Anello v. Berryhill

MARIA JESUS ANELLO, Plaintiff, v. NANCY A. BERRYHILL, Defendant.

Case No. 18-cv-00070-DMR

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

January 22, 2019

ORDER ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS AMENDED COMPLAINT

Re: Dkt. No. 50

Pro se Plaintiff Maria Jesus Anello filed an amended complaint against her former employer, the United States Social Security Administration ("SSA") alleging claims for disability discrimination, wrongful termination, and violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. [Docket No. 47.] The government now moves to dismiss the claim for failure to state a claim pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) and for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1). [Docket No. 50.] This matter is appropriate for resolution without a hearing. Civ. L.R. 7-1(b). For the following reasons, the motion is granted. The court grants leave to amend certain claims, but others are dismissed with prejudice.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Allegations in the Amended Complaint¹

Ms. Anello makes the following allegations in the amended complaint ("FAC"): Ms. Anello worked as a Service Representative at SSA's Santa Rosa, California field office from August 12, 2001 until August 12, 2011. FAC ¶¶ 12, 14. She describes her job responsibilities as follows: "Service Representatives provide assistance to the public by answering a variety ofquestions, by interviewing the individual, investigating the situation and resolving the problem." Id. at ¶ 7.

At the time Ms. Anello started working for the SSA in 2001, she was a "[d]isabled Individual with one Open Heart Surgery, and under the care of a Cardiologist, with permanent Atrial Fibrillation, History of Stroke, and Hypothyroidism." Id. at ¶ 12. During the first nine years of her employment, Ms. Anello's desk was "configured so that anyone approaching [her] desk would approach from the front." Id. at ¶¶ 15-16. In May 2010, prior to a planned office remodel, Ms. Anello asked that her desk be configured the same way, as a "reasonable accommodation" of her heart conditions, and "submitted five doctors' notes in support of this request." According to Ms. Anello, "having people approach [her] from behind startles [her], which can negatively impact [her] heart condition." Id. at ¶¶ 15-16. Ms. Anello's request was denied. Instead, she received the accommodation of installing a mirror at her desk "so that [she] could see people approaching from behind." Id. at ¶¶ 16, 78. Ms. Anello alleges that after she moved desks and installed the mirror, her supervisor began approaching her desk more frequently than she had before, which "aggravat[ed] [her] heart condition" and caused stress to Ms. Anello's neck "as [she] frequently had to look in the mirror to see who was approaching," which she alleges "eventually led to injury to my left hand[.]" Id. at ¶ 17.

On August 2, 2010, Ms. Anello was injured at work while typing: she "felt a stabbing pain going from [her] left wrist and fingers, all the way to the elbow and up [her] arm." Id. at ¶ 18. She alleges that her injury resulted from SSA's denial of her request to reverse the orientation of her desk. See id. at ¶ 17, FAC at 22 ¶ 2(e) ("The intolerable conditions created by not accommodating my request of desk reversal as established in all the laws and regulations of OPM, ADA, ADEA, EEOC for employees with disabilities, which caused my work injury."); FAC at 12 ¶ 48 (alleging that her "disability, including my heart condition and the hand injury caused by Defendant's refusal to accommodate my heart condition, was the sole reason or motivating factor for Defendant['s]" conduct). Ms. Anello was eventually diagnosed with "CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome), that has disfigured [her] left hand with muscular and nerve loss," and resulted in "constant pain" in her hand and a "stiffened and sore" neck. FAC ¶ 55, FAC at 12 ¶53. Her disability "limit[s] [her] major life activities in the following ways: needing constant medication for pain, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, speaking, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working." Id. at ¶ 58; see also FAC at 11 ¶ 45. In addition to CRPS, Ms. Anello alleges the following: "The disability I have or that Defendant saw or believed I had: Permanent Atrial Fibrillation, past Heart Surgery, Neuropathic Pain, . . . Cervical Pain, Strain of fingers/wrist of left hand, fast weight loss, crying because of the terrible pain, inflammation of left arm and hand, loss of muscular or nerve mass on my left hand." FAC at 15 ¶ 71.

Ms. Anello filed a worker's compensation claim in December 2010. FAC ¶ 19. She alleges she was harassed by the Assistant District Manager ("ADM") for her disability and injury following the filing of her claim. FAC at 12 ¶ 49. For example, the ADM commented on her accent, teased her about the pain she was experiencing, and refused to complete her worker's compensation paperwork. FAC ¶ 19. He also "harassed and insulted [her] with the looks, and nasty comments" and "started obstructing all the remedies that [she] had as a Disabled Individual, he took it really bad as, he was the instrumental person involved in the denial of turning [her] desk around." Id. at ¶¶ 83, 86. She was "required to present Work Status Reports from [her] doctors to document again and again [her] condition." Id. at 22 ¶ 2(d); see also FAC at 17 ¶ 79.

