Willis v. CSL MANAGEMENT L.L.C., d/b/a CEDARBROOK SENIOR LIVING

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedJuly 5, 2023
Docket2:21-cv-10805
StatusUnknown

This text of Willis v. CSL MANAGEMENT L.L.C., d/b/a CEDARBROOK SENIOR LIVING (Willis v. CSL MANAGEMENT L.L.C., d/b/a CEDARBROOK SENIOR LIVING) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Willis v. CSL MANAGEMENT L.L.C., d/b/a CEDARBROOK SENIOR LIVING, (E.D. Mich. 2023).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN SOUTHERN DIVISION

LATRICE WILLIS, Case No. 2:21-cv-10805 Plaintiff, HONORABLE STEPHEN J. MURPHY, III v.

CSL MANAGEMENT L.L.C.,

Defendant. /

OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT [26]

Plaintiff Latrice Willis filed the present employment action against Defendant CSL Management. ECF 1; 15. After the close of discovery, Defendant moved for summary judgment on all claims. ECF 26. The parties briefed the motion. ECF 28; 29.1 For the reasons below, the Court will grant the motion for summary judgment. BACKGROUND Plaintiff began working at Cedarbrook Senior Living, an assisted living home, in late 2019. ECF 26-5, PgID 416. Defendant hired Plaintiff to work as a “Resident Service Associate/Personal Care Aide.” ECF 26-7, PgID 424; ECF 26-17, PgID 490. As a caregiver Plaintiff was tasked to “[a]ssist and provide direction to residents with personal care needs which enable[d] the resident to maintain good personal hygiene, to carry out activities of daily living, to maintain good health[,] and to participate in

1 Based on the briefing of the parties, the Court will resolve the motion without a hearing. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 78(b); E.D. Mich. L.R. 7.1(f)(2). the activities of the community.” ECF 26-7, PgID 424. Plaintiff would also “physically take [residents] to the bathroom, wash them up,” and generally assist the residents “in grooming, hygiene, dressing, [and] nutrition.” ECF 26-4, PgID 399. The position

also included certain “environmental adaptability” requirements, such as “continuous exposure to residents who are ill,” and “exposure to hazardous materials and infectious diseases.” ECF 26-7, PgID 425 (alterations omitted). In March 2020, COVID-19 spread across the country. See ECF 26-17, PgID 490. Defendant obtained personal protective equipment (PPE) “for staff members, including masks, surgical masks, gloves, gowns, and face shields.” Id. Yet “[m]ultiple employees, including Plaintiff, stopped reporting to work when the pandemic began.”

Id. In fact, “Plaintiff worked her last shift” on March 18, 2020. Id.; see ECF 26-4, PgID 404. In April 2020, Defendant’s human resources “began calling employees that stopped reporting to work to determine if they would return . . . . Employees who did not respond or who stated they would not return to work were designated as voluntary resignations.” ECF 26-17, PgID 490–91. On the morning of April 9, 2020,

human resources contacted Plaintiff by phone after Plaintiff had been inexplicably absent from work for three weeks. Id. at 491. During the call, Plaintiff explained that “she was afraid to return to work because of COVID-19.” Id. Still, human resources told Plaintiff that she needed to inform Defendant no later than noon that day whether she would return to work or voluntarily resign from her position. Id. Plaintiff failed to contact Defendant by noon and was accordingly “designated as a voluntary resignation” on April 9, 2020. Id. Defendant emailed Plaintiff informing her of the resignation that afternoon. ECF 26-20, PgID 557. Then, one day later, Plaintiff emailed human resources a medical note stating

that she was diabetic and requested a leave of absence through the end of May 2020. ECF 26-21, PgID 559. Before receiving the medical note, human resources had no record “of Plaintiff mentioning diabetes or that she was allegedly diabetic.” ECF 26- 17, PgID 491; see ECF 26-4, PgID 398. Nor did Plaintiff “request[] any accommodations prior to the April 10, 2020[] medical note.” ECF 26-17, PgID 491. But Plaintiff had never been diagnosed with diabetes, only with prediabetes. ECF 26-4, PgID 403. She understood a prediabetes diagnosis to mean that she had

“blood sugar levels that are higher than normal but not high enough yet to be diagnosed as diabetes.” Id. The prediabetes diagnosis did not “ever impact [her] ability to do [her] job.” Id. at 413. After the human resources department received the medical note, which Plaintiff sent after Defendant sent the resignation email, human resources told her that the department “could not accept [the] note from her medical provider as

sufficient to provide a leave of absence[] and that she needed to come back to work or resign.” ECF 26-22, PgID 561. Human resources also “reminded Plaintiff that [Defendant] had multiple forms of PPE which employees were required to use, and which would limit the spread of COVID-19.” ECF 26-17, PgID 492; see ECF 26-4, PgID 405. But Plaintiff did not believe that the PPE was sufficient protection and refused to return to work. ECF 26-4, PgID 404–06; ECF 26-17, PgID 492. She also knew that she could not perform her job remotely. ECF 26-4, PgID 399, 404. Plaintiff did not return to work. ECF 26-22, PgID 561; see ECF 26-4, PgID 406. LEGAL STANDARD

The Court must grant a summary judgment motion “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). A moving party must point to specific portions of the record that “it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986). Once the moving party has met its burden, the non-moving party may not simply rest on the pleadings but must present “specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for

trial.” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587 (1986) (emphasis omitted) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(e)). A fact is material if proof of that fact would establish or refute an essential element of the cause of action or defense. Kendall v. Hoover Co., 751 F.2d 171, 174 (6th Cir. 1984). A dispute over material facts is genuine “if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Anderson v. Liberty

Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986). When considering a summary judgment motion, the Court must view the facts and draw all reasonable inferences “in the light most favorable to the non-moving party.” 60 Ivy St. Corp. v. Alexander, 822 F.2d 1432, 1435 (6th Cir. 1987) (citations omitted). DISCUSSION Plaintiff brought eleven claims against Defendant, and Defendant moved for summary judgment on all eleven claims. The Court will address each in turn.

I. Family First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) Plaintiff claimed that Defendant violated the FFCRA when it terminated Plaintiff after (1) she “was ordered to self-quarantine by her medical provider,” (2) she “was subject to federal, [S]tate, and local quarantine and isolation orders related to COVID-19” “because of her pre-existing conditions,” and (3) she “was caring for her children whose school and place of care were closed for reasons related to the COVID- 19 pandemic.” ECF 15, PgID 99. Defendant moved for summary judgment on the

claim “because [Plaintiff] was not eligible for leave under the FFCRA.” ECF 26, PgID 370.

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Bluebook (online)
Willis v. CSL MANAGEMENT L.L.C., d/b/a CEDARBROOK SENIOR LIVING, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/willis-v-csl-management-llc-dba-cedarbrook-senior-living-mied-2023.