Spratley v. KidsPeace Corp.

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DAWNEISHA SPRATLEY, Plaintiff, v. KIDSPEACE CORP., doing business as KIDSPEACE HOSPITAL, et al., Defendant.

CIVIL No. 5:22-cv-02411-JMG

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania

April 19, 2023

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JOHN M. GALLAGHER, United States District Court Judge.

Plaintiff Dawneisha Spratley repeatedly requested her former employer KidsPeace Corp. d/b/a KidsPeace Hospital and KidsPeace Children's Hospital to provide her a workplace accommodation for her disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) including partial remote work. After engaging in lengthy discussions over a period of months KidsPeace offered Ms. Spratley with a modified and flexible work schedule and public transit reimbursements-but the proffered accommodation did not include remote work. Ms Spratley resigned from her position and sued KidsPeace. Ms Spratley currently maintains claims KidsPeace violated the ADA for failure to accommodate, disability discrimination resulting in constructive discharge, and retaliation for requesting reasonable accommodations; the Pennsylvania Human Rights Act (PHRA) for claims identical to the ADA; and the Family Medical and Leave Act (FMLA) for retaliation. Before the Court is KidsPeace's Motion for Summary Judgment concerning all of Ms. Spratley's remaining claims. For the following reasons, KidsPeace's Motion will be denied in part and granted in part.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

1. Ms. Spratley's Employment with KidsPeace

Defendant KidsPeace Corp. d/b/a KidsPeace Hospital and KidsPeace Children's Hospital (collectively “KidsPeace”) is a private charity who provides “a unique psychiatric hospital; a comprehensive range of residential treatment programs; accredited educational services; and a variety of foster care and community-based treatment programs to treat children and young adults with emotional, mental, developmental, and behavioral disorders caused by trauma, abuse, neglect or other causes.”^[1]

KidsPeace employed Plaintiff Dawneisha Spratley in March of 2017 as the “Director of Social Services.” ECF No. 40-1 ¶6. As the Director of Social Services, Ms. Spratley maintained “responsib[ility] for overseeing and monitoring all clinical staff and functions for the Hospital.” Def.'s App. 3, ECF No. 33-4 at 94. Other functions of the position included, inter alia:

1. Provide ongoing supervision to direct reports . . . as required/needed ....

6. Attend all applicable meetings and participate on appropriate committees.

7. Ensure there is continual risk assessment and risk management for each client; monitor the overall clinical response to risk management at the facility level.

9. Maintain positive customer relationships with both internal and external customers ....

14. Design, implement, and monitor new and innovative approaches in the delivery of evidence-based clinical services to inpatient population. ...

16. Responsible for the recruitment, supervision, development, and training of all clinicians and case managers....

Id. As the Director of Social Services, Ms. Spratley was part of the “Hospital's leadership team (‘HLF').”^[2] So “Ms. Spratley had a number of direct/indirect reports.”^[3]Ms. Spratley's direct/indirect reports provided direct treatments to patients.^[4] But “Ms. Spratley did not provide patient care and was not a clinical worker” herself. Id. ¶9 (internal citations omitted).

At the time of hire, KidsPeace did not advertise the Director of Social Services position as a “work from home” or remote position nor did KidsPeace inform Ms. Spratley the position was a work from home position. ECF No. 33-6 ¶4; ECF No. 40-3 ¶4 (admitted in material part). Ms. Spratley performed “normal work hours” at KidsPeace Hospital in Orefield, Pennsylvania, which required a commute from Philadelphia lasting over an hour per trip. ECF No. 33-2, Spratley Dep. Tr. 34: 21-25; 35: 1-14. Ms. Spratley continued to work in person at KidsPeace Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. ECF No. 33-4 at 254, Rulli Dep. Tr. 40:4-14. Nevertheless, Ms. Spratley's position required “the ability to work evenings, weekends, holidays, flexible hours and overtime as required.” ECF No. 33-4 at 96. And Ms. Spratley provided, since 2017, she would work from home “during evenings and during weekends.” ECF No. 33-2 at 37, Spratley Dep. Tr. 34: 3-20. Ms. Spratley provided she could perform her job duties from home due to: (1) her use of a work-issued laptop; (2) a software program used by KidsPeace called “SharePoint,” an electronic medical record (EMR) system; and (3) communication with her team using Zoom meetings, phone, email, or through platforms like SMR or Sharepoint. ECF No. 40-1 ¶16.

