Dries v. Sprinklr, Inc., CASE NO. C20-47-MLP

JOSEPH DRIES, Plaintiff, v. SPRINKLR, INC., Defendant.

CASE NO. C20-47-MLP

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE

October 16, 2020

ORDER

I. INTRODUCTION

This matter is before the Court on Defendant Sprinklr, Inc.'s ("Sprinklr") Motion for Summary Judgment ("Defendant's Motion") seeking to dismiss Plaintiff Joseph Dries' ("Dries") claims for: (1) disability discrimination (failure to accommodate); (2) wrongful discharge, in violation of public policy; (3) breach of contract; and (4) violations of the Washington Wage Payment Act and Wage Rebate Act. (Def.'s Mot. (Dkt. # 35).) Plaintiff opposed the motion (Pl.'s Resp. (dkt. # 40)) and Defendant filed a reply (Def.'s Reply (dkt. # 43)). The Court heard oral argument on October 7, 2020. (Dkt. # 51.) Having considered the parties' submissions, oral argument, the balance of the record, and the governing law, Defendants' Motion (Defs.' Mot.) is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part, as explained further below.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

On August 30, 2018, Dries accepted the Senior Account Executive position at Sprinklr to manage the sales element of its Microsoft relationship. (Dries Decl. (Dkt. # 42) at ¶ 13, Ex. A at 20-22; Griffin Decl., Ex. A (Dkt. # 36-1) at 17, 20.) Dries previously worked as a Digital Account Executive for Microsoft from August 2007 to December 2014. (Dries Decl. at ¶ 5.) Sprinklr had previously signed a two-year enterprise agreement with Microsoft (the "Microsoft Agreement") that was set to expire in Spring 2020. (Griffin Decl., Ex. A at 22-23, 25; Dries Decl. at ¶ 17.) Sprinklr hired Dries to help ensure the contract would be renewed given his previous employment experience. (Griffin Decl., Ex. A at 23.) In his offer letter, signed on September 13, 2018, Sprinklr agreed to pay Dries a yearly salary of $160,000 and variable compensation in the target range of $160,000. (Id., Ex. A at 17, 20.) At that time, Dries represented he did not have any disabilities. (Id., Ex. A at 80-82, Ex. E at 173-175.)

Dries was promoted to Global Strategic Account Executive at Sprinklr in January 2019. (Griffin Decl., Ex. A at 16; Dries Decl. at ¶ 20, Ex. C at 28.) At that time, Dries reported to then-Director of Sales for the Pacific Northwest Tony Clayton on matters concerning the Microsoft account. (Griffin Decl., Ex. A at 12; Clayton Decl. (Dkt. # 39) at ¶ 4.) Clayton reported to Vice President of Sales for the West Region Joe Eskenazi. (Griffin Decl., Ex. A at 18, 26-27.) Eskenazi reported to Senior Vice President of Sales for the Americas Paul Ohls. (Id.)

In early March 2019, Microsoft approached Sprinklr about doing an early renewal of the Agreement in Spring 2019 instead of Spring 2020. (Griffin Decl., Ex. A at 23-25, 28; Clayton Decl. at ¶ 5; Dries Decl. at ¶ 24.) Sprinklr's main point of contact for its business relationship atMicrosoft is Program Manager Tyler Smith, who is the "stakeholder" or "contract owner" for Sprinklr at Microsoft. (Griffin Decl., Ex. A at 28, 34.) Given Microsoft's interest in an early renewal of the Agreement, Dries coordinated with Smith and Clayton from March-May 2019 to put together a revision of the products and services Microsoft would receive from Sprinklr under a new Agreement.¹ (Dries Decl. at ¶¶ 26, 30, Ex. G at 42-76.) One aspect of this revision included a large upsell component, which Dries alleges he primarily handled.²

Starting in December 2018, Smith began complaining to Sprinklr about Dries' handling of the Microsoft account. (Clayton Decl. at ¶¶ 6-7; Blankenship Decl. (Dkt. # 38) at ¶ 4.) According to Sprinklr, Smith's complaints generally involved: (1) Smith knowing more about Sprinklr's product than Dries; (2) Dries derailing meetings; (3) Dries failing to expand Sprinklr's presence within Microsoft separate and apart from Smith; and (4) Dries falsely stating in a Sprinklr meeting that Smith saw no value in Sprinklr. (Mara Decl. (Dkt. # 37) at ¶¶ 5-8; Blankenship Decl. at ¶¶ 4-6; Clayton Decl. at ¶¶ 6-11.) Beginning around March-April 2019,Smith suggested to Sprinklr he wanted Dries removed from the Microsoft account. (Mara Decl. at ¶¶ 6-9; Blankenship Decl. at ¶¶ 7-8; Dries Decl., Ex. I at 80-84.)

On or about March 21, 2019, Sprinklr demoted Clayton's role from Director of Sales to an Account Executive but kept him assisting on the Microsoft account. (Clayton Decl. at ¶¶ 8-9; Blankenship Decl. at ¶ 5; Griffin Decl., Ex. B at 106-107.) Consequently, Dries then began reporting directly to Eskenazi. (Id.) By March 2019, Eskenazi determined Dries was not performing to Sprinklr's expectations based on his failure to meet internal sales metrics.³ (Griffin Decl., Ex. C at 142-144.) On May 7, 2019, Dries attended a review meeting with about twenty members of Sprinklr's sales organization for the Pacific Northwest, including Eskenazi. (Dries Decl. at ¶¶ 37-38.) At the meeting, Eskenazi allegedly verbally berated Dries' colleague Ryan Voss.⁴ (Id. at ¶ 39.) Dries came to Voss' defense at the meeting and Eskenazi allegedly then turned his anger on Dries. (Id.)

