McClure v. Corteva Agriscience LLC

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DARRELL JEFFREY MCCLURE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CORTEVA AGRISCIENCE LLC, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 23-0628

Court of Appeals of Iowa

July 24, 2024

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Keokuk County, Crystal S Cronk, Judge.

An employee appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment in a discrimination case.

Michael J. Carroll of Carney &Appleby, P.L.C., Des Moines and Megan Flynn of Flynn Law Firm, P.L.C., West Des Moines for appellant.

Susan P. Elgin of Faegre Drinker Biddle &Reath, LLP, Des Moines, Terran C. Chambers (pro hac vice) of Faegre Drinker Biddle &Reath, LLP, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Daniel J Gomez (pro hac vice) of Corteva Agriscience LLC, Wilmington, Delaware, for appellee.

Heard by Ahlers, P.J., and Chicchelly and Buller, JJ.

BULLER, Judge.

Corteva Agriscience LLC (Corteva)^[1] fired long-time employee Darrell Jeffrey "Jeff" McClure following his involvement in a two-forklift collision. McClure sued Corteva based on that discharge, alleging age-discrimination, disabilitydiscrimination, retaliation, and hostile-work-environment claims under the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA). See Iowa Code §§ 216.6; .11 (2020). Corteva moved for summary judgment on all claims, and the district court ruled in the company's favor. Viewing the facts in the light most favorable to McClure, we find genuine issues of material fact exist on his discrimination claims, reverse that part of the district court's judgment, and remand for further proceedings. We affirm on all other issues.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings

Fifty-eight-year-old McClure worked at Corteva for more than three decades-starting in 1983 and ending in 2020. Corteva is an agriculture company, and McClure held various roles over the years, ending his career as a production technician at a shipping and processing facility. In that role, McClure used a forklift and "other material handling devices" to transport Corteva's products around the facility, including to and from trucks and trailers. McClure also worked as an emergency medical technician (EMT) for a county hospital and as a firefighter and later fire chief for a nearby town. And he spent occasional weekends helping with races at the Iowa Speedway.

While employed by Corteva, McClure received generally positive reviews and ratings. According to his direct supervisor, Chad Langstraat, "a lot of people looked up to [McClure] that were out on the floor" and he "wasn't a bad employee, by no means." Langstraat wrote in McClure's 2016 end-of-year employee evaluation that he did "a good job in the warehouse," communicated planning concerns and safety suggestions to leadership, and excelled at leading other employees through fire-extinguisher and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (better known as CPR) training. But that evaluation also documented concerns that McClure was failing to follow some safety protocols so he could save time. Langstraat also informed McClure: "You need to have the understanding that [Corteva] as a whole is changing, and we have to change with it."

McClure's disciplinary history began in 1993 when he accidentally discharged his personal firearm at work. He also had occasional verbal warnings or coaching sessions regarding his performance over the years. He received a written warning in 2010 for violating a safety policy by being on stacked pallets without fall protection equipment and another in 2011 for sleeping on the job. McClure signed these later warnings but contested their accuracy.

At McClure's location, Corteva had a seasonal schedule for employees that included working either an eight-hour or twelve-hour shift. Potential eight-hour shifts included 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (first shift), 2:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. (second shift), or 10:00 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. (third shift). And potential twelve-hour shifts included 6:15 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (dayshift) or 6:00 p.m. to 6:15 a.m. (nightshift). Employees would switch shifts seasonally. For most of McClure's time at Corteva, he worked the nightshift or third shift. But following a heart attack in 2014, McClure provided Corteva with a doctor's note specifying he "should not be on nightshift" due to his condition, and Corteva accommodated the limitation.

In 2017, Langstraat informed McClure that his new team schedule would probably have him working overnights. McClure reminded Langstraat of his medical restriction, and Langstraat turned the issue over to facility manager Dan Dehrkoop. At first, Dehrkoop told supervisors that Corteva had no record of McClure's doctor's note. But, after finding the note "stuck to a few other papers in the file," Dehrkoop told McClure he needed to submit a new doctor's note and Corteva would need to grant him a new accommodation.

