Woods v. Astrazeneca Pharm., LP

659 F.Supp.3d 512

Gina WOODS, Plaintiff, v. ASTRAZENECA PHARMACEUTICALS, L.P., d/b/a AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Defendant.

CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:19-CV-00230

United States District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania

Filed March 7, 2023

Ari R. Karpf, Jeremy M. Cerutti, Yinan, Ma, Karpf, Karpf & Cerutti, P.C., Bensalem, PA, for Plaintiff.

Barbara R. Rigo, Tara Param, Littler Mendelson, P.C., Philadelphia, PA, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Robert D. Mariani, United States District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 39) is pending before the Court. With this Motion, Defendant seeks judgment in its favor on all claims contained in Plaintiff's Second Amended Complaint (Doc. 26). (Doc. 39 at 3.) Plaintiff Gina Woods ("Plaintiff") filed this action on February 11, 2019, based on her termination from employment with Defendant AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals ("AstraZeneca" "Defendant") where she worked from February 2007 to November 2018. From November 2015 until the time of termination, Plaintiff was a Pharmaceutical Sales Specialist for AstraZeneca. Plaintiff's Second Amended Complaint identifies four causes of action: 1) Violations of Title VII based on gender discrimination, gender stereotyping discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment; 2) Violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as Amended ("ADAAA") based on "Actual/Perceived/Record of Disability Discrimination," retaliation, failure to accommodate, and hostile work environment, 3) Violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA") based on interference and retaliation; and 4) Violations of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act ("PHRA") based on gender discrimination, gender stereotyping discrimination, retaliation, hostile work environment, actual/perceived/record of disability discrimination, and failure to accommodate. (Doc. 26 at 13-16.)

For the reasons discussed below, the Court will deny Defendants' motion in part and grant it in part.

II. BACKGROUND¹

Having begun her employment with AstraZeneca in February 2007, Plaintiff worked as a Pharmaceutical Sales Specialist ("PSS") on the Diabetes Team at the time of her termination in November 2018. She began working in the PSS position in November 2015 and was supervised by George Yescavage, Executive District Sales Manager. (Doc. 40 ¶ 3-4; Doc. 47-1 ¶¶ 3-4.)

Before transferring to the Diabetes Team in November 2105, Plaintiff had been a PSS on various other sales teams. (Doc. 26 ¶¶ 12-14.) From 2007 through 2014, her performance was rated "Valued Performance" or better. (Id. ¶ 20(iii).) In April 2014, she was named a recipient of the 2014 Circle of Excellence Award which recognizes the top 5% performers in AstraZeneca's sales force and MAPS team. (Id. ¶ 20(ii).)

Plaintiff was pregnant with her first child in 2014-2015. (Id. ¶¶ 21-24.) Because of complications with the pregnancy, Plaintiff was required to take a medical leave of absence a few months prior to giving birth. (Id. ¶ 22.) Following the birth of her child, Plaintiff returned from maternity leave in September 2015. (Id. ¶ 24.) Plaintiff did not report to Yescavage at the time. (Doc. 40 ¶ 30.)

Plaintiff received on overall rating of "3" for 2015 which was the equivalent of "Valued Performance."² (Doc. 26 ¶ 20(iv).) The 2015 year-end performance evaluation was written by Yescavage (who did not begin to supervise Plaintiff until December 2015) with input from the supervisor of her previous team, Jack Gillen. (Id. ¶ 25.) Yescavage noted Plaintiff's medical leave, stating "[d]ue to this fact, 2015 was a different year for Gina." (Id.)

In June of 2016, Plaintiff learned she was pregnant. (Id. ¶ 26.) Like her first pregnancy, Plaintiff's second pregnancy was deemed "high risk," and she was diagnosed with the same health conditions as in her first pregnancy including Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy ("ICP"), Hyperemesis Gravidarum ("HG"), and Preeclampsia. (Id. ¶¶ 21, 27.)

On December 14, 2016, Plaintiff received her year-end performance evaluation wherein she was given an overall rating of "3." (Id. ¶ 29.) In late December 2016, when Plaintiff was approximately seven months pregnant, she began a medical leave of absence. (Id. ¶ 30.) Plaintiff delivered her second child in January 2017 and remained out of work on maternity leave until April 24, 2017. (Id. ¶ 31; Doc. 48-4 at 4.)

Plaintiff avers that she continued to have serious health conditions when she returned to work including essential hypertension, nausea/vomiting, and migraines. (Id. ¶ 32.) Plaintiff further avers that, due to these health conditions, she was required to miss intermittent time from work and be hospitalized (for high blood pressure). (Id. ¶ 33.)

In the first two weeks of December 2017, Yescavage provided Plaintiff with her year-end evaluation score in which she was projected to receive an overall rating of "2." (Doc. 40 ¶ 44; Doc. 47-1 ¶ 44.)

