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Owens v. Farmers Insurance Exchange3/22/1999
-- An employer who does not have adequate notice of an employee's disability will not be held liable for discriminating on the basis of that disability. Similarly, an employer who does not have notice of an employee's serious health condition will not be held liable for failing to grant a medical leave. Because the record here before us contains evidence of notice to the employer that the plaintiff employee was disabled and suffering a serious health condition, we reverse the order of summary Judgement dismissing the plaintiff's claims arising from her termination.
Review of a summary Judgement dismissal is de novo and the appellate court engages in the same inquiry as the trial court. That inquiry is whether there is a genuine issue of material fact and whether the moving party is entitled to a Judgement as a matter of law. The court considers the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.
Renita Owens, appellant here and plaintiff below, worked as a claims adjuster for Farmers Insurance Exchange from 1986 until her termination on September 14, 1994. In the months prior to her termination, Owens' work performance at Farmers declined, provoking numerous complaints from clients of Farmers and a formal warning from her supervisor.
Owens' decline in work performance coincided roughly with an onset of depression. In mid-1994, Owens began to experience suicidal thoughts. She contacted the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) at Farmers, where a counselor diagnosed her with major depression. Owens' symptoms included lapses in short term memory and concentration as well as depressed mood and sleep deprivation, all of which interfered with her ability to function at work. Owens told her supervisor, William Ruther, that she was undergoing mental health counseling.
Farmers had an employee handbook stating the terms of an attendance policy. That policy required all employees absent on any day to call their supervisor or other manager within one hour of their starting time. If two days went by without the employee calling in, Farmers would presume the employee had resigned. The call-in requirement did not apply during an approved leave.
On Friday, September 9, 1994, Owens' counselor, increasingly concerned about Owens' suicidal thoughts, referred her for hospital treatment. The following Monday, September 12, Owens did not show up at Farmers for a scheduled meeting with Ruther at 8 a.m., her normal starting time during the week. She called Farmers shortly after 8 a.m. that day and spoke to Ruther and to another supervisor. "I advised them that my company car and all of Farmers' property had been placed in the parking lot and I was not of any sound mind to perform my duties for Farmers Insurance." Owens told the supervisors she would be seeing a doctor that day, needed a leave, and would be sending Farmers a doctor's note. Owens said she would let the company know how long she expected the leave to last after she consulted with the doctor.
Ruther responded to Owens, "Do what you have to do." He then reassigned Owens' files and had a colleague list Owens on the employee schedule as being on medical leave for the following week.
Two days later, at approximately 10 a.m. on Wednesday, September 14, Owens contacted the human resources department at Farmers to request a medical leave. Susie DePinto, an administrative assistant, told Owens about the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The Act allows covered employees to take medical leave for up to 12 weeks for serious health conditions and protects their right, upon return, to be placed in the same or a similar position. Owens responded that she wanted to apply
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