Throughout Ms. Spratley's employment, Sheila Rulli acted as the Director of Human Resources (HR), Cathy Martucci as the Assistant Director of HR, and Jessica Smoyer as a leave specialist. ECF No. 40-1 ¶14 (internal citations omitted). Ms. Martucci and Ms. Smoyer reported to Ms. Rulli. Id. KidsPeace Executive Director Dr. Randall Hines primarily supervised Ms. Spratley during her employment at KidsPeace until December 27, 2021.^[5]

Ms. Spratley provided Dr. Hines often approved a flexible work schedule for Ms. Spratley to include occasional, intermittent work-from-home periods. ECF No. 33-3, Spratley Dep. Tr. 260:9-25, 261:1-22. For example, Ms. Spratley testified she “was permitted to be able to work from home if [she] had a doctor's appointment that existed and it was going to be a long . . . doctor's appointment.” Id., Spratley Dep. Tr. 261:1-9. And “[i]f [she] had a personal appointment and it would just not make sense to come in, the understanding that [she] had was that [she] could adjust [her] schedule to be able to . . . come in different times of the week, work different times of the day.”^[6]

Beyond occasional permission to work from home, KidsPeace also permitted Ms. Spratley to work from home due to varying medical conditions she experienced. ECF No. 33-3 at 85, Spratley Dep. Tr., 262:8-14. For example, Ms. Spratley identified the following modified in- person work schedules in relation to different medical needs and conditions: (1) working from home for three months upon being rear-ended in an automobile accident and experiencing related injuries, Id. at 87, Spratley Dep. Tr., 264: 8-14; (2) working from home for a period of at least three months in relation to a workmen's compensation claim and process following an injury from a client while on the job, Id. at 89-90, Spratley Dep. Tr., 266: 6-21, 267: 1-16; and (3) working in a hybrid capacity (two days working remotely and three days at the hospital) upon informing Dr. Hines and HR of conditions of her high-risk pregnancy, Id. at 90-91, Spratley Dep. Tr., 267: 1725, 268: 1-7.^[7]Some of Ms. Spratley's work from home periods occurred before the COVID-19 pandemic. See e.g., ECF No. 33-3 at 87, Spratley Dep. Tr. 264: 3-7 (providing her work from home period related to her eye injury occurred pre-pandemic); Id. at 89, Spratley Dep. Tr. 266: 6-14 (providing her workman's compensation injury and subsequent work from home period occurred pre-pandemic). Up until her resignation from KidsPeace, Ms. Spratley's received performance evaluations providing she met or exceeded expectations during her employment. Pl. Supp. App., ECF No. 40-2 at 20-57.

2. Ms. Spratley's Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Leave

Ms. Spratley notified Dr. Hines and KidsPeace's Human Resources Department of her pregnancy in either February or April of 2021. ECF No. 33-6 ¶14 (internal citations omitted). Ms. Spratley later requested workplace accommodations for her high-risk pregnancy. ECF No. 33-6 ¶16 (internal citations omitted). Dr. Hines granted Ms. Spratley's request to work for home during part of her pregnancy. ECF No. 33-6 ¶16.

“On August 11, 2021, Ms. Spratley emailed Dr. Hines notifying him that she was admitted to the hospital for a premature and induced labor and would be starting her leave of absence earlier than anticipated.”^[8]KidsPeace then granted Ms. Spratley's request for FMLA leave beginning August 9, 2021 through October 29, 2021. ECF No. 33-6 ¶21 (internal citations omitted); ECF No. 40-3 ¶21 (admitted). Ms. Spratley admits she did not have any issues relating to her FMLA request, and she did not receive “any comments or expressed any displeasure” related to her FMLA request. ECF No. 33-6 ¶¶22-23; see also ECF No. 40-3 ¶¶22-23 (admitted in material part). But Ms. Spratley later felt she had been treated differently after taking FMLA. ECF No. 33-2 at 6263, Spratley Dep Tr. 59:21-25, 60:1-25.

3. KidsPeace's Hiring of Mr. Robert Scheffler and Staffing Landscape

In October 2021, KidsPeace hired Robert Scheffler as the Executive Vice President of PA Inpatient and Residential Services. ECF No. 33-6 ¶32 (internal citations omitted). Mr. Scheffler oversaw the operations of the hospital. Id. ¶33 (internal citations omitted). Upon Mr. Scheffler's hiring, he assessed “the staffing landscape of the hospital in order to determine what positions, if any, could work from home.” ECF No. 33-6 ¶35 (internal citations omitted); ECF No. 40-3 ¶35 (admitted). “Mr. Scheffler decided the entire Hospital Leadership Team, including the Director of Social Services, would not be permitted to work from home.” ECF No. 33-6 ¶36; ECF No. 40-3 ¶36 (admitted).

Ms Rulli later testified the hospital experienced great staffing changes throughout 2021, and particularly during the summer of 2021. ECF No. 33-4 at 337-38, Rulli Dep. 123:19-24, 124:1-24, 125:1-22. Ms. Rulli described the year of 2021 as “chaotic.” Id. at 340, Rulli Dep. 126: 2-4. For example, “[t]here were a lot of people who were refusing to get the vaccine. There were threats of mandates all over....People were leaving the nursing industry,...