While waiting for the ADM to complete her worker's compensation paperwork, Ms. Anello applied for leave with the Voluntary Leave Transfer Program ("VLTP"), a program "where co-workers can donate time." FAC ¶ 20. Her workers' compensation claim was granted, her "manager denied [her VLTP] based on the grant," and the next day her workers' compensation grant was reversed, yet her managers "refused to allow [her] to participate in the [VLTP]" and "continued to obstruct the paperwork." Id. Because she was out of leave, Ms. Anello "went back to work in January 2011." Id. at ¶ 21. She again tried to apply for VLTP in February 2011 yet "[n]othing was done on [her] application for two months." Id. at ¶ 22. In April 2011, Ms. Anello "found a way to apply for [VLTP] by going around [her] manager." Id. at ¶ 23. She "was accepted, added to the VLTP list and people began donating time to [her]," but the ADM "rejected the donations to [her] and demanded that [she] be taken off the VLTP list" in May 2011. Id. at ¶¶23, 87.

In May 2011, Ms. Anello "could only work 41.75 hours due to the extreme pain" she was experiencing. Id. at FAC ¶ 27. At the end of May 2011, Ms. Anello received the following work restrictions: "I needed to take medication orally, to take a five minute break from typing every twenty minutes, [and] not to lift more than five pounds with my left hand." These restrictions were valid from May 26, 2011 until August 26, 2011. Id. at ¶ 24. Ms. Anello alleges that her supervisors interfered with her restrictions. For example, on or around June 27, 2011, the ADM "physically tried to interfere with taking [her] medication." Id. at ¶ 25; FAC at 24 ¶ 3. Further, "nearly every time [Ms. Anello] attempted to take a break, [she] was told it wasn't time for [her] break yet, that [she] had not been typing enough and was subject to similar harassments." FAC ¶ 25; FAC at 24 ¶ 3.

Around this time, Ms. Anello "contacted [her] Occupational Doctor and requested to review the valid restrictions but only to add instead of minutes of work, to say 'to what the patient can resist'." FAC ¶ 26. Elsewhere in the FAC, Ms. Anello alleges that on June 29, 2011, her supervisors forced her to obtain new work restrictions: "management advised [her] that [she] was required to have ]her] doctor institute restrictions on both of [her] hands, even though [she] had not had an injury to [her] right hand," and that she would otherwise "not be entitled to any accommodations." Id. at ¶ 30; see also ¶ 80 ("On 6/29/11, I had hand therapy early, when I got back to the Office, management informed me that I was not going to be allowed to have my Reasonable Accommodations unless I provided them a new Work Status Report (WSR) with restrictions for both hands."); FAC 13 at ¶ 54 (alleging "management demanded restrictions for both arms/hands from my doctor"); FAC 23 at ¶ 5 ("Plaintiff's physician was imposed by management to establish the severe restrictions of 06/29/11 that included restrictions for both hands"); FAC ¶ 31 ("On June 29, 2011, I was informed by my supervisor that my doctor had sent the revised restrictions, as they had demanded."); FAC ¶ 59 ("[A]fter Defendant demanded that my doctor impose new restrictions on both of my hands, Defendant refused to accommodate them, and placed me on unpaid leave.");FAC ¶ 103 ("Management and HR refused to accept me back in the Office on July, because of the Work Status Report (6/29/11) with its forced and demandedrestrictions for both hands and based on disability discrimination.").

On July 1, 2011, Ms. Anello arrived at work and "was presented with a letter by [her] manager telling me that they would not accommodate [her] according to the restrictions that they had insisted [her] doctor impose." FAC ¶ 34; see also FAC 13 at ¶ 55. Ms. Anello's supervisors "told [her] to come back to work in October," and failed to inform her that she was being placed on unpaid leave. They also failed to advise her of her "right to alternative methods of leave." FAC ¶¶ 35, 36.

Ms. Anello alleges that by mid-July 2011, she was having trouble paying her bills and applied for disability retirement. FAC ¶ 37. She alleges that she would not have applied for disability retirement "if she was in a pay status." FAC at 24 ¶ 4. According to Ms. Anello, "[n]othing happened" with her application for disability retirement, and on August 22, 2011, "Human Resources submitted a Retirement MRA+10 (Non-Disability) application, supposedly on [her] behalf." FAC ¶¶ 37, 38. Ms. Anello alleges that she "did not authorize this submission or this signature"...