviewed the substance of his second evaluation with Kelley and Rieckhoff on or about May 14, 2010. Rieckhoff reminded Plaintiff that he had not yet proposed any further accommodations that Defendant could provide. Rieckhoff also reiterated that Plaintiffs “current situation of reduced workload/non-performance could not continue.” As a byproduct of this meeting, it was determined that Kelley would meet daily with Plaintiff to help him prioritize his work and to provide suggestions on how to be more efficient. Kelley and Plaintiff both agreed that these meetings generally kept Plaintiff “on task.”

During the course of Plaintiff and Kelley’s regular meetings, she noticed a few areas in which Plaintiff could improve his productivity. Kelley suggested that Plaintiff not highlight the different fields on the invoices or check off every item on the purchase orders. Kelley would later testify, “I told him to try not doing that, maybe that would help him.” The suggestions, according to Kelley, would “help him have more time to ... process more invoices.” On the other hand, Plaintiff testified that unless he highlighted the invoices and checked-off the purchase orders, he “could not keep track of what [he] had to be doing.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
963 F. Supp. 2d 693, 2013 WL 4042663, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112420, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hardenburg-v-dunhams-athleisure-corp-mied-2013.