Bonkowski v. Oberg Indus., Inc.

787 F.3d 190

Jeffrey BONKOWSKI, Appellant

v.OBERG INDUSTRIES, INC.

No. 14–1239.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Argued Oct. 23, 2014.

Filed: May 22, 2015.

Tiffany R. Waskowicz, Esq. (Argued), Joshua M. Bloom & Associates, Pittsburgh, PA, for Appellant.

Paul S. Mazeski, Esq., Erin J. McLaughlin, Esq. (Argued), Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, Pittsburgh, PA, for Appellee.

BEFORE: FUENTES, GREENBERG and COWEN, Circuit Judges.

Opinion

COWEN, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Jeffrey Bonkowski appeals from the order of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania granting the summary judgment motion filed by Defendant Oberg Industries, Inc. (“Oberg”) with respect to his claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”). In this appeal, the Court must interpret a Department of Labor (“DOL”) regulation—which states in relevant part that “[i]npatient care means an overnight stay in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical care facility.” We conclude that “an overnight stay” means a stay in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical care facility for a substantial period of time from one calendar day to the next calendar day as measured by the individual's time of admission and his or her time of discharge. Because Bonkowski was admitted and discharged on the same calendar day, we will affirm the District Court's order.

I.

Bonkowski worked for Oberg (a manufacturer of precision components and tooling) as a wirecut operator and machinist. He has a number of health conditions, including an aortic bicuspid (i.e., he has two heart valves as opposed to three) and diabetes. He was diagnosed with a possible aortic aneurysm after he fainted in the woods in May 2010. In addition, Bonkowski's colon was removed.

On November 14, 2011, Bonkowski met with two supervisors (David Santi and Jeffrey Ambrose) in order to discuss his recent suspension for allegedly sleeping on the job. According to Bonkowski, he began to experience shortness of breath, chest pain, and dizziness, and Santi and Ambrose gave him permission to go home and continue their meeting the next day. He clocked out at 5:18 p.m. and went home to try to slow down his breathing and heart rate. Lisa Bonkowski testified at her deposition that her husband looked as “white as a ghost” and was clutching his chest. (A345.) Over the next few hours, Bonkowski unsuccessfully tried to slow down his heartbeat and catch his breath.

Shortly after 11 p.m., Bonkowski's wife drove him to Butler Memorial Hospital. It appears that the couple arrived at the hospital shortly before midnight. At his deposition, Bonkowski stated that “I just know that I arrived earlier, I remember just—when they were wheeling me in, I see a clock right in front of me and it was a few minutes before 12:00.” (A279.) He was then admitted shortly after midnight on November 15, 2011.

Bonkowski underwent comprehensive testing at the hospital. His wife was initially informed that he may need open heart surgery. However, the tests did not find any complications with his heart condition or diabetes. Bonkowski accordingly was released from Butler Memorial Hospital in the early evening hours of November 15, 2011. He obtained a doctor's note stating that “Jeff was hospitalized and is excused from work.” (A361.) When he was discharged from the hospital, Bonkowski was instructed to follow up with his primary care physician and cardiologist and to schedule an outpatient echocardiogram. However, no restrictions were placed on his activities.

The record includes two documents from Butler Memorial Hospital: (1) the “Discharged Inpatient Report” (A353–A359); and (2) the “Discharge Instructions” (A363). Summarizing the test results, the Discharged Inpatient Report identified the date of “Reg” as “11/15/11” and the date of “Disch.” as “11/15/11.” (A353–A359.) Likewise, the Discharge Instructions indicated that “11/15/11” was the “ADM–DT” and that Bonkowski was discharged on “11/15/11.” (A363.)

On November 16, 2011, Lou Proviano, the head of Oberg's human resources department, notified Bonkowski that his employment was terminated because he had walked off the job on November 14, 2011. In his subsequent deposition testimony, Proviano characterized Bonkowski's time in the hospital as an “overnight situation.” (See A292 (“It was a voicemail—it was a voicemail message that indicated that she was trying to get FMLA documentation from Jeff Ambrose, and the overnight situation usually doesn't warrant an FMLA document at the time.”).)

Bonkowski filed the current FMLA action against Oberg. He alleged two causes of action under the FMLA: (1) Oberg retaliated against him for exercising his FMLA rights; and (2) Oberg interfered with his FMLA rights.

