United States District Court, D. Massachusetts
OPINION AND ORDER
George
A. O’Toole, Jr. Senior United States District Judge.
This is
an employment discrimination lawsuit filed by the plaintiff,
Patricia Cahill, against her former employer, the United
States Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”). The
amended complaint brings claims under Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 (Counts I, IV, and V) and the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Counts II and III). The defendant
has moved for summary judgment in its favor on all claims.
I.
Factual Background
Cahill,
a registered nurse, started working at the VA in 1994. In
2000, she sustained injuries unrelated to this litigation and
was out of work for approximately ten years. In 2011, she
returned to the VA working as a Revenue Utilization Review
Nurse.
In
early 2012, she suffered a brain injury that resulted in
ongoing cognitive issues, including an inability to
multi-task or concentrate. As a result of these injuries, she
reported to the VA’s Reasonable Accommodation Committee
(“RAC”) in March 2012 that she was unable to
perform the functions of her position. At all times relevant
here, her main point of contact to the RAC was VA Human
Resources Officer James Tavares.
In
August 2012, Cahill accepted an accommodation in the form of
a temporary detail assignment in the Home Telehealth
Department at the VA’s Brockton campus. Throughout the
course of her detail, she frequently worked in a shared
office with co-workers Johnny Stewart and Marilyn Murguia.
On
November 19, 2013, Cahill and Stewart had a disagreement of
some sort which Cahill described to her supervisor, Eileen
Tarsky, through the VA instant messaging (“IM”)
system minutes after it occurred:
MM [Marilyn Murguia] & I were working quietly...both on
phone w/pts...Johnny [Stewart] walks in MM off phone, asks MM
for cigarette and talking LOUDLY, I asked to lower voice as
on phone w/pt...I couldn’t hear the pt...when I hung up
he started yelling at me to get my own office and that I
“needed help”. He then took off and slammed the
door...I’m terrified of him...he’s always telling
me what to do!
(Second Weida Decl., Ex. H (dkt. no. 99-8).)
According
to Murguia, who witnessed the event:
Patricia was on the phone and at the same time Johnny asked
me a question in a normal tone of voice. At this point
Patricia became agitated and made an exaggerated physical
[gesture] about the noise. Johnny then got up and headed
toward my desk to continue the conversations while lowering
his voice. Following this Patricia and Johnny had a short
verbal dispute, with Johnny leaving the room. There was no
yelling or physical contact during this time. Shortly after
Johnny returned to work and all was quiet until the end of
the work day.
(First Weida Decl., Ex. F (dkt. no. 97-6).)
After
speaking to various individuals about the incident, Tarsky
and the other managers agreed to assign Cahill permanently to
the shared office, and to relocate Stewart to another office
on a different floor. Tarksy also drafted an incident report,
describing both the incident and the corrective action that
was taken. The VA’s Safety Manager and Chief of Police
both reviewed the report and concluded that no further action
was necessary. Cahill maintains in this litigation that she
was assaulted during the incident and that she and Stewart
were never effectively separated.
A week
later, on November 26, Cahill received a duty status report
containing an evaluation from Dr. Tammy Harris at the
VA’s Occupational Health Services. The report diagnosed
Cahill with situational anxiety and found her unfit for duty
pending a follow-up evaluation in early January 2014. The
report also included as a workplace restriction that Cahill
was not to be exposed to hostile co-workers. Cahill then
ceased to attend work until August 2014.
On
February 6 and 28, 2014, Tavares and then Tarsky each sent a
letter to Cahill instructing her to return to work. In April,
Tavares suggested that Cahill could return to the Patient
Call Center in Jamaica Plain, where she had worked on an
interim basis in 2012. Cahill rejected the idea and stated
that she wanted to return to the Home Telehealth Department
in Brockton.
On May
1, Cahill initiated contact with an EEO counselor about the
November 19, 2013 incident, claiming race and disability
discrimination, ...