Nartey-Nolan v. Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.

91 F. Supp. 3d 770, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18859, 2015 WL 641660
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. North Carolina
DecidedFebruary 16, 2015
DocketNo. 5:13-CV-713-BO
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 91 F. Supp. 3d 770 (Nartey-Nolan v. Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nartey-Nolan v. Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., 91 F. Supp. 3d 770, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18859, 2015 WL 641660 (E.D.N.C. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER

TERRENCE W. BOYLE, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on defendant’s motion for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Plaintiff has responded, defendant has replied, and the motion is ripe for ruling. For the reasons discussed below, defendant’s motion is granted.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff filed this action against her former employer proceeding pro se and alleging claims for wrongful termination and failure to accommodate under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)', 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. Counsel for plaintiff appeared in this action on June 23, 2014, and discovery was conducted thereafter. The following facts appear not to be in dispute.

Defendant manufactures and services medical imaging equipment, and plaintiff was employed at defendant’s facility in Cary, North Carolina from 2003 through January 13, 2012. Plaintiff held a variety of positions with defendant and was last employed in a Sales Support I position. Plaintiffs position was full-time and her regular work schedule was 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Plaintiff provided administrative support for a team selling service contracts for imaging equipment. This was a sedentary, clerical position.

Plaintiff suffers from congenital scoliosis and in June 2011 began to experience pain in her neck. On January 31, 2011, plaintiffs treating orthopedist, Dr. George Charron, excused plaintiff from work for ten days due to her condition. Her excuse was then extended by Dr. Charron through March 2011, and plaintiff was permitted leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for this absence. When plaintiff returned to work on March 28, 2011, Dr. Charron restricted plaintiff to working only four hours per day; this restriction was imposed for six months. Plaintiff worked part-time during this period and exhausted her FMLA leave prior to the end of the six-month period, though defendant allowed her to continue working part-time pursuant to her doctor’s restriction. At the end of the six-month period, Dr. Charron extended plaintiffs part-time restriction for another three months. De[773]*773fendant accommodated Dr. Charron’s restriction and plaintiff worked part-time for an additional three months.

In December 2011, near the end of this three-month period, defendant requested that Dr. Charron review a detailed job description of the Sales Support I position. Dr. Charron stated that plaintiff would be able to return to working a six-hour but not an eight-hour workday. Dr. Charron imposed the six-hour workday restriction for a trial period of two weeks. Dr. Char-ron again imposed the six-hour workday restriction in a subsequent meeting with plaintiff. On January 13, 2012, defendant terminated plaintiffs employment.

DISCUSSION

A motion for summary judgment may not be granted unless there are no genuine issues of material fact for trial and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). The moving party bears the initial burden of demonstrating the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). If that burden has been met, the non-moving party must then come forward and establish the specific material facts in dispute to survive summary judgment. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 588, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). In determining whether a genuine issue of material fact exists for trial, a trial court views the evidence and the inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 378, 127 S.Ct. 1769, 167 L.Ed.2d 686 (2007). However, “[t]he mere existence of a scintilla of evidence” in support of the nonmov-ing party’s position is not sufficient to defeat a motion for summary judgment; “there must be evidence on which the [fact finder] could reasonably find for the [non-moving party].” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Speculative or con-clusory allegations will not suffice. Thompson v. Potomac Elec. Power Co., 312 F.3d 645, 649 (4th Cir.2002).

I. WRONGFUL DISCHARGE

A plaintiff makes a prima facie showing of wrongful discharge in violation of the ADA by establishing that “(1) she is within the ADA’s protected class; (2) she was discharged; (3) at the time of discharge, she was performing her job at a level that met her employer’s legitimate expectations; and (4) her discharge occurred under circumstances that raise a reasonable inference of unlawful discrimination.” Haulbrook v. Michelin North America, 252 F.3d 696, 702 (4th Cir.2001). An individual is within the ADA’s protected class if she is a qualified individual with a disability. Id.

Defendant contends that plaintiff cannot establish one of the prima facie elements of her claim — namely, that she is a qualified individual with a disability. A qualified individual is a person who “with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the employment' position that such individual holds or desires.” 42 U.S.C. § 12111(8). “[Consideration shall be given to the employer’s judgment as to what functions of the job are essential, and if an employer has prepared a written description before advertising or interviewing applicants for the job, this description shall be considered evidence of the essential functions of the job.” Id. An essential job function is one which “bear[s] more than a marginal relationship to the job at issue.” Tyndall v. Nat’l Educ. Ctrs., 31 F.3d 209, 213 (4th Cir.1994).

Here, defendant contends and plaintiff does not dispute that full-time (forty hours [774]*774per week) work is an essential element of the Sales Support I position. See e.g. Nar-tey-Nolan Dep. Ex. 30 (description of the Sales Support I position), Nartey-Nolan Dep. 205-09 (plaintiffs testimony that she understood defendant to require full-time work as a part of the position); see also 29 C.F.R. § 1630

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91 F. Supp. 3d 770, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18859, 2015 WL 641660, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nartey-nolan-v-siemens-medical-solutions-usa-inc-nced-2015.