Salim v. MGM Grand Detroit, L.L.C.

106 F. App'x 454
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 2, 2004
DocketNo. 03-1171
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 106 F. App'x 454 (Salim v. MGM Grand Detroit, L.L.C.) 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
Salim v. MGM Grand Detroit, L.L.C., 106 F. App'x 454 (6th Cir. 2004).

Opinion

CLAY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Suzan N. Salim, a former blackjack dealer with Defendant MGM Grand Detroit, L.L.C., appeals the January 7, 2003 order of the district court, denying reconsideration of its October 29, 2002 order granting summary judgment for MGM on her claims for common law slander and for discriminatory discharge and other discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12112 et seq. (“ADA”), and the Michigan Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act, Mich. Comp. Laws § 37.1101 et seq. (“PWDCRA”). For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM the district court’s order denying Plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration.

I.

FACTS

A. Substantive Facts

Plaintiff Suzan N. Salim, a 38 year-old female at the time Defendant MGM hired her as a blackjack dealer in February, 2000, takes two insulin injections a day for her diabetes, which was diagnosed in 1992. The insulin does not always control her diabetes. Thus, her doctors have told her to stop smoking, diet, exercise, lose weight, and avoid foods that are fatty, salty, and sweet. Plaintiff testified that she smokes up to a pack and a half of cigarettes per day and has never tried to quit smoking. Plaintiff also has been unable to control her weight.

Prior to becoming an employee of MGM, Plaintiff worked Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the party store she and her husband owned. Control of Plaintiffs blood sugar was a problem before, during, and after her tenure at MGM. Plaintiff testified that prior to her discharge from MGM her “life was pretty normal.” She was happy and able to do her normal housework. Plaintiff also testified that her diabetes prevents her only from lifting too much weight, anything exceeding twenty pounds.

Because MGM is a 24-hour operation, the casino operates on three shifts — morning (noon to 8 p.m.), swing (8 p.m. to 4 a.m.) and sunrise (4 a.m. to noon). During her interview with MGM, Plaintiff told the interviewer (identified only as “Michael”) that she could not work nights. Michael responded that her medical condition would be taken into consideration when assigning her a shift.

MGM hired Plaintiff as a dealer for blackjack and three-card poker on February 28, 2000, after which Plaintiff participated in a three-day orientation. During the orientation, the instructor (identified only as “Louis” or “Lewis”) asked Plaintiff and the other trainees to indicate two shift preferences. Plaintiff indicated only the morning shift, believing that she could not work the other shifts without adversely impacting her diabetes. Lewis advised Plaintiff to pick a second shift and told her to pick the swing shift as her second shift. Even though Plaintiff was adamant that she could not work at night, Plaintiff testified that she “never thought about” choosing the sunrise shift, which runs in the morning, from 4 a.m. to noon.

On the last day of the orientation, Becky Meade, the shift supervisor, informed Plaintiff that she would be working the swing shift (8 p.m. to 4 a.m.). Because Plaintiff believed that she would not be able to control her sugar levels if she worked at night, she asked Meade to assign her to the morning shift, but Meade refused to consider changing Plaintiffs schedule. Meade allegedly then stuck her [456]*456finger in Plaintiffs face and said, “You work for our favor, you don’t work for your favor.” Plaintiff then told Meade that she had trouble controlling her blood sugar at night and asked whether there was a procedure to have her medical condition evaluated for a shift change. Meade told Plaintiff to bring in supporting medical information and MGM would consider a change. Plaintiff alleges that other (unidentified) trainees, who allegedly all were new employees and were not disabled, were assigned a daytime shift.

Approximately three weeks after she began working the swing shift at MGM, Plaintiffs medication failed to control her blood sugar and she began to have physical problems, including becoming dizzy, having difficulty concentrating, and falling down. On about ten occasions, she had stomach cramps, heart palpitations and bouts of diarrhea and sweating between the hours of 1:30 and 2:00 a.m. She would run to the bathroom and later return to her station when she felt better or, if she did not feel better, she would go home. She also began to experience blurry vision during her shift as a consequence of elevated blood sugar. Plaintiff did not experience these symptoms during the day time when she was not working. She also began to develop sores on her legs.1

During her employment with MGM, Plaintiff sought medical treatment from at least four different physicians, all of whom wrote letters on Plaintiffs behalf to be given to MGM, requesting that she be assigned a day shift at the casino. Plaintiff provided these letters to Becky Meade, who forwarded them to the human resources department. MGM denied all of Plaintiff’s requests for a morning schedule without explanation. Plaintiff claims that she missed 42 days of work during her seven months of employment at MGM, mostly due to her medical condition.

On October 17, 2000, Becky Meade told Plaintiff that her employment had been terminated for falsifying a return-to-work note in late August, 2000. Plaintiff admitted to altering a note from one of her physicians, Dr. Harold Rodner, such that it indicated that she should not resume her full work load until August 28, 2000, instead of August 26, 2000, as the note originally had read. She claims, however, that she had the permission from an unidentified nurse in Dr. Rodner’s office to change the date herself. Dr. Rodner testified, however, that no one at his office had made that change and that it would have been against office policy in any event.

Following her termination, Plaintiff attempted to obtain work at other casinos in Detroit. She allegedly was informed by the Michigan Gaming Commission that she could not be hired as a result of having submitted a fraudulent doctor’s note to MGM.

B. Procedural History

Plaintiff filed a complaint against MGM alleging a common law slander claim as well as claims for wrongful discharge and other discrimination because of her disability. According to her complaint, Plaintiff is an insulin-dependent diabetic and suffers from diabetic ocular disease and glaucoma. Plaintiff alleged that her medical condition worsened while employed at MGM because she was required to work the night shift. She allegedly asked to work the day shift on at least four separate occasions in order to make it easier [457]*457for her to control her medical conditions. MGM denied Plaintiffs l-equests, and Plaintiff claims that these denials were discriminatory.

MGM terminated Plaintiffs employment on October 20, 2000 on the ground that she had submitted a fraudulent doctor’s note for unpaid leave. Plaintiff alleged that MGM’s ground for termination was a pretext for discrimination and that MGM had filed slanderous and false information about Plaintiff with state agencies, including the agency responsible for unemployment insurance.

On October 29, 2002, the district court issued an opinion and order granting summary judgment for MGM on all of Plaintiffs claims.

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106 F. App'x 454, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/salim-v-mgm-grand-detroit-llc-ca6-2004.