Beverly Stevenson v. Hyre Electrict Co.

On February 9, 2004, Beverly
Stevenson had an extreme emotional and physical response
to a stray dog entering her workspace at Hyre
Electric Company. She left work soon after and for the
most part stayed home for the next several days. The few
times she tried to return to work, she felt unable
to function and demonstrated erratic and emotional
behavior. Her coworkers were so concerned that they
eventually locked her out of the building. Then on March
9, 2004, Stevenson was informed by letter that she had
been terminated effective February 25.

Stevenson claims that Hyre had notice that she was
suffering from a serious health condition and thus violated her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act
("FMLA"), 29 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq., when it fired her.
Despite the unprecedented nature of Stevenson's troublesome
behavior following the dog incident, Hyre claims
it was unaware that she might be suffering from a
serious mental health condition. The district court agreed
with Hyre and granted its motion for summary judgment.
We see some genuine issues of material fact lurking
in this case, and we therefore reverse and remand
for further proceedings.

I

We review a district court's decision to grant summary
judgment de novo, and we construe all facts in the light
most favorable to the nonmoving party. Vallone v. CNA
Fin. Corp., 375 F.3d 623, 631 (7th Cir. 2004). Our account
of the facts reflects that perspective.

Prior to February 9, 2004, Stevenson had no documented
history of misconduct or health problems at Hyre.
All that changed at approximately 10:00 am on February
9, when a stray dog climbed through the window of the
Hyre warehouse where Stevenson worked and approached
her. She immediately felt physical symptoms,
including a headache, a rush of blood to her head, and a
tightening of her neck and back. Stevenson's supervisor
Mary Cicchetti recounted that immediately after the dog
incident, she entered the office area where Stevenson
worked and found Stevenson very agitated and "spraying
Glade," a room deodorizer. Upon seeing Cicchetti,
Stevenson began yelling and cursing, screaming that
"f**king animals shouldn't be in the workplace." Cicchetti
said that Stevenson was "very intimidating" and belligerent,
and that her agitated behavior lasted three or four
minutes.

Two hours after the dog incident, Stevenson informed
Hay Lee Yuen, the accounting manager, that she was
ill and needed to go home. She left and went home immediately;
she did not go to a doctor's office or hospital
that day. The next morning, Stevenson left a voicemail
for Cicchetti and said that she "wasn't feeling well and . . .
wouldn't be in today." At that point she went to the
hospital for an unrelated medical test.

Hyre's president, Charles Guest, testified in his deposition
that he knew the individual employees who work at
Hyre and that prior to February 9, Stevenson's behavior
had been satisfactory and that he could not recall any
verbal or written warnings. On February 11, Stevenson
went to her workplace at approximately 7:00 am to
speak with Guest. It was an explosive encounter. Guest
testified that "[Stevenson] charged into my office yelling
and in a very aggressive manner." He continued, "She
said it was wrong for her to be subjected to this kind of
thing in the office, to have f**king dogs running by her
desk and threatening her, and that management needs
to do something about this." He tried unsuccessfully to
calm her down, but she continued to scream at him. He
also assured her that every effort would be made to
prevent anything similar from happening in the future.
The conversation lasted eight to ten minutes. Guest
testified that after the incident, other employees came
up to him and made statements such as "What was that
all about?" and "Boy, that was something."

The accounting manager, Yuen, overheard part of the
February 11 meeting between Stevenson and Guest.
She reported that she could not make out the entire
conversation but "[Stevenson's] voice was loud and
sounded like screaming at the president." She acknowledged
that Stevenson sounded "very upset." After the
meeting with Guest, Stevenson told Cicchetti that "she
could not work" and left the premises.

Later that day, Stevenson filed a complaint with the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration regarding
stray animals at Hyre's workplace. Stevenson also
went to the emergency room. She was examined by a
doctor after complaining of three days of headaches,
insomnia, anxiety, and loss of appetite following an
"emotionally stressful incident at work." An EKG test and
CAT scan both came back normal. Stevenson was discharged
with a diagnosis of "anxiety and stress" and was
prescribed Ativan.

The next day, February 12, Stevenson left a message
for Cicchetti stating that she was ill and would not be
coming to work. Later that day she met with a union
representative, Richard Sipple, to discuss the dog incident.
During the meeting, Stevenson mentioned that
she was "off sick" but did not elaborate. On Friday,
February 13, and Monday, February 16, Stevenson again
called in sick but gave no additional details about her
condition.

