 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Rayman v. Progressive Tool & Industries2/19/2002
UNPUBLISHED
Plaintiffs Steven and Nancy Rayman appeal as of right the trial court's order granting defendants Progressive Tool & Industries Company and Frederick Begle's motion for summary disposition pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(10). At issue in this case is whether defendants violated the Persons With Disabilities Civil Rights Act (PWDCRA) and the anti-retaliation provision of the Worker's Disability Compensation Act (WDCA). Rayman does not appeal the portion of the trial court's order summarily disposing of his slander claim. We affirm.
I. Basic Facts
Progressive designs and builds automated systems and equipment for the automotive industry. Frederick Begle is Progressive's Personnel Director. In February 1986, Progressive hired Rayman as a fluid power pipefitter trainee. Between 1986 and the end of 1992, Rayman had been promoted several times until he was made a Class I pipefitter, the top classification for this skilled trade. However, during this same period, Rayman did not work consistently. Progressive, evidently in response to fluctuating demand for its services, laid him off three times: for forty-nine days in 1989, more than nine months in 1991, and for ninety-nine days in 1992. Starting in April 1989, Rayman also took leave because he severely injured his right arm on the job. His six medical leaves were as short as one week and as long as about eight months. Progressive denied some of Rayman's applications for worker's compensation, but it did eventually pay benefits to him, on one occasion after Rayman involved the United States Department of Labor.
In January 1994, following his second-to-last medical leave, Rayman's physician released him to work as a pipefitter on a restricted basis. The restriction was that he could only use his left hand, which meant he was unable to perform his work as a pipefitter. Progressive offered Rayman a position as a security guard, the only position available at that time that would accommodate his injury. Rayman was not pleased with this job because it paid much less per hour, but he accepted it and received a worker's compensation supplement. Rayman subsequently interviewed for two other jobs within Progressive, one in project management and one as a reliability technician. Progressive did not offer him the project management job because of a conflict of interest involving Rayman's father, but did offer him the reliability technician position. Rayman declined the reliability technician position because it would have required him to travel extensively.
Rayman's physician lifted his work restriction, allowing him to return to work as a pipefitter in March 1994. However, he reinjured his right arm and took his last medical leave between July 5, 1994 and July 12, 1994. Rayman's physician again released him to work with the restriction that he only work with his left hand, which Progressive accommodated by transferring him back to the security guard position.
In fall 1994, Progressive created an instructor position in its corporate training department to teach fluid power and pipefitting techniques, giving that job to Rayman. As Rayman would later testify in his deposition, from that time forward he considered being an instructor as his "vocation"; he simply could not perform the work of a pipefitter, even though he liked that work and would have liked to have been able to continue doing it. In his capacity as an instructor, which was classified as an administrative position, Rayman trained Progressive employees, developed training manuals, and did some machinery maintenance. Progressive hired an assistant to help Rayman demonstrate pipefitting techniques he could not perform because of his i
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Michigan Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|