United States District Court, D. Arizona
ORDER
Dominic W. Lanza United States District Judge
INTRODUCTION
This
action arises from James Rogers's (“Rogers”)
employment at GateWay Community College
(“GateWay”), which is part of the Maricopa County
Community College District (“the District”).
(Doc. 1.) Rogers alleges that the District and two GateWay
administrators, Dr. Maria Wise (“Dr. Wise”) and
Dr. Vivian Miranda-Strawbridge (“Dr. Miranda”)
(collectively, “Defendants”), subjected him to a
hostile work environment in retaliation for his advocacy on
behalf of disabled GateWay students. (Id.) Rogers
further alleges that he suffered a heart attack, nervous
breakdown, and other medical issues as a result of
Defendants' conduct, which required him to take leave
from work. (Id.) Finally, Rogers alleges that, when
he recovered and was ready to return to work, he was
prevented from returning to the same or similar job and/or
denied reasonable accommodations.
The
complaint asserts three causes of action: (1) a claim for
retaliation under the Americans with Disabilities Act
(“ADA”) and the Rehabilitation Act against all
Defendants, premised on Defendants' efforts to retaliate
against Rogers due to his advocacy on behalf of disabled
GateWay students; (2) a claim for intentional infliction of
emotional distress (“IIED”) against all
Defendants; and (3) a claim against the District, under both
the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) and the
ADA, premised on the District's exacerbation of
Rogers's medical issues and failure to allow him to
return to work after he recovered. (Id.) Now pending
before the Court is Defendants' motion for partial
summary judgment on the second and third causes of action,
which Rogers opposes. (Docs. 25, 32, 34.) As explained below,
the motion will be granted in part and denied in part.
BACKGROUND
Defendants
submitted a 39-paragraph statement of facts in support of
their motion but clarified that “[t]he facts are stated
in the light most favorable to Plaintiff and may not be the
true facts.” (Doc. 26 at 1.) In response, Rogers agreed
that 37 of the 39 paragraphs were accurate. (Doc. 33.) The
summary below is thus derived from Defendants' statement
of facts, with Rogers's two objections denoted in
footnotes.
Rogers
was employed at GateWay as the Coordinator of Student Success
Programs in charge of the Disability Resources & Services
Office (“DRS Office”). (Doc. 26 ¶ 2.) In
that role, he was responsible for identifying student needs
relating to disabilities, providing mandatory services
(including issuing accommodations), and serving as an
advocate for disabled students. (Id.)
Rogers
alleges he was subjected to a hostile work environment by
faculty and administrators. (Id. ¶ 6.) Rogers
had been promised a job teaching a social work class but was
not hired because the faculty “did not like” him
and because of his position as the manager of the DRS Office.
(Id. ¶ 7.) The public humiliation arising from
this incident, coupled with the stress arising from the
hostile work environment he endured, caused Rogers to suffer
a heart attack on or about March 23, 2016. (Id.
¶ 8.)
Sometime
thereafter, Rogers returned to work. Rogers alleges he had a
nervous breakdown and suffered cardiovascular incidences due
to work-related stress. (Id. ¶
10.)[1]On February 6, 2017, Rogers left work
because he didn't feel well. (Id.) He hasn't
returned to work at GateWay since then. (Id.)
Rogers
applied for and was granted FMLA leave retroactive to
February 6, 2017. (Id. ¶ 12.) The following
events occurred while Rogers was taking FMLA leave: (1)
although Rogers's office “was not moved, ”
Dr. Miranda told a coworker that she believed Rogers's
office should be moved so that it “had a line of sight
to the DRS front counter” (id. ¶ 19); (2)
Dr. Miranda made numerous false and disparaging statements
about Rogers, including comments to a coworker that Rogers
had been insubordinate, had engaged in wrongdoing, had
preexisting health problems, had told lies, and had done a
poor job as the DRS coordinator (id. ¶¶
33, 34, 36, 37, 39); (3) Defendants selected another GateWay
employee to serve as the temporary supervisor of an ASU
Internship program that Rogers had created, but Rogers
“could have resumed his place as [supervisor] in the
program” had he returned to GateWay (id.
¶¶ 20-21); (4) four ASU interns were placed in
departments other than the DRS Office because they expressed
a desire to work in other departments (id. ¶
22); and (5) Dr. Miranda instructed a coworker to remove
Rogers's personal items (a coffee mug, framed photos, and
a coffee warmer) from Rogers's office and put them into
storage (id. ¶ 23). Since beginning his FMLA
leave, Rogers hasn't had any direct communication with
Dr. Miranda or Dr. Wise. (Id. ¶ 11.)
On June
29, 2017, Defendants received a notice of claim letter from
Rogers. (Id. ¶ 24.)
On June
30, 2017, Rogers exhausted his FMLA leave. (Id.
¶ 12.) However, Rogers's doctor indicated that
Rogers couldn't return to work due to physical and/or
mental impairments. (Id.) Therefore, Rogers began
taking ADA leave. (Id.)
On July
1, 2017, Rogers supplemented the notice of claim letter.
(Id.)
On
October 4, 2017, Rogers filed a Charge of Discrimination with
the EEOC and attached a letter to the charge. (Id.
¶ 25.)[2]
On or
about October 6, 2017, Rogers began working with the
District's human resource representatives in an attempt
to locate a vacant position to assume when he became capable
of returning to work. (Id. ¶ 27.)
On
November 30, 2017, the EEOC terminated its investigation and
issued a right to sue letter to Rogers. (Id. ¶
30.)
DISCUSSION
I.
Le ...