Trierweiler v. Wells Fargo Bank

639 F.3d 456, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 7150, 94 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 44,151, 111 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1768, 2011 WL 1327991
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedApril 8, 2011
Docket10-1343
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 639 F.3d 456 (Trierweiler v. Wells Fargo Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Trierweiler v. Wells Fargo Bank, 639 F.3d 456, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 7150, 94 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 44,151, 111 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1768, 2011 WL 1327991 (8th Cir. 2011).

Opinion

MURPHY, Circuit Judge.

Kimberli Trierweiler brought this action against her former employer, Wells Fargo Bank (Wells Fargo), alleging that the bank had constructively discharged her in violation of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k). The district court 1 granted Wells Fargo’s motion for summary judgment. Trierweiler appeals, and we affirm.

*458 I.

Trierweiler began working for Wells Fargo in October 2006 as a teller at the bank’s Watertown, South Dakota branch. Upon starting her employment, she received an employee handbook that detailed the company’s policies in respect to attendance, absenteeism, and paid time off (PTO). The handbook stressed that regular and dependable attendance was an essential function of the job and that excessive absences were grounds for corrective action, including termination. The handbook also provided several toll free employee resource numbers to contact for assistance concerning accommodations for medical issues, harassment or discrimination, problems with supervisors, and ethics violations.

At the time of Trierweiler’s employment, Wells Fargo employees received 20 days, 160 hours, of PTO each year. New employees were eligible to take PTO after a one month waiting period. Based on her October 2006 start date, Trierweiler received a pro rated PTO allotment of two days for 2006. She used all of her PTO time and had an additional four and a half days unpaid absence by the end of the year.

In December 2006, Trierweiler informed her supervisors Jennifer Brown and Mandy Maynard that she was pregnant. Because she had been employed less than a year, and would not reach a year by her July due date, Trierweiler was not eligible for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. She was however eligible to take maternity leave under Wells Fargo’s short term disability plan. Trierweiler was told that after her maternity leave began, there would be a five day waiting period before her short term disability benefits would kick in. She would have to use PTO in order to be paid for those five days. Trierweiler alleges that she was not told that she could use unpaid time off during the waiting period if she had no PTO remaining when her maternity leave began, although the employee handbook did provide that information. Believing she was required to use PTO time, Trierweiler told Brown and Maynard that she planned to reserve five of her 2007 PTO days to cover the waiting period.

On April 3, 2007, Trierweiler. had a formal performance evaluation with Maynard and the branch manager. Maynard rated Trierweiler’s performance as meeting or exceeding expectations. There was no discussion at the meeting of any concerns relating to her attendance or PTO use.

Two weeks after her evaluation Brown scheduled a visit with Trierweiler to discuss her attendance. During the first three and a half months of 2007, Trierweiler had incurred eleven and a half days absence, with three additional days scheduled before the end of April. All told this amounted to nearly 120 hours of her 160 hour annual PTO allowance. None of these absences were related to her pregnancy. During the April meeting, Brown says that she gave Trierweiler a verbal warning regarding her frequent absences. Trierweiler acknowledges that she and Brown reviewed her PTO usage at the meeting and that Brown told her that she did not have many days remaining, but she says that it was not a disciplinary meeting.

Trierweiler took another PTO day on May 9 to stay home with a sick child. Supervisor Maynard emailed Human Resources the same day to inquire as to how she should handle Trierweiler’s continuing absences. HR advised her to inform Trierweiler that if she had another absence, she would receive a written warning.

Two days later on May 11, Maynard called a meeting with Trierweiler. The parties dispute what occurred at this meet *459 ing. According to Trierweiler, Maynard first handed her a complimentary letter from a customer about her service and then “smirked.” She told Trierweiler that if she missed one more day of work before the end of the year, she “would be done working there.” Trierweiler replied that she would call HR about the matter, and Maynard responded that she was acting on directions from HR. During her deposition, Maynard testified that she had told Trierweiler on May 11 that she would be given a formal warning if she had another absence.

On the next work day which was May 14, Trierweiler saw her doctor for stress and cramping. Trierweiler then left a phone message for Maynard saying that she had a doctor’s note for a pregnancy related medical leave for the entire week. Maynard returned the call and left a message. According to Trierweiler, the message said “This isn’t going to work, you taking time off.” Trierweiler alleges that she understood the message to mean that she no longer had a job. She did not contact Maynard or anyone else at Wells Fargo to inquire about her job status.

While Trierweiler was on the week’s medical leave, Maynard sought advice about the situation from HR consultant Lisa Cossette. Cossette in turn sought the advice of an upper level HR consultant. In one email to the upper level consultant, Cossette expressed skepticism about Trierweiler’s medical leave, saying that she was unsure what to do if Trierweiler started “having ‘pregnancy’ related absences all of a sudden.... She hasn’t had any pregnancy related problems up to this point. Yucky one! But I want to make sure we do the right thing too.” They ultimately decided to issue Trierweiler a formal warning for her previous absences, not including the recent medically approved leave, and to contact a Wells Fargo program called WorkAbility to explore possible temporary accommodations for any current and future pregnancy related leaves. Two days later on the last day of her medical leave, Trierweiler drove through the bank drive through lane, gave a teller her keys, and said that she was done. She then left Maynard a phone message saying that she had dropped off her keys and asking that a teller retrieve her personal items.

Trierweiler brought this action against Wells Fargo for constructive discharge, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k). The district court granted summary judgment to Wells Fargo, concluding that Trierweiler had failed to present sufficient evidence that she had been constructively discharged. Trierweiler appeals.

II.

We review a district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo, viewing the record and all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Hanenburg v. Principal Mut. Life Ins. Co., 118 F.3d 570, 573 (8th Cir.1997).

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639 F.3d 456, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 7150, 94 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 44,151, 111 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1768, 2011 WL 1327991, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trierweiler-v-wells-fargo-bank-ca8-2011.