Rucker v. Great Dane Petroleum Contractors, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedMarch 22, 2023
Docket2:21-cv-00207
StatusUnknown

This text of Rucker v. Great Dane Petroleum Contractors, Inc. (Rucker v. Great Dane Petroleum Contractors, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rucker v. Great Dane Petroleum Contractors, Inc., (M.D. Fla. 2023).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA FORT MYERS DIVISION

AMBER RUCKER, an individual,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No.: 2:21-cv-207-SPC-KCD

GREAT DANE PETROLEUM CONTRACTORS, INC.,

Defendant.

/ OPINION AND ORDER1 Before the Court are Defendant Great Dane Petroleum Contractors, Inc.’s Motions for Summary Judgment (Doc. 61, 62), Plaintiff Amber Rucker’s Response in Opposition (Doc. 68), and Great Dane’s Reply (Doc. 75). For the following reasons, the Court grants the Motion on Rucker’s claims (Doc. 61) but denies the Motion on the counterclaim (Doc. 62).

1 Disclaimer: Papers hyperlinked to CM/ECF may be subject to PACER fees. By using hyperlinks, the Court does not endorse, recommend, approve, or guarantee any third parties or their services or products, nor does it have any agreements with them. The Court is not responsible for a hyperlink’s functionality, and a failed hyperlink does not affect this Order. BACKGROUND2 This is an employment dispute. Great Dane is a petroleum company. A run-down of the key players is necessary. Steve Nale, Wayne “Curt”

Ashley, and others owned Great Dane. Nale was President. Ashley was CFO and Rucker’s supervisor until he retired. After Ashley retired, Danielle Watkins—Nale’s daughter—took over as CFO. Winsome Scott worked at Great Dane and was Rucker’s confidant. She is described by varying people

as an office administrator, an office manager, and an administrative manager. She was never Rucker’s supervisor. Rucker worked at Great Dane from 2012 to 2020. She started as Ashley’s assistant and then became head of payroll. Rucker’s work included

reconciling credit card statements and taking care of payroll and benefits. And for much of Rucker’s time at Great Dane, she was the only one responsible for payroll. After about eight years at Great Dane, Rucker was suspended and then fired in January 2021.

The parties disagree on why Rucker was suspended and fired. According to Rucker, Great Dane retaliated against her because she complained about Great Dane’s many misdeeds and illegal activity: (1) bribing 7-Eleven employees to win contracts; (2) allowing employees to use

2 Because the Court writes for the parties, it assumes familiarity with the facts and writes only those necessary for resolving the parties’ motions. Unless otherwise noted, the parties either agree on these facts or they were undisputed in the record. company credit cards for personal use, then writing them off as business expenses; (3) misrepresenting to its insurance carrier that it was a drug free

workplace; (4) fraudulently applying for over 2 million dollars in PPP loans3; (5) overcharging customers for fictious expenses; and (6) avoiding payroll taxes by mislabeling wages paid to employees. Rucker says she complained to multiple people about these transgressions for years, including to Ashley,

Nale, and Scott. She also submitted a complaint to 7-Eleven in October 2020, which led 7-Eleven to investigate their employees’ relationships with Great Dane. 7-Eleven eventually cut ties with Great Dane but at some point after Rucker’s suspension and firing.

Great Dane fires back. It says it suspended Rucker in December 2020 because she emailed Great Dane’s entire payroll information to managers unauthorized to access it. And then Great Dane says it fired her shortly after when it learned she had been inaccurately paying herself overtime for years.

Here is how Rucker paid herself: she kept two sets of timesheets to track her regular and overtime hours. One set documented up to about 40

3“PPP loans” are Paycheck Protection Program loans—a “SBA-backed loan that helps businesses keep their workforce employed during the COVID-19 crisis.” Paycheck Protection Program, U.S. Small Business Administration, https://www.sba.gov/funding- programs/loans/covid-19-relief-options/paycheck-protection-program. hours a week. The second set noted her alleged overtime hours.4 Rucker took the excess hours, calculated her overtime pay based on time and a half her

normal rate, and inputted the amount as a “per diem” to be paid. It’s undisputed Rucker’s method was not the correct way to pay overtime. But Rucker says Ashley told her to do it that way. (Doc. 61-2 at 17:1-6; 25:8-13, 34:23-35:4, 36:9-10; Doc. 71-1 at ¶ 7). Great Dane denies that Rucker worked

the extra hours and that Ashely (or anyone else) authorized Rucker to pay herself the way she did.5 (Doc. 61-3 at ¶¶ 9-10, 12; Doc. 61-5 at ¶¶ 9-11, 13). At some point in 2019 or 2020, Ashley retired, and Watkins took over as CFO and Rucker’s supervisor. The parties dispute when the transition

happened. Great Dane had a retirement party for Ashley in October 2019. It says Watkins became Rucker’s supervisor around then. (Doc. 61-5 at ¶¶ 2, 9; Doc. 71-4 at 11:9-11, 12:3-8). But all agree Ashley was still involved in Great Dane, at least in some capacity, until November 2020, as he signed checks for

the company and consulted with Watkins. (Doc. 71-4 at 17:20-18:5, 24:1-20). Rucker claims Ashely still supervised her and approved her overtime

4 The overtime timesheets were handwritten and signed by Ashley. But Rucker admits that Ashley signed a blank timesheet and she copied the form to use weekly for her overtime hours.

5 Great Dane also accuses Rucker of charging it for work done on Rucker’s personal home. Rucker admits Great Dane paid for at least some work on her home, but she asserts that Great Dane approved it and it was part of a scheme to figure out how Great Dane was paying for personal invoices. Finally, Great Dane says Rucker reported taking multiple business trips from her home when she was working remotely to the office when she made no such trips. Rucker admits she didn’t take all those trips but argues that is between her and the IRS. timesheets until November 2020. (Doc. 61-2 at 39:20-23). But even Rucker agrees that after November 2020, Ashley was out. Id.

In December 2020, Rucker emailed payroll information to multiple managers who otherwise would not have access to the information. (Doc. 61- 2 at 124:13-21, 125:6-8; Doc. 71-4 at 14:6-13). Within days, Great Dane suspended Rucker with pay. (Doc. 61-5 at ¶ 12; Doc. 61-7; Doc. 71-4 at 45:14-

46:3, 52:25-54:1). Because of Rucker’s suspension, Watkins took over payroll. (Doc. 71-4 at 84:8-20). She soon discovered how Great Dane paid Rucker large per diem payouts for years—essentially doubling her salary—for no apparent reason.

(Doc. 61-3 at ¶ 9; Doc. 71-4 at 70:7-10, 84:8-20, 88:13-89:8, 90:5-15). Great Dane’s lawyer then asked Rucker to provide evidence or explanation for why she was entitled to those funds. (Doc. 61-2 at 146:6-11; Doc. 61-8). When she failed to do so, Great Dane fired her. (Doc. 61-2 at 30:22-31:19, 146:23-25).

Rucker sues Great Dane under the federal False Claims Act (“FCA”) and Florida’s Private Whistleblower Act (“FWA”), alleging her suspension and discharge were unlawful retaliation. Great Dane counterclaims, alleging civil theft and violation of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Great

Dane separately moves for summary judgment on Rucker’s retaliation counts and on its civil theft (Count I) counterclaim. LEGAL STANDARD “A party may move for summary judgment, identifying each claim or

defense . . . on which summary judgment is sought. The court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). A dispute is genuine “if the evidence is such that

a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Anderson v.

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