Turner v. Graphic Packaging International, Inc.

995 F. Supp. 2d 899, 2014 WL 252044, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8372
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 23, 2014
DocketCase No. 2:12-CV-02114
StatusPublished

This text of 995 F. Supp. 2d 899 (Turner v. Graphic Packaging International, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Turner v. Graphic Packaging International, Inc., 995 F. Supp. 2d 899, 2014 WL 252044, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8372 (W.D. Ark. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

P.K. HOLMES, III, Chief Judge.

Currently before the Court are Defendant Graphic Packaging International, Inc.’s (“Graphic Packaging”) motion for summary judgment (Doc. 27) and brief in support (Doc. 28), Plaintiff Byron W. Turner’s response in opposition (Doc. 30), and Graphic Packaging’s reply (Doc. 32). For the reasons described herein, Graphic Packaging’s motion for summary judgment (Doc. 27) is GRANTED.

I. Background

This lawsuit stems from Plaintiff Byron W. Turner’s allegations of employment discrimination against his former employer, Graphic Packaging. Turner maintains that Graphic Packaging failed to excuse him from certain attendance-related violations that were related to his disability and eventually terminated him for these violations contrary to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”), as amended, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et seq. Turner filed his complaint in this Court pro se on May 24, 2012, after exhausting his administrative remedies through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He received his right-to-sue letter from the Commission on February 24, 2012. Counsel entered an appearance in this Court on [901]*901Turner’s behalf on January 18, 2013, and prepared Turner’s response in opposition to the pending motion for summary judgment.

The facts in this case are straightforward. Turner is a 55-year-old Caucasian male who suffers from a paralyzed left arm, a condition he has had since he was nine years old. During the approximately 14 years that Turner was employed by Graphic Packaging, he was primarily a forklift driver. After receiving two safety violations, he was reassigned in September of 2010 from the forklift to a position in the company’s finishing department. (Doc. 30, p. 10).

Graphic Packaging has an attendance policy (Doc. 30-9, p. 2), which states that employees will be assigned “occurrence points” for certain violations. Occurrence points are assigned for tardiness, unexcused absences, failure to call in to work to report an absence, or clocking out of work early. If an employee’s absence from work is unexcused, but the employee has provided notice to the company that he will be absent, only one occurrence point is assessed. Id. If the absence is unexcused and the employee fails to call in or otherwise give notice about the absence (a “No Call/No Show”), two points are assessed. Id. After accumulating six occurrence points over a rolling 12-month period, the employee is provided with an attendance record printout that warns him of the violations. After seven occurrence points are accumulated, the employee is issued a final written warning. If the employee receives eight or more occurrence points, termination will occur. Id.

As of September 13, 2010, the first day Turner began his new job in the finishing department, he had already been assigned two occurrence points for attendance violations that took place in the preceding six months, neither of which are disputed here. Sometime during his first day in the finishing department, Turner suffered an injury to his non-paralyzed right arm while working on a glue machine. It appears that during the accident, a portion of the top layer of his skin was removed from the wrist to the elbow of his right arm. On September 14, 2010, the day after the accident, Turner stayed home from work due to the injury but did not call his employer — as required by the attendance policy-— to explain the reason for his absence or to request time off. Graphic Packaging accordingly assigned Turner two occurrence points for being a “No Call/No Show” that day. (Doc. 30-3).

The following day, September 15, 2010, Turner visited his primary care physician, who provided Turner with a note that read, “Please be advised that he has some limitation on the left [paralyzed] arm which with overuse will result in impairment of that arm and possible injury to the right arm. Recommend light duty until he has been eval. for functional capacity.” (Doc. 30-2). The note did not specifically mention the September 13 glue machine injury to Turner’s right arm.

According to Turner, he provided his supervisor, Scott Monnot, a copy of the September 15 doctor’s note and informed Monnot that the injury to his right arm occurred on the job. Turner did not receive any occurrence points for his absence from work on September 15, the date of the doctor’s note that he provided to Mon-not.

On September 28, 2010, Turner missed work in order to meet with an occupational therapist concerning his left-arm paralysis. He claims he informed his employer in advance that he had a doctor’s appointment, and it appears his employer counted the absence as unexcused, but with prior notice. Turner was assessed one occurrence point for this absence.

[902]*902From September 29, 2011, to February 9, 2011, Turner was assessed an additional 2.5 occurrence points for various attendance infractions, none of which he contests. (Doc. 30, p. 11). He was assessed another occurrence point on February 10, 2011, for an unexcused absence the day after the plant shut down due to inclement weather. Although Turner contends he should not have been assessed a point for the February 10 absence, as weather conditions were poor that day and he could not leave his house, he does not argue that this absence was related to his left arm disability or his ADA claim.

In total, of the 8.5 occurrence points Turner received over the 12-month period from February 21, 2010, to February 21, 2011, he only disputes three of those points: two points for the unexcused “No Call/No Show” absence on September 14, 2010, the day following the glue machine accident; and one point for the absence on September 28, 2010, the day he missed work to consult with an occupational therapist.

On February 21, 2011, Turner was terminated for attendance policy violations, as he had exceeded the maximum of eight occurrence points allowed by the company. Turner believes the true reason for his termination was not poor attendance but illegal discrimination due to his left arm disability. He argues that Graphic Packaging fired him without reasonably accommodating his disability. To support his claim of discriminatory animus, he states that two of his supervisors told him at various times during his employment at Graphic Packaging that they didn’t “have a job for a one-armed man.” (Doc. 28, p. 6). Further, he points to a single statement made by another supervisor in mid-September of 2010 that it was “not an option” for Turner to refuse to pick something up with his hands and that he needed to pick the object up “or go home.” Id.

In filing its motion for summary judgment, Graphic Packaging contends that Turner failed to state a prima facie case for disability discrimination because no adverse action was taken against him due to his disability. In the alternative, Graphic Packaging suggests that if the Court finds that a prima facie case has been stated, Turner’s claims should still be dismissed because there was a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for Turner’s termination.

II. Legal Standard

When the court must determine whether summary judgment is appropriate, the burden of proof is on the moving party to establish both the absence of a genuine dispute of material fact and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Fed.R.Civ.P.

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Bluebook (online)
995 F. Supp. 2d 899, 2014 WL 252044, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8372, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/turner-v-graphic-packaging-international-inc-arwd-2014.