Ismail v. Amazon.Com

ISMAHAN ISMAIL, Plaintiff, v. AMAZON.COM, Defendant.

CASE NO. C16-1682JLR

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE

June 5, 2018

ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

I. INTRODUCTION

Before the court is Defendant Amazon.com's ("Amazon") motion for summary judgment.¹ (MSJ (Dkt. # 27).) Plaintiff Ismahan Ismail opposes the motion. (Resp. (Dkt. # 37).) The court has considered Amazon's motion, the parties' submissions insupport of and in opposition to the motion, the relevant portions of the record, and the applicable law. Being fully advised,² the court GRANTS Amazon's motion for summary judgment on Ms. Ismail's claims.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

This case arises from Ms. Ismail's employment at Amazon's Global Security Command Center ("GSCC") in Phoenix, Arizona.³ (See Am. Compl. (Dkt. # 22) ¶¶ 4.1-4.2; Blatt Decl. (Dkt. # 30) ¶ 3, Ex. 2 (Dkt. # 30-2) ("Ismail Dep.") at 67:23-68:11.)⁴ Ms. Ismail began working full-time for Amazon's GSCC in December 2013. (Ismail Dep. at 17:15-18.) Ms. Ismail was responsible for "protect[ing] [Amazon's] people, brand[,] and property," putting "together safety reports," "answer[ing] alarms," "deal[ing] with incoming phone calls," and "assist[ing] security officers." (Id. at 68:23-69:3.) During the relevant period, Ms. Ismail worked the 12-hour night shift on GSCC's Team 4 with Saul Chavez, Migail Graves, J'Dyn Banks, Kyle Pearson, and Halle Matteson. (Peterson Decl. (Dkt. # 33) ¶ 2; Ismail Decl. ¶ 7; IsmailDep. at 85:8-10.) Mr. Chavez, Mr. Graves, and Mr. Banks had the same job title as Ms. Ismail. (See Peterson Decl. ¶ 2.) Mr. Pearson was the assistant manager, and Ms. Matteson had a supervisory role over Ms. Ismail. (See Peterson Decl. ¶ 2; Ismail Dep. at 86:14-87:18.) When Ms. Ismail first started working at the GSSC, Charles Wyatt was her manager, followed by Levy Bland,⁵ and then Braden Peterson. (See Ismail Decl. ¶ 6; Bland Decl. (Dkt. # 29) ¶ 2; Peterson Decl. ¶ 1.)

At all relevant times, Amazon policy "provided that full-time associates working twelve-hour shifts received a minimum of three, ten-minute paid breaks and a thirty-minute unpaid meal period." (Renner Decl. (Dkt. # 34) ¶ 2; see also id., Ex. 66 ("Break Policy") at 4-5.) In addition, associates could not work "longer than twelve hours at a time." (Renner Decl. ¶ 2; see also Break Policy at 3.) Amazon further allowed a five-minute "grace period" for unanticipated situations that would delay or hasten an employee's clock-in or clock-out time and a three-minute grace period for a meal break. (Feulner Decl. (Dkt. # 39), Ex. 504 at 56.) The parties refer to the paid breaks as 15-minute breaks, presumably because after accounting for the ten minutes provided by Amazon policy and the five minutes of grace time, the total time was 15 minutes. (See, e.g., Ismail Decl. ¶ 8.)

Ms. Ismail was aware of Amazon's formal policy that she receive three 15-minute paid breaks and one unpaid 30-minute lunch break, but contends that "there was littleguidance given to [Team 4 members] about breaks and expectations about breaks." (Ismail Decl. ¶ 8.) She attests that Amazon did not "strictly enforce[]" the policy and employees often took more than three breaks. (Id.) As examples, Ms. Ismail states that "[p]eople on [her] team would take breaks to go smoke a cigarette, go get food from the local restaurants, or go to the break room." (Id.) She believed such breaks were permitted if she "got coverage before going on a break from other employees on the team." (Id.) In addition to breaks, Ms. Ismail states that "employees on the night shift were permitted to be away from their desk[s] or doing other tasks during slow periods." (Id. ¶ 9.) During those slow periods, employees watched TV, played video games, played miniature golf, did their homework, or used their phones. (See id.; see also Ismail Dep. at 97:2-12.)

Ms. Ismail is a practicing Muslim and prays five times a day. (Ismail Decl. ¶ 3.) To her knowledge, she was the only practicing Muslim on Team 4. (Id.; see also id. ¶ 10 (Ms. Ismail "was not secretive about wearing . . . prayer clothes" and believed "that every employee on Team 4 saw [her] change into prayer clothes at some point during [her] time at GSCC.").) Because Ms. Ismail worked the night shift at Amazon, she "could not do the prayers during the day and did the prayers while [she] was awake during [her] shift." (Id. ¶ 3.) Ms. Ismail contends that her co-workers knew she used her breaks to pray, and states that she stored her "prayer materials" in a "cubby . . . where employees were expected to store their stuff." (Id.)

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// The facts in this case center on Ms. Ismail's interactions with her coworkers and supervisors, Ms. Ismail's breaks, and Amazon's investigations of Ms. Ismail's complaints and behavior at work.⁶ In roughly chronological order, the court recounts below the events giving rise to Ms. Ismail's leave of absence from Amazon and her claims.