In January 2018, Plaintiff made both an anonymous complaint and non-anonymous complaint against Yescavage through Defendant's internal complaint procedure. (Doc. 40 ¶ 45; Doc. 47-1 ¶ 45.) Amanda Haile, Plaintiff's territory sales partner and a Level 3 Senior PSS who had taken leave for her pregnancies while working in Yescavage's district, also made a complaint that Yescavage had discriminated against her. (Doc. 40 ¶ 41, 53; Doc. 47-1 ¶ 41, 53.) Allegations of discrimination by Plaintiff and Haile were investigated by Linda Abbonizio, Senior Employment Practices Partner ("EPP"), and Laura Barton, Commercial Business Director ("CBD"), Diabetes, and Yescavage's supervisor. (Id. ¶¶ 55-60.)

Plaintiff's claimed discrimination included a statement by Yescavage while she was pregnant in 2016, at which time he stated "you're not going to last. I'm going to have to get someone else to help you." (Id. ¶ 46.)

Plaintiff was asked for and provided documentation of the alleged discrimination which included screen shots of text messages and a copy of an article Yescavage had provided to three women under his supervision titled "How to Handle Work When Your Child is Sick,". (Id. ¶¶ 54, 60-61.) Plaintiff agrees with Defendant's summary of the text messages provided:

• In one text message, Mr. Yescavage sent a picture of a beer, which had a Buck on it to his entire team (men and women). (Abbonizio Dep. Exh. P-10.) Ms. Woods testified she thought it inappropriate because it was about alcohol and after work. (Woods Dep. 227:16-22.)

• In another message, he sent a picture of an alcoholic beverage to the entire team (men and women), which said "Moonshine time ..." (Abbonizio Dep. Exh. P-10.) Ms. Woods testified that she thought it was inappropriate in that it was a manager promoting drinking. (Woods Dep. 229:14-230:7.)

• In another message, Mr. Yescavage sent a picture of his new snow blower to the entire team (men and women). (Abbonizio Dep. Exh. P-10.) Ms. Woods testified she thought it was inappropriate in that she assumed he wanted his team to drive in the snow. (Woods Dep. 231:14-232:20.) The text went on to tell everyone to "be safe." (Abbonizio Dep. Exh. P-10.)

(Doc. 40 ¶¶ 62-64; Doc. 47-1 ¶¶ 62-64.)

Based on the evidence and interviews with approximately 70% of Yescavage's team, Abbonizio concluded that the text messages and article did not establish a hostile work environment on the basis of gender and that Yescavage did not engage in gender discrimination against Plaintiff. (Doc. 40 ¶ 65; Doc. 47-1 ¶ 65.) Neither Plaintiff nor Haile made any further complaints. (Doc. 40 ¶ 71; Doc. 47-1 ¶ 71.) In her resignation letter, Haile expressed appreciation for working with Yescavage and his team. (Id. ¶ 73.)

After again becoming eligible for FMLA leave again in April of 2018, Plaintiff formally requested intermittent FMLA leave to care for and treat her health conditions. (Doc. 26 ¶ 34.) Defendant's Absence Management Company, "the Hartford," approved Plaintiff for FMLA intermittent leave beginning on April 27, 2018, and ending on April 26, 2019. (Id. ¶35.) Between April 27, 2018, and November of 2018 when Plaintiff was informed of her termination, Plaintiff had taken approximately 100.5 hours of FMLA intermittent leave. (Id. ¶ 36.)

In April 2018, three separate complaints were made about negative and inappropriate communications from Plaintiff to two of her teammates, Megan Gavin and Mary Ellen McCafferty. (Doc. 40 ¶ 79; Doc. 47-1 ¶ 79.) Plaintiff received a "verbal coaching" on more than one occasion about the problem from Abbonizio, and Yescavage also attempted to mediate issues. (Id. ¶¶ 88, 90. 91.)

At about the same time, Gavin and McCafferty raised concerns about Plaintiff's call activity. (Doc. 40 ¶ 93; Doc. 47-1 ¶ 93.) Upon initial review, Yescavage noticed some discrepancies and patterns which he determined called for additional review. (Id. ¶ 95.) After further investigation, Yescavage, Abbonizio, and Barton, met with Plaintiff on October 30, 2018, for an Opportunity to Respond ("OTR") session to discuss concerns regarding Plaintiff's call activity and comments she made to colleagues. (Id. ¶ 107.) Based on the result of the investigation, Abbonizio prepared a "Final Written Warning" on November 12, 2018, with input from Yescavage and Barton. (Id. ¶ 111.) The Final Written Warning stated that Plaintiff would not be eligible for a bonus and she would receive a performance rating of "1" for 2018. (Id. ¶ 112.) Plaintiff never received this warning because Abbonizio was notified that terminations were being implemented by Human Resources as a part of a broad initiative to review and address employee underperformance. (Id. ¶ 114.)

In late 2018, Defendant was undergoing a company-wide initiative to manage and drive performance. (Id. ¶ 115.) As part of the initiative, all employees in the cardiovascular, metabolic, and diabetes area had their performances individually reviewed to determine if they should be terminated for underperformance. (Id.) Tammi Gaskins, the Executive Business Director in Diabetes East...