After the parties completed discovery, Oberg filed a motion for summary judgment. In a January 17, 2014 order, the District Court granted Oberg's motion, entering judgment in favor of Oberg and against Bonkowski. In its accompanying memorandum opinion, the District Court determined that “no reasonable jury could find that plaintiff's absence from work on November 15, 2011, was a qualifying absence under the FMLA entitling him to protection from Defendant's interference or retaliation with his FMLA rights.” Bonkowski v. Oberg Indus., Inc., 992 F.Supp.2d 501, 512 (W.D.Pa.2014). In short, it rejected Bonkowski's retaliation and interference claims because he did not have a “serious health condition” under 29 U.S.C. § 2611(11)(A), i.e., “an illness, injury, impairment, or physical condition that involves (A) inpatient care in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical care facility,” and therefore was not entitled to leave under the FMLA.

Specifically, the District Court was required to interpret 29 C.F.R. § 825.114, which defines the terms “inpatient care” as “an overnight stay in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical facility, including any period of incapacity as defined in 29 C.F.R. § 825.113(b), or any subsequent treatment in connection with such inpatient care.” Oberg asserted that “ ‘an overnight stay in a hospital’ means a stay in a hospital from ‘one day to the next, measured by the inpatient's date of admission and discharge.’ ” Bonkowski, 992 F.Supp.2d at 510 (citation omitted). According to the District Court, “Plaintiff argues that he stayed overnight at the hospital from November 14, 2011, to November 15, 2011, because he arrived at the hospital shortly before midnight and was discharged in the early evening of the following day.” Id. (footnote omitted). Finding that the arguments offered by both sides were not sufficient to resolve this issue (and noting that neither the FMLA nor the DOL regulations define the term “overnight”), the District Court turned to dictionary definitions of “overnight,” “duration,” and “night” (as well as the definition of “night” adopted by the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”)) to discern the ordinary meaning of § 825.114's “overnight stay” terminology.

The District Court ruled that “Plaintiff can establish he had a qualifying serious medical condition only if he is able to establish he spent the entire ‘night’ as an inpatient at the hospital' ” and that “an ‘overnight stay’ at a hospital is a stay from sunset on one day to sunrise the next day.” Id. at 511. Taking judicial notice of the sunset and sunrise times set out in The Old Farmer's Almanac, the District Court ascertained that, based on Butler Memorial Hospital's zip code, the sun set at 5:02 p.m. on November 14, 2011 and rose at 7:07 a.m. on November 15, 2011. According to the District Court, Bonkowski was required to “put forth evidence that he was in the hospital from November 14, 2011, at 5:02 p.m. until November 15, 2011, at 7:07 a.m. to show his condition qualified as a serious medical condition under the FMLA.” Id. He failed to do so:

The undisputed evidence in this case is that Plaintiff arrived at Butler Memorial Hospital shortly before midnight on November 14, 2011. He was admitted as an inpatient shortly after midnight on November 15, 2011. He remained at the hospital as an inpatient until the evening of November 15, 2011. The undisputed evidence of record shows that plaintiff did not stay overnight as an inpatient in the hospital because he did not arrive at the hospital until shortly before midnight on November 14, 2011, almost seven hours after the sun set that day. Plaintiff, therefore, failed to show that he spent the duration of the night at Butler Memorial Hospital ...

Id. at 511–12 (citations omitted).

The District Court found it unnecessary to follow the rationale of the Second Circuit's ruling in Estate of Landers v. Leavitt, 545 F.3d 98 (2d Cir.2008), and thereby conclude that “Plaintiff's arrival at Butler Memorial Hospital did not begin his inpatient stay; rather, plaintiff became an inpatient when he was formally admitted after midnight.” Bonkowski, 992 F.Supp.2d at 510 n. 10. “Based upon the plain meaning of the word ‘overnight,’ even considering the time prior to plaintiff's formal admission, he did not stay overnight at the hospital.” Id.

The District Court likewise considered Bonkowski's argument that he stayed overnight at the hospital because Butler Memorial Hospital designated him as an inpatient (and because The Free Dictionary defines an “inpatient” as “ ‘[a] patient who is admitted to a hospital or clinic for treatment that requires at least one overnight stay,’ ” id. at 509 n. 9 (quoting The Free Dictionary, http://www.thefreedictionary.com/inpatient (last visited Jan. 16, 2014))). According to the District Court, his argument lacked merit because “inpatient care” is defined by the regulations as “an overnight stay, meaning a plaintiff must stay overnight to qualify as receiving in-patient care.” Id. Butler Memorial Hospital's designation at best meant that his condition required one overnight stay. It “does not mean that plaintiff actually stayed overnight at the hospital, i.e., that he received inpatient care and is qualified for...