On or about, May 14, 2019, Eskenazi learned from Clayton that based on Microsoft's objections to Dries, if Dries "was driving the renewal, it wasn't going to happen." (Griffin Decl., Ex. C at 147.) On May 21, 2019, Dries attended a one-on-one meeting with Eskenazi in Bellevue, Washington. (Dries Decl. at ¶ 42.) Dries alleges the meeting lasted only a few minutes before Eskenazi "flew into a profanity-laced rage." (Id.; Rullman Decl. (Dkt. # 42), Ex. A at 13.)At the meeting, Eskenazi informed Dries that Clayton would take over leading the Microsoft Agreement renewal. (Griffin Decl., Ex. C at 152-53; Dries Decl. at ¶ 42).)

On May 22, 2019, the next day, Dries contacted Sprinklr human resources to discuss his concerns about Eskenazi. (Dries Decl. at ¶ 44; Griffin Decl., Ex. A at 51-54, Ex. K at 192-193.) Dries alleges he was diagnosed with depression and an anxiety disorder in 2017 and he takes prescription medications to manage his mental health. (Dries Decl. at ¶¶ 39, 44.) Because of his mental health concerns, Dries emailed Sprinklr Human Resources Director Simone Ruello (née Nielson) for help with Eskenazi. (Id. at ¶ 44, Ex. J at 86-87; Rullman Decl., Ex. D at 37.) On May 30, 2019, Dries and Nielson ended up sitting next to each other at a meeting in New York and Nielson agreed to talk with Dries about his concerns the next day (Id.) At that meeting, Dries was able to briefly inform Nielson about his concerns working under Eskenazi. (Dries Decl. at ¶ 45.) On June 7, 2019, Dries was able to fully inform Nielson he suffered from depression and an anxiety disorder and that his mental health was suffering based on his working relationship with Eskenazi. (Id. at ¶ 46.) Nielson allegedly told Dries she would investigate his concerns. (Id.)

On June 10, 2019, Eskenazi met with Dries, relayed to him he was underperforming on the Microsoft account, and removed Dries from the Microsoft account due to negative feedback. (Dries Decl. at ¶ 49, 55; Griffin Decl., Ex. A at, 55-56, Ex. C at 155.) On June 11, Dries sent Nielson a formal written complaint about Eskenazi in an attached PowerPoint deck detailing his concerns and the effect on his mental health. (Dries Decl. at ¶ 50, Ex. K at 91-155; Griffin Decl., Ex. A at 57-61, Ex. N at 203-267; Rullman Decl., Ex. D at 38.) On June 12, 2019, Nielson, Eskenazi, and Dries met. (Dries Decl. at ¶ 52.) Afterwards, Dries followed up with Nielson in mid-June and July but alleges there was no resolution of his complaints. (Id. at ¶¶ 54-54, Ex. L at157, Ex. M at 159.) During the remainder of June-August 2019, Dries worked to close other deals in his book of business, including deals with LinkedIn and GitHub. (Id. at ¶ 58.)

On July 23, 2019, Clayton informed Dries the Microsoft Agreement was nearing close and that he had spoken with Eskenazi about making sure Dries was "taken care of on the deal." (Dries Decl. at ¶ 56, Ex. N at 162.) On July 24, 2019, Dries emailed Eskenazi regarding his compensation on the deal. (Id. at ¶ 57, Ex. O at 164.) Eskenazi responded Dries should not worry, and Nielson would "action the compensation piece" once the deal closed. (Id.)

On July 26, 2019, the Microsoft Agreement renewal closed. (Dries. Decl. at ¶ 56; Clayton Decl. at ¶ 11.) As part of the renewed agreement Microsoft agreed to a consolidation of its social media advertising through the Sprinklr Ads portal. (Dries Decl. at ¶ 56.) Smith allegedly stated to Clayton shortly after closing that the Agreement would not have happened but for Clayton's involvement. (Clayton Decl. at ¶ 11.)

On August 5, 2019, Dries again reached out to Nielson regarding his issues concerning Eskenazi. (Dries Decl. at ¶ 60, Ex. P at 166). On August 8, 2019, Dries relayed concerns to Nielson about not being paid a commission on the Microsoft Agreement. (Id. at ¶¶ 60-61.) At that time, Nielson allegedly informed Dries he was not owed on the Microsoft Agreement because he had been taken off the account, but she would look into it.⁵ (Id.)

On August 20, 2019, Dries sent a message to Sprinklr's "On Target Earnings" group ("OTE"), an independent group within Sprinklr that addresses compensation concerns anddisputes, alerting the group he had not been paid at least $174,611.80 in commissions for his involvement in the upsell portion of the Microsoft Agreement renewal. (Dries Decl. at ¶ 62, Ex. Q at 169.) Three days later, on August 23, 2019, Dries attended a call with Nielson and Eskenazi where he was informed his employment was being terminated. (Dries Decl. at ¶ 63; Griffin Decl., Ex. A at 97-98, Ex. C at 125-27.) At the meeting, Dries was told by Nielson that he was allegedly being let go due to negative customer feedback and Eskenazi relayed he was being fired for failing to prospect accounts. (Id.) Dries alleges he received no other negative feedback from Eskenazi, Ohls, Clayton, or anyone else at Sprinklr after he was removed from the...