Stillwell v. Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.

KELLY STILLWELL, Plaintiff, v. OLD DOMINION FREIGHT LINE, INC., Defendant.

No. 3:19-cv-1789-SI

United States District Court, D. Oregon

July 20, 2021

Robert K. Meyer and Michael Owens, MEYER STEPHENSON, Of Attorneys for Plaintiff.

Mark Crabtree, JACKSON LEWIS PC, Of Attorneys for Defendant.

OPINION AND ORDER

Michael H. Simon, United States District Judge.

Plaintiff Kelly Stillwell (Stillwell) brings this lawsuit against his former employer, Defendant Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (Old Dominion). Stillwell alleges that Old Dominion unlawfully discriminated and retaliated against him because of his disability and his taking of medical leave. Stillwell took medical leave in late 2017 and early 2018, after suffering an esophageal spasm, which later required the removal of his esophagus. Stillwell returned to work in late January 2018 but shortly thereafter needed additional medical leave. Old Dominion gave Stillwell all the medical leave that he requested. In April 2018, however, Old Dominion issued a written “final warning” to Stillwell, without ever having previously disciplined Stillwell or issued him any earlierwarning. On June 5, 2018, Old Dominion terminated Stillwell's employment. In this lawsuit, Stillwell asserts federal claims under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Stillwell also asserts several state statutory claims under the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA), the Oregon Sick Leave Act (OSLA), and the Oregon Fair Employment Practice Act (OFEPA). The OFEPA prohibits discrimination based on disability, among other things. Finally, Stillwell asserts a state common law wrongful discharge claim. Old Dominion has moved for summary judgment against all claims. Stillwell opposes Old Dominion's motion for summary judgment on all claims except his claim under Oregon's family relationship discrimination statute, which he concedes should be dismissed. Accordingly, the Court dismisses Stillwell's Eighth Claim, alleging family relationship discrimination. For the reasons discussed below, the Court denies Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment on all other claims.

STANDARDS

A party is entitled to summary judgment if the “movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). The moving party has the burden of establishing the absence of a genuine dispute of material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986). The court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party. Clicks Billiards Inc. v. Sixshooters Inc., 251 F.3d 1252, 1257 (9th Cir. 2001). Although “[c]redibility determinations, the weighing of the evidence, and the drawing of legitimate inferences from the facts are jury functions not those of a judge . . . ruling on a motion for summary judgment, ” the “mere existence of a scintilla of evidence in support of the plaintiff's position [is] insufficient ....” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252, 255 (1986). “Where the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the nonmoving party, there is no genuine issue for trial.” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587 (1986) (citation and quotation marks omitted).

BACKGROUND

Old Dominion is a national transportation solutions company headquartered in North Carolina. Old Dominion operates a service center in Portland, Oregon, among other places. In March 2009, Old Dominion hired Stillwell as its Outbound Operations Manager at the Portland Service Center. In 2011 Old Dominion promoted Stillwell to Portland Line Haul Manager. In August 2013, Old Dominion promoted Stillwell to the position of Assistant Service Center Manager, where he supervised between 65 to 145 employees. Throughout his employment at Old Dominion, Stillwell reported to Jeff Lorenzini (Lorenzini), the Portland Service Center Manager. Lorenzini reported to Northwest Regional Vice President Scott Goodrich (Goodrich).

In February 2017, Old Dominion created a new Regional Linehaul Manager position, responsible for managing regional linehaul dispatch operations and reporting directly to Hugh Morris, Old Dominion's nationwide Vice President of Transportation. In April 2017, Stillwell interviewed for that position and was selected. The parties dispute whether Stillwell's promotion to this new position depended on Old Dominion hiring and training a replacement for Stillwell's position as Assistant Service Center Manager.

On October 5, 2017, Stillwell experienced a sudden esophageal illness that required emergency medical treatment. In an email exchange between Morris and Lorenzini on October 9, 2017 about how Stillwell's illness might affect his promotion to Regional Linehaul Manager, Lorenzini said to Morris, “If you're still ready, I'd say [Stillwell] ought to be ready to go by the week of [October] 23rd or the 30th.” Morris replied that he would prefer a start date of January 1, 2018, to align with the beginning of a new quarter. Unfortunately, Stillwell's recovery took longer than expected.