Around this time, Langstraat and another supervisor, Steven Brooks, issued McClure a written warning based on a list of accumulated issues, such as McClure using an improper loading procedure for boxes in 2016 and 2017 and using his phone on the production floor in 2017. McClure signed the warning, despite contesting it in part on the basis that he and other employees had not been informed of changes to the loading procedure and a manager had instructed him to use his phone to document safety concerns.

McClure submitted a new doctor's note a few days after the written warning, specifying he was unable to "work prolonged nightshift schedule[s]" permanently. Dehrkoop requested further clarification on McClure's restriction, asking for the exact times McClure could not work. McClure obtained a second doctor's note, now specifying he could not work from 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. But Dehrkoop requested more clarification, so McClure got a third doctor's note detailing that he could "work an occasional nightshift" but no more than two and never back-to-back because it could "severely disrupt his sleep cycle, which would adversely [a]ffect his overall medical condition."

Amid this doctor's-note debate, McClure filed a written grievance with Corteva. McClure wrote he felt discriminated against because of his age, years of service, and heart condition, and he relayed his issues with the shift restriction and recent written warning. He also chronicled other incidents that he alleged were mistreatment from supervisors against other employees. McClure updated the complaint a few days later, noting a recent exchange with Dehrkoop about the nightshift where Dehrkoop questioned "why should [Corteva] adhere to this work restriction when you're a volunteer fire fighter with overnight fires."

Corteva corporate human resource (HR) managers investigated McClure's complaint, along with another complaint from a different employee alleging similar concerns. After conducting interviews, the corporate HR managers determined McClure's discrimination complaints were unsubstantiated in January 2018. At some point, both Langstraat and Dehrkoop were shown McClure's complaint by another employee.

Corteva granted McClure his requested shift accommodation that same month, after McClure provided a fourth doctor's note. In the interim period between the request and approval of the accommodation, the company did not require McClure to work consecutive nightshifts.

Langstraat rated McClure as "below required performance" in his 2017 yearend evaluation. And Langstraat informed McClure he received this rating because of his written warning, despite McClure receiving "on track" scores otherwise. At the end of 2018, McClure returned to a "successful performance" rating, with Langstraat noting McClure "made a change with his attitudes and behaviors this year and it has been noticed." During this time, McClure also received some instruction from supervisors on keeping his distance from running forklifts.

McClure had another heart attack in April 2019 and took short-term disability leave for fifty-four days. Dehrkoop questioned the length of McClure's leave, telling the facility's local HR manager that "it has to be close to long term disability." Dehrkoop also asked his local HR manager if there was anything that could be done to end McClure's leave because he heard McClure speak at a recent city council meeting and other employees informed him McClure had been seen working as fire chief and volunteering at the speedway. The local HR manager contacted corporate HR, leading to an "alert" on McClure's chart to inform corporate HR if McClure requested to extend his disability leave-which he did not. Corporate HR later confirmed that McClure was not "acting in violation of whatever restrictions his doctor had him on."

After McClure returned to work with a physician's release specifying no restrictions, Dehrkoop again sought to place him on the nightshift. Dehrkoop's local HR manager contacted corporate HR to see if McClure's previous restrictions were still in place. During that conversation, the local HR manager noted she and corporate had previous conversations about facility "employees who have nightshift restrictions" and "getting those to the forefront again." Corporate HR contacted McClure's doctor, then informed Dehrkoop and his HR manager that McClure's shift restriction was still in place.

Langstraat gave McClure another "successful performance" rating in his 2019 year-end review, noting McClure "continue[d] to do a good job with his safety program and is willing to share his knowledge with others at work." But Langstraat also "challenge[d]" McClure to ensure he was "following all policies and procedures while driving a forklift" because Langstraat felt McClure "along with just about every other operator who drives a forklift" did not abide by some policies. Langstraat cautioned McClure about his "behaviors and actions while driving a forklift," noting new forklifts included...