On February 17, Stevenson went to work at 7:00 am.
Cicchetti had boxed up the contents of Stevenson's desk
and moved them to another room. Cicchetti claimed that
she did so to accommodate Stevenson's fear of stray
animals. Stevenson stayed at work for a few hours, but
she was still agitated, completed little or no work, and
ultimately called the police because she believed that
she was somehow being harassed. At approximately
10:00 am, she told Cicchetti that she was not feeling
well and left work. Before leaving, Stevenson left the
hospital's report of her February 11 emergency room visit
on Yuen's desk. After Stevenson left, Guest gave Cicchetti
permission to change the locks on the doors of Hyre's
office. Guest then sent a letter by overnight mail to
Stevenson that stated in part:

You no longer have any accrued vacation or sick leave
available. Therefore, any additional leave must be governed by Hyre's Family and Medical Leave
Policy. Under the provisions of Hyre's Employment
Manual, you are required to obtain a medical certification
from your physician or other health care provider
for a serious health condition FMLA leave. If you do
not do so within fifteen (15) days from the commencement
of your leave or by Tuesday, February 24, 2004,
your absences will be deemed unexcused and you
will be terminated from Hyre's employ.

On February 18, Stevenson again called in sick. She went
to a doctor's appointment that she had scheduled on
February 13 or 14. There she met with Dr. Mary Jo Liszek,
her primary care physician, and told Dr. Liszek about her
medical concerns. Dr. Liszek prescribed a sleep aid for
Stevenson and scheduled a follow-up visit for February 20.
Stevenson claims that Dr. Liszek told her to stay home
for the next two days.

On February 20, Stevenson again met with union
representatives and recounted her story once more. She
also gave the representatives the documentation from her
ER visit. Then Stevenson went to her follow-up appointment
with Dr. Liszek. She was seen first by Dr. Mahan, an
associate of Dr. Liszek, to whom she reported that her
anxiety, sleeping difficulties, and headaches had improved.
She told Dr. Mahan that she wanted to return to
work, but that she needed a doctor's note to do so. Dr.
Liszek then saw Stevenson briefly and wrote a note
excusing her absence from February 9 through February
20. The parties agree that this note does not establish that
Stevenson had been instructed by Dr. Liszek not to work
for those days.

On Monday, February 23, Stevenson did not return to
work. She claims that her union representatives told her
that the union did not want her to return. Sipple recalled
telling Stevenson that she could not return to work until she had a "doctor's release." That day, Sipple and another
union representative met with Guest and Hyre employee
Jim Palm to discuss Stevenson's situation. Also that day,
Stevenson faxed to the union a copy of the note from
Dr. Liszek; the union passed the note along to Hyre.

The next morning, Stevenson called Cicchetti and said
that, in keeping with the union's instructions, she was
not coming to work that day. Later, she changed her
mind and arrived at Hyre at approximately 10:00 am. She
discovered that the locks had been changed, and so she
knocked on the door until Guest answered it. Guest
refused to accept her note from Dr. Liszek; instead, Guest
gave her a box containing her personal belongings "because
she wasn't coming back into the office." Later, the union
called Guest, and he told them that the note from Dr.
Liszek was not sufficient. This information was relayed to
Stevenson, and the union advised her to get another
doctor's note. Stevenson returned to Dr. Liszek and asked
for a note certifying that she could return to work; she
did not, however, mention the FMLA specifically. Dr.
Liszek obliged with a second note purporting to excuse her
through February 24. Stevenson faxed this note to the
union that evening with a cover letter explaining that
Dr. Liszek was willing to answer questions and complete
additional forms if needed. The union then asked Guest
in writing to "[k]indly put forth in writing your reasons
why this [first] release was not enough and let us know
what is needed to return Beverly to work." Guest never
responded.

On February 25, the union faxed the second doctor's note
to Hyre. It is unclear whether the cover letter from
Stevenson was faxed as well. From that point until March
9, Stevenson heard nothing from Hyre and did not contact
anyone at Hyre herself. On March 9, Hyre sent a letter
to Stevenson stating that she had been terminated effective
February 25.