Smith v. Concentra, Inc.

240 F. Supp. 3d 778, 2017 WL 782995, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28598
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMarch 1, 2017
DocketCase No. 15-cv-1386
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 240 F. Supp. 3d 778 (Smith v. Concentra, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Concentra, Inc., 240 F. Supp. 3d 778, 2017 WL 782995, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28598 (N.D. Ill. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

SHARON JOHNSON COLEMAN, United States District Court Judge

Plaintiff, Timika Smith, brought this action against her employer, Concentra Health Services, Inc., and Concentra, Inc. (hereinafter “Concentra”), alléging that she was discriminated against based on her religion, that she was discriminated against based on her disability, and that Concentra violated the Family Medical Leave Act. Concentra now moves this Court to grant summary judgment on all counts. For the reasons set forth herein, that motion [35] is granted in part and denied in part.

Background

The following facts are undisputed except where otherwise noted. Smith was employed as a Front Office Specialist by Concentra Health Services, Inc. at its Ash-land Avenue facility in Chicago. As a Front Office Specialist, Smith was responsible for greeting patients and visitors, admitting and checking out patients, obtaining authorizations to process patients for needed services, answering the telephones, faxing documents, filing- paperwork, and maintaining office inventory. Smith also assisted in performing patient drug screens, which involved processing paperwork, collecting the specimen from the patient, and securing, packaging, and storing the specimen.

Concentra also employed medical assistants, who were responsible for taking patient’s vital signs, performing ancillary medical tests, assisting doctors during examinations and treatments, operating sterilization equipment, performing drug screens, dispensing medications, and performing front office duties as required. In order to become a Medical Assistant with Concentra, an individual must have completed a medical assistant degree or certificate program as well as Concentra’s month-long internal certification program. Medical Assistants can perform all of the duties of Front Office Specialists, but Front Office Specialists can only perform a limited number of Medical Assistant duties.

Smith graduated from Olympia College’s medical assistant program. Concentra hired Smith as a Front Office Specialist, and accordingly did not provide Smith with the internal training necessary to work as a Medical Assistant. When Smith began working for Concentra, she worked from Monday through Friday from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Two Medical Assistants also began work at 7:00 AM, but Smith was the only Front Office Specialist whose shift started at 7:00 AM.

Smith is Muslim and is a member of the Moorish Science Temple of America. As part of her membership in the Moorish Science Temple of America, Smith was expected to participate in daily religious programs that began between 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM. On some occasions, Smith would pick up her daughter from school before going to .the program. The parties dispute whether Smith’s original work schedule was set in order to accommodate her religious practices or whether it was simply the time slot that needed to be filled when she was hired. Either way, the parties agree that Smith preferred her assigned shift because it allowed her to pick her daughter up from school and to attend her religious programming.

In January 2014 Carla Lowe became the Center Operations Director at the Ashland facility. In February, Lowe met with Smith to inform her that she would be [782]*782changing to a 9:00 AM- to 6:00 PM shift. This decision was based on Concentra’s determination that it was unnecessary to have a dedicated Front Office Specialist prior to 9:00 AM because the Medical Assistants on the 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM shift could perform the .front office functions until 9:00 AM and that it would be preferential to have more staff members available later in the day when the center tended to be busier. It is disputed whether these motivations were contemporaneously related to Smith. Smith informed Lowe that she could not work past 4:00 PM, because she needed to be at her temple prior to 6:00 PM each day and she sometimes needed to pick up her daughter before going to the temple. Smith subsequently met with Lowe and Ms. Gross, the Area Operations Director. After offering to let Smith take a break to fulfill her prayer accommodations, Gross ultimately offered to accommodate Smith’s religious schedule by allowing her to work from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, which would allow her to keep her full time benefits but would mean that she could only work 30 hours per week (the Ashland Avenue facility'was not open on the weekend). Smith asked if she could work as a Medical Assistant on the 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM shift, but was told that she could not because she had been hired as a Front Offícé Specialist and was not certified to act as a Medical Assistant. There is no evidence to suggest that there was a vacant Medical Assistant position on the 7:00 AM-4:00 PM shift.

Smith’s attorney subsequently sent Con-centra a letter requesting that Concentra permit Smith to retain her current schedule in light of her religious obligations. Concentra replied that Smith’s shift had changed because the volume at the center dictated that an employee who was qualified to work both in the front and back offices work the 7:00 AM-4:00PM shift. Concentra further explained that Smith was' , not qualified to work as a Medical Assistant on that shift, and that if Smith continued to start work at 7:00 AM the center would be overstaffed or would risk being unable to meet patient needs. Finally, Concentra noted that it had offered to let Smith leave at 5:30 PM to attend her religious services, but that Smith had rejected this offer because she would not have time to pick up her daughter and take her :home before the services. On March 17, 2014, Smith began working the 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM shift that Concentra had offered her as an accommodation. She continued to do so for the remainder of her employment with Concentra.

On September 8, 2014, Smith was involved in a car accident that caused injury to her cervical spine, left wrist, and hand. When Smith returned to work on September 15, '2014, she provided Lowe with her hospital discharge papers and a note from her primary care physician indicating that she did not have any work restrictions. Smith subsequently informed Lowe that she did not want to do drug screens because the wrist brace that she was wearing on her left wrist interfered with her ability to unscrew specimen cap lids, and was informed that she would need to provide a doctor’s note to that effect.

On September 26, 2014, Smith presented Lowe with a doctor’s note stating “Certify above patient is under my care for sprain of left wrist and unable to use left hand. Has limited use of left hand. Unable to use writing or screwing bottles.” Lowe. read this note as stating that Smith could not use her left hand in any capacity. The doctor who wrote the note testified that he had intended the note to convey that Smith could not do anything with her left hand. Based on the restriction contained in the note, Lowe concluded that Smith could not check patients in,.check patients out, process paperwork, perform drug screens, or perform blood alcohol tests. Lowe also [783]*783observed that Smith was in fact performing her duties with the use of both hands in contravention of her medical restriction, but that she was working at a slower rate, leading to patient backups and unfinished work at the end of Smith’s shift. Smith maintains that she could perform all of her duties aside from drug. screenings using both her left hand and right hand. Smith alternatively maintains that she could have kept up with all of her duties except drug screenings without using her, injured left hand at all.

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240 F. Supp. 3d 778, 2017 WL 782995, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28598, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-concentra-inc-ilnd-2017.