Haley v. Cmty. Mercy Health Partners (Summary)

EMPLOYMENT TERMINATION:  AGE DISCRIMINATION, ADA AND FMLA

Haley v. Cmty. Mercy Health Partners, No. 3:11-cv-232 (S.D. Ohio Jan. 28, 2013)

In this FMLA case, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio overruled a hospital’s motion for summary judgment. A nurse brought suit against the hospital after she received a number of disciplinary actions that resulted in her termination.  The nurse took leave due to sick parents, a hospitalized spouse and to undergo treatments for cancer. She claimed that the hospital discriminated against her based on age and disability.

The district court held that the age discrimination claims were not entitled to summary judgment. The court stated that the nurse had sufficiently demonstrated that she was terminated from a position that she was qualified for, and that she was replaced by someone younger than her.  The court also stated that a reasonable jury could conclude that two younger nurses were treated more favorably; one nurse accumulated more tardies but was not terminated.

The district court held that summary judgment was not appropriate for the disability discrimination claims or the FMLA claims.  The court stated that the nurse had met her burden of demonstrating that she was discriminated against based on her disability.  The court believed that a reasonable jury could conclude that her leave should not have been classified as unauthorized.

While the hospital did provide nondiscriminatory reasons for terminating the nurse’s employment, the court held that a reasonable jury could find these reasons to be pretextual. The court stated that there was a factual dispute over the attendance violations and the site marking violations that were provided as grounds for termination. There were contradicting testimonies from the nurse’s supervisor and the hospital itself over what did and did not qualify for disciplinary action.