From October 6, 2017 through January 23, 2018, Stillwell was on medical leave. He did not use paid sick leave during this time, and instead received his full salary from Old Dominion, including, eventually, long-term disability benefits. Stillwell returned to work on a reduced schedule on January 24, 2018. Stillwell's doctor recommended that Stillwell work no more than six hours in a day during his first week back, followed by no more than eight hours a day during his second week, and no more than ten hours a day during his third week. Stillwell was in the same role as before his illness and continued to report to Lorenzini. Goodrich remained Plaintiff's second-level manager.

Upon Stillwell's return to work in late January 2018, both Lorenzini and Goodrich told Stillwell that he should work only as much as he could handle. Stillwell took intermittent time off for medical treatment until April 2, 2018, and Old Dominion fully accommodated Stillwell's requests for leave. On February 28, 2018, Stillwell inquired with Morris about the promotion to Regional Linehaul Manager. Morris was noncommittal but now states that he declined to make the transfer at that time because Stillwell did not yet have a full release from his doctor. Morris, however, did not communicate that reason to Stillwell or ask Stillwell for medical documentation showing that he was ready and able to work in the new position.

On March 22 and 23, 2018, Stillwell informed Lorenzini that he needed additional medical treatment that would temporarily require Stillwell to go off his medications, which Stillwell explained would affect his mood. In an email, Stillwell asked Lorenzini to “forgive him” in advance for being “grumpy” because of his temporary cessation of medication. Until this time, Old Dominion had never disciplined or issued any warnings to Stillwell. To the contrary, as recounted above, Old Dominion had twice earlier promoted Stillwell and recently offered him a third promotion.

Dan Marsh (Marsh) and Nic Hanson (Hanson) are two employees of Old Dominion who reported directly to Stillwell. In late 2017 and early 2018, they often filled in when Stillwell was out for medical procedures or leave. Stillwell's absences for medical appointments or leave caused both Hanson and Marsh some level of displeasure, which Hanson communicated to Old Dominion.

On March 27 and March 28, 2018, Old Dominion's Northwest Regional Vice President Goodrich and Old Dominion's Regional Human Resources Manager Tom Lillywhite (Lillywhite) visited the Portland Service Center. Old Dominion has given multiple inconsistent explanations for why Goodrich and Lillywhite visited that facility at that time. For example, Old Dominion's counsel characterizes the visit as a “standard visit” made to each of Old Dominion's major service centers. Goodrich told Lorenzini that the visit was because there had been growth and staff changes in the region. Lillywhite, however, testified that the managers travelled to Portland to investigate an “anonymous complaint” that Lorenzini was imposing improper sales conditions. After they arrived, Goodrich and Lillywhite provided a specific list of employees whom they asked to interview. This list included many of Stillwell's direct subordinates, who made certain negative comments about Stillwell's behavior. These comments, reflected in contemporaneous notes taken by Lillywhite, included comments that Stillwell had belittled, degraded, or yelled at certain Old Dominion employees whom he supervised.

Goodrich and Lillywhite then prepared a “final” written warning to Stillwell, conveying the complaints they had gathered. Lorenzini delivered to Stillwell this written warning, known as an “Internal Review Form” (IRF). The IRF stated that Stillwell had “belittled and degraded” certain Old Dominion employees, “called out” a manager in a meeting, and raised his voice at an employee. The IRF concluded:

This is a FINAL IRF. Any further instances of poor job performance, failure to follow company policies, practices, guidelines, procedures, instructions, or standards of behavior will result in termination of employment.

ECF 30-1 at 9 (Owens Decl., Ex. 5) (emphasis added).

No one from Old Dominion, however, interviewed Stillwell before Old Dominion issued its “final” warning to Stillwell. Further, not interviewing Stillwell appears to have been contrary to Old Dominion's “guidelines, ” albeit unwritten, at least when viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. As Old Dominion's Regional Human Resources Manager...