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Anderson v. Wellman Products Group6/30/2004
Decision and Journal Entry
This cause was heard upon the record in the trial court. Each error assigned has been reviewed and the following disposition is made:
Appellant, Pamela Anderson, appeals from the judgment of the Medina County Court of Common Pleas, which granted summary judgment in favor of appellee, Wellman Products Group. This court affirms.
I.
Appellant began her employment with appellee in April 1999. In October 2000, appellant was injured in an automobile accident. Appellant requested to take medical leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"), and appellee granted it. Appellant took FMLA-qualifying leave from October 2000 to January 2001. She returned to work in early January, and four months later, on May 2, 2001, appellant experienced shoulder and neck pain and numbness in her arm while operating a machine press during her work shift. Appellant informed her shift supervisor of the problem, and he moved her to a different machine to work. Appellant still experienced pain and informed her shift supervisor that she had to take off the rest of her shift and that she was going to see her doctor.
As part of its company policies, appellee implemented progressive disciplinary procedures with its employees known as the Corrective Action Program. This program involved four steps of discipline for company employees who violated work policies, the final step being termination by appellee. All employees were provided with a company manual that explained its policies, including the Corrective Action Program. Appellant had received several write-ups under this program during her employment with appellee. In April 2001, appellant was warned that her next write-up could result in her termination. On May 3, 2001, appellant received a write-up for mistakes made during her work-shift on May 2, 2001. Because the write-up put appellant into the fourth step of the corrective action program, appellee told its Human Resources Director, Kyra Baumer/Gobora, that appellant was to be terminated on May 3, 2001.
Appellant did not come in to work her shift on May 3, 2001. Instead, appellant telephoned Baumer/Gobora and told her that she had seen her doctor and that she needed to take more FMLA leave. Baumer/Gobora did not tell appellant at that time that she would be terminated; she provided appellant with medical paperwork and instructed her to call in once a week to report her medical status. Because appellant did not return to work for the next several weeks, Baumer/Gobora sent her a termination letter via certified mail on May 25, 2001.
Appellant did not contact appellee after she received her termination letter but instead filed suit against appellee for violation of the FMLA in April 2002. Appellee filed its answer, and the parties conducted discovery for the case. On February 14, 2003, appellee filed a motion for summary judgment and appellant filed a motion in opposition to summary judgment on April 21, 2003. After consideration of the parties' briefs and attached exhibits and evidence, the trial court granted summary judgment to appellee and journalized the judgment on June 11, 2003.
Appellant timely appealed from the decision, setting forth three assignments of error for review. As all three of appellant's assignments of error allege that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to appellee for various reasons, this court will address them together for ease of discussion.
II. FIRST ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR
"The trial court prejudicially erred when it dismissed the plaintiff's FMLA case based upon the defendant's motion for summary judgment finding that the plaintiff is
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