Moakler v. Furkids, Inc.

374 F. Supp. 3d 1306
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedFebruary 12, 2019
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 1:16-cv-4451-AT
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 374 F. Supp. 3d 1306 (Moakler v. Furkids, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moakler v. Furkids, Inc., 374 F. Supp. 3d 1306 (N.D. Ga. 2019).

Opinion

AMY TOTENBERG, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

This matter is before the Court on Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment [doc. 39]. Defendants move for Summary Judgment on Plaintiff's sole claim for retaliation in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. 215 (a)(3).

I. Background

The following is a summary of the facts in this case for background purposes. It does not reflect findings of fact by the Court.

*1310Defendant Furkids is "a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization, [which] has operated one of the largest cage-free, no-kill cat shelters in the Southeast since 2002." (Def.'s Reply to Pl.'s Resp. to Def.'s Separate St. of Undisputed Material Facts (Def.'s Reply SMF), Doc. 54-1 ¶ 1.) Furkids' shelter "is dedicated to protecting the lives and safety of Atlanta's homeless cats." (Id. ¶ 2.) "Defendant Samantha Shelton is the founder and CEO of Furkids." (Id. ¶ 3.)

Plaintiff, Laura Moakler, loves cats. (Def.'s Reply SMF, Doc. 54-1 ¶ 6.) In June of 2015, this passion led her to a job as a veterinary assistant with Defendant Furkids, Inc. (Id. ¶ 7.) She worked at Furkids until August 1, 2016 when her employment was terminated by Defendants. (Id. ¶¶ 43, 48.) Her termination is the subject of this lawsuit. (Compl.)

As a veterinary assistant, Moakler was required to provide weekly room counts of the cats in Furkids' care, receive intake appointments, carry out and schedule appointments, clean cages, and prepare "med" cards for sick cats. (Furkids Dep., Doc. 40 at 43:2-17.) Both Ms. Moakler and Furkids agree that Ms. Moakler was required to perform room counts weekly. (See id. ; Moakler Dep., Doc. 41 at 8-11.) "Weekly room counts entail counting the cats that are in each room at the cage-free shelter and recording this number on a room count chart that was then given to Furkids' CEO, Shelton." (Def.'s Reply SMF, Doc. 54-1 ¶ 9.) Furkids houses hundreds of cats in 20 largely cage free rooms. (Id. ¶ 9) (The parties dispute whether Furkids houses between 300-350 cats or 400-500 cats.)

Ms. Moakler was an hourly employee with Furkids. (Moakler Dep., Doc. 41 at 10:17-11:19.) Initially, she was paid for thirty hours of work, but at some point, she became a full-time employee and was then paid for forty hours. (Id. ) Ms. Moakler contends that she frequently worked long hours without receiving additional compensation. (Moakler Dep., Doc. 41 at 10:4-9, 11:23-14:5, 19:20-20:1.) These long hours caused stress for Ms. Moakler at home because she was not able to spend time with her family or tend to normal household chores. (Moakler Dep., Doc. 41 at 13:5-14:5, 74:18-21, 118:1-7.) After much discontent, she sought legal advice "to talk about the hours I was working versus the hours I was being paid for." (Moakler Dep., Doc. 41 at 9:10-11.) Her lawyer sent the Defendants a letter on May 25, 2016, which stated that Ms. Moakler retained the firm "to investigate a Fair Labor Standards Act overtime case arising out of her employment with Furkids." (Doc. 50-7 at 1.) The letter does not state any conclusions but merely advises Furkids and Ms. Shelton that Moakler has retained the firm to investigate Ms. Moakler's overtime claim. (Id. )

Ms. Moakler testified that after her lawyer sent the letter, "there was a palpable tension at work and everything changed." (Moakler Dep., Doc. 41 at 43:7-8.) She explained that she experienced this tension with Renee Cardona, the Animal Care Manager, and Terri Brunson, the Shelter Manager. (Id. at 60:24-61:7.) Ms. Moakler testified that "had I worked with Ms. Shelton, there would've been tension, but I didn't work with her." (Id. at 61:8-10.) Defendants provide evidence that neither Brunson nor Cardona knew about the letter from Moakler's attorney at the time Moakler was discharged. (Cardona Decl., Doc. 39-8 ¶ 6; Brunson Decl., Doc. 39-7 ¶ 9). Plaintiff does not dispute this fact in the Parties' Statement of Undisputed Facts. (See Def.'s Reply SMF, Doc. 54-1 ¶ 55.)

Moakler explains that "as soon as the letter was sent, everything changed at work" - Defendants implemented a new *1311overtime policy, a time card policy, and excluded Plaintiff from staff meetings. (Moakler Dep., Doc. 41 at 43:7-44:5.) The first of these policy changes occurred in early June, when Furkids instituted a policy to stop its employees from working overtime without permission. The parties dispute when this policy was announced to the employees. Defendant Shelton states that it was announced to staff on June 8, 2016, but Ms. Moakler contends that this new policy was announced to staff on June 13, 2016. (See Furkids Dep., Doc. 40 at 56:1-20; Moakler Decl., Doc. 50-3 ¶ 9.) Ms. Shelton testified that on June 8, 2016, "I instructed that no staff was to work beyond their scheduled shift." (Furkids Dep., Doc. 40 at 56:15-20.) Then, Shelton testified that on that same day "Laura Moakler worked beyond her scheduled shift." (Id. ) Moakler disputes this and testified that no one told her to stop working beyond her scheduled shift. (Moakler Dep., Doc. 41 at 55:4-56:21.) Moakler contends that she was notified of the new policy on June 13, 2016. (Moakler Decl., Doc. 50-3 ¶ 9.) On June 12, 2016, a day before Moakler states that she was notified of the new policy, Shelton disciplined Moakler for not following her supervisor's instruction to stop working past 5 p.m. on June 8, 2016. (See Furkids Dep., Doc. 40 at 56:1-20.) Thus, Ms. Moakler claims that she was disciplined for an alleged violation of the new policy before she was advised of the policy change. (Moakler Decl., Doc. 50-3 ¶ 11.)

Second, also on June 12, 2016, Furkids implemented a "Time Card Instructions Policy" and distributed it to all employees, including Moakler. (Furkids Dep., Doc. 40 at 130:16-134:21). Ms. Shelton testified that "[e]very [employee] received a hard copy of the memo and was required to sign it, and then that went into their employee file." (Id. at 134:19-21.) Shelton also testified that Moakler signed the document. (Id. at 135:5-18.) (identifying the memo with Moakler's signature as Exhibit 10). Moakler contends that she was given different instructions than other employees were given regarding working overtime. (Moakler Decl., Doc. 50-3¶ 12.) According to Moakler, other employees were required to obtain permission to work overtime from their direct supervisor, while Moakler was required to obtain prior permission, in writing, from Furkids' CEO. (Moakler Decl., Doc. 50-3 ¶ 12.)

Third, after her attorney sent the letter, Moakler contends she was excluded from staff meetings. According to Defendants, "[m]anagers attend the staff meeting[s]. We had opened it up to vet assistants, but found that the meetings were going quite wrong and it was not as efficient. So we cut back and just said manager level. So we no longer had the vet assistants attending the meeting." (Furkids Dep. at 136:18-23.) Moakler testified that this affected her ability to do her job because "I wasn't privy to the info discussed at the staff meetings.... If there were decisions made, I would not necessarily know these decisions ... that would affect my ability to do my job because I wouldn't know what the priorities were." (Moakler Dep., Doc.

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374 F. Supp. 3d 1306, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moakler-v-furkids-inc-gand-2019.