Weil v. Carecore National, LLC

833 F. Supp. 2d 1289, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66051, 2011 WL 2415791
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedJune 14, 2011
DocketCivil Action No. 10-cv-00799-CMA-CBS
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 833 F. Supp. 2d 1289 (Weil v. Carecore National, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Weil v. Carecore National, LLC, 833 F. Supp. 2d 1289, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66051, 2011 WL 2415791 (D. Colo. 2011).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

CHRISTINE M. ARGUELLO, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Defendant Carecore National, LLC’s (“Defendant”) Motion for Summary Judgment. (Doc. # 29.) In this case, Plaintiff Natasha Weil (“Plaintiff’) brings suit against Defendant, her former employer, pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12101, et seq., and the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), 29 U.S.C. § 2601, et seq. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant unlawfully retaliated against her for exercising her rights under the FMLA, in violation of 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a)(2), and retaliated against her for exercising her rights under the ADA, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 12203(a).

I. BACKGROUND

The following facts are undisputed, unless otherwise noted. The Court will elaborate, as needed, in its analysis section.

Plaintiff began working for Defendant on October 2, 2006, as a Clinical Decision Support (“CDS”) Representative. CDS Representatives answer calls that come into Defendant’s call centers. On or about January 10, 2007, Plaintiff was allowed to begin working from home, which is a privilege not given to every Carecore employee. (Doc. # 42-1, ¶ 8.) When logged into Defendant’s telecommunications system, Plaintiff inputted codes to let her employer know whether or not she was available to receive calls. If she was not available, she input a code that put her in “auxiliary mode.” If Plaintiffs system was in auxiliary mode for too long, either her supervisor, Coleen Thurston, or a “runner”1 would contact her by instant message or email message to determine whether she needed assistance or would soon be ready to take another call.

On January 2, 2008, Plaintiff provided Defendant with a “Certificate of Disability” from a doctor stating that she could not perform her regular duties from January 2 through January 31, 2008. The certificate stated that Plaintiff should be permitted to take “restroom breaks as needed.” (Doc. # 38-1 at 2.) Plaintiff submitted another doctor’s note on March 31, 2008, stating that Plaintiff “requires [1292]*1292restroom breaks on an as needed basis for the benefit of her health.” (Doc. # 29-6.) Neither note diagnosed a condition or distinguished Plaintiffs need from anyone else’s need to access a restroom. (Doc. ##38-1 at 2, 29-6.) Although Plaintiff never sought leave for restroom breaks, she took FMLA leave for depression from March 25, 2008 through April 7, 2008. (Doc. ## 29-8; 29-9.)

On May 30, 2008, Defendant gave Plaintiff a formal written warning for improperly using instant messaging technology, sending information from her business computer to her personal email address, and claiming not to have received an email message that Defendant found in her deleted messages folder. In the portion of the form allowing for responsive comment, Plaintiff stated that she had not received the email message found in her deleted messages folder and that she was trained to email documents from her business computer to her personal email address. Plaintiff conceded that she had improperly used instant messaging technology. (Doc. # 29-10.)

Later that day, Plaintiff informed her supervisor, Coleen Thurston, that she wanted to levy a complaint of harassment against Regional Human Resources Manager Geri Westberg. By instant message, Plaintiff wrote the following:

I would like to make a formal complaint for medical descrimination [sic] and harrassment [sic]. When I first came down sick and used my PTO up I began to get problems from [Westberg] back in January. After I had a breakdown and my doctor placed my [sic] on leave for two weeks, sending [sic] in documentation of my medical conditions, situations [sic] took a turn for the worse and now everytime [sic] I turn around I am getting written up for anything and everything, including things I was trained to do and given an OK a year prior. I have also submitted two prior reports of harrassment [sic] from [Westberg] in HR and nothing was never [sic] investigated.
Since giving my MD note, I still receive daily IM’s form [sic] runners and supervisors, asking if I am aware that I have been on break, when I have MD permission to do so for medical needs. I feel that since [Defendant] has been advised of my medical that I am trying to be let go of my job, each write up being used as leverage.

(Doc. # 29-11.) On June 10, 2008, Janet Galloway, Vice President of Human Resources, interviewed Plaintiff over the telephone about her complaint. In that telephone call, Plaintiff reiterated her allegation that runners were harassing her via instant message communications over the length of her restroom breaks, despite having knowledge of her doctor’s note providing that Plaintiff should be allowed to take restroom breaks as needed. (Doc. # 29-20 at 10-12.) Plaintiff also expressed suspicion that the alleged harassment might stem from Westberg’s belief that Plaintiff had distributed an anonymous letter complaining about work conditions. (Id. at 8-9.)

On July 10, 2008, Defendant notified Plaintiff that it had concluded its investigation and found no wrongdoing by West-berg. Also on July 10, Defendant received a complaint from a customer whose calls to Defendant had twice been disconnected that day. Defendant traced both disconnected calls to Plaintiffs work station. Recordings of the calls indicated that Plaintiff had not interacted with the caller before the calls were disconnected. Defendant initially considered this to be a [1293]*1293serious violation of their Telephone Policy.2

On the morning of July 11, 2008, Defendant attempted to limit Plaintiffs restroom usage on the grounds that her restroom breaks exceeded normal company standards and that her January 2, 2008 doctor’s note had expired on January 31, 2008. After Plaintiff responded that she had submitted two subsequent doctor’s notes, Defendant withdrew its attempt to limit Plaintiffs restroom use. (Doc. # 38-8.) Approximately four hours later, Plaintiff partook in a telephone conversation with Thurston, Galloway, and Paula Miller, a Human Resources employee, concerning the disconnected calls. (Doc. #29-1 at 233:1-234:12.) During the call, Plaintiff insisted that equipment malfunction had caused the disconnections. Galloway responded that “it’s your word against the verification that we have given the measuring, the recordings, the tools that we have to pinpoint where the source of the disconnection was.” (Doc. # 29-22 at 4.) After Plaintiff asked about her medical problems, Galloway replied that Plaintiffs medical issues did not have anything to do with the discipline, which related only to the disconnected calls. (Id. at 4-5.)

Although Plaintiff was cautioned that she could be terminated for the offense, Defendant instead issued a Final Written Warning (the “Warning”). Pursuant to the Warning, Plaintiffs remote privilege was revoked and she was told to report to the Colorado Springs office the following Monday.

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833 F. Supp. 2d 1289, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66051, 2011 WL 2415791, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/weil-v-carecore-national-llc-cod-2011.