In October and November 2014, while Mr. Bland was Ms. Ismail's manager, he "coached" her several times about matters related to her performance. (Bland Decl. ¶ 4, Ex. 41 ("Coaching") at 2.) On October 10, 2014, Mr. Bland told Ms. Ismail not to leave Amazon "to get food for lunch while still on the clock," not to have her "cell phone out on the operations floor," not to have social media websites "constantly up on [her] computer," and not to play games on work computers. (Id.) Mr. Bland also advised Ms. Ismail that he expected her to log into her computer at the time that her shift started andthat "[t]he time clock grace period is to protect pay[,] not attendance." (Id.) On October 16, 2014, Mr. Bland addressed with Ms. Ismail errors she had made in processing notifications and told her that continued errors would result in her being demoted. (Id.) On November 8, 2014, Mr. Levy "coached" Ms. Ismail about her excessive tardiness, which arose because of medical and car problems. (Id.; Ismail Dep. at 229:5-13.) Ms. Ismail's time cards reflect that she was early for 13 of 15 shifts during the remainder of November 2014, early for 13 of 16 shifts in December 2014, and early or on time for 14 of 15 shifts in January 2015. (Feulner Decl. ¶ 2, Ex. 500 (Dkt. # 39-1) at 7 (summarizing Ms. Ismail's work start times).)⁷

Also in November 2014, Amazon promoted Ms. Ismail to Escalation Specialist.⁸ (Ismail Decl. ¶ 15.) After her promotion, Ms. Ismail experienced difficulties with Migail Graves, the other Escalation Specialist on Team 4. (Id.) She states that Mr. Graves was "incredibly rude and abusive" to her. (Id.) She informed Mr. Bland and Mr. Pearson about Mr. Graves' behavior. (Id. ¶¶ 15-16, 20.) Despite Mr. Graves's alleged verbal abuse, Ms. Ismail contends that neither manager reprimanded him. (Id. ¶¶ 16-17, 19-20.) However, on January 23, 2015, Mr. Bland coached Ms. Ismail on what he determinedwas her unprofessional behavior related to her interactions with Mr. Graves. (Coaching at 2.)

In January 2015, Amazon moved Ms. Ismail back into her previous role, which Ms. Ismail characterizes as a demotion. (Ismail Decl. ¶ 21; see also Resp. at 6 (stating that Ms. Ismail was demoted after complaining about Mr. Graves).) When Mr. Bland told Ms. Ismail about the decision, Ms. Ismail informed him that she "was primary on everything" and "doing the majority of the work." (Ismail Decl. ¶ 21.) In addition, Ms. Ismail asked Mr. Bland whether he considered moving Mr. Graves back to his former role instead, and, according to Ms. Ismail, Mr. Bland told her that Mr. Graves "was better than [her] as an Escalation Specialist." (Id.) Mr. Bland moved J'dyn Banks into the role of Escalation Specialist during the night shift. (Id.) Mr. Bland said that Mr. Banks had seniority, but Ms. Ismail contends that Mr. Banks "did not have any seniority over" her. (Id.) Ms. Ismail did not further contest the move. (See id.)

During the same general timeframe as those events, Ms. Ismail applied for four internal transfers—two in December 2014 and two in January 2015. (Feulner Decl. ¶ 16, Ex. 514 (Dkt. # 39-2) at 15-17.) To interview for an open internal position, Amazon policy requires manager approval for employees who were not meeting standards. (Bland Decl. ¶ 5, Ex. 42 at 2 (providing an Amazon policy that states that "[e]mployees who are not currently meeting performance standards must obtain manager approval before interviewing").) Mr. Bland declined to give Ms. Ismail the necessary approval, stating that he would support a transfer only after "a sustained period of improvement." (Bland Decl. ¶ 5; see also Feulner Decl. ¶ 16, Ex. 514 at 15 (stating that Mr. Blanddenied Ms. Ismail the opportunity to interview for a transfer because "several leadership principles . . . need[ed] improvement"); id. ¶ 3, Ex. 501 at 30.) Amazon's transfer team told Mr. Bland to "ensure that performance comments are limited to those that are formally documented in performance management systems." (Feulner Decl. ¶ 16, Ex. 514 at 15.) According to Ms. Ismail, despite Mr. Bland's coaching regarding her performance, her first two managers never expressed concern with the length of breaks she took. (Ismail Decl. ¶ 6; see also Ismail Dep. at 73:20-23; Feulner Decl. ¶ 9, Ex. 507 at 182.)

However, Braden Peterson became the manager of Team 4 on or around February 20, 2015 (Peterson Decl. ¶ 1), and took a different approach to Amazon's break policy (see Peterson Decl. ¶ 3; Ismail Decl. ¶ 6).⁹ According to Mr. Peterson, "[o]ne of the first things [he] noticed after taking supervision of [his] team was that there was little communication surrounding break times, and even less structure about when it was appropriate to take them." (Peterson Decl. ¶ 3; see also Feulner Decl. ¶ 7, Ex. 505 at 53 (quoting Amazon Human Resources ("HR") Manager Erin Klump as stating that "[b]reaks and lunches have not been defined for the GSCC. People come and go as they please.").) Shortly after moving into the supervisory role, Mr....