JAMES E. GRITZNER, Chief Judge.
This matter is before the Court on a Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6), filed by Defendants ManorCare Health Services, LLC (MHS) and HCR ManorCare, Inc. (HCR). Plaintiff Lucinda Dalton (Dalton) resists. A hearing was not requested, and the Court finds a hearing is unnecessary. Accordingly, the matter is fully submitted and ready for disposition.
Dalton was hired to work as a Floor Nurse at a Manor Care
The following day, Benedict called Dalton at home and informed her she was to come in to work at 1:00 p.m. on March 2, 2011, rather than her normal start time of 8:00 a.m. When Dalton arrived on March 2, Benedict called her in for a meeting and informed Dalton that she was being placed on an indefinite suspension and that she was not to work unless instructed accordingly by Benedict. On March 3, 2011, Benedict called Dalton at home and requested she come into work to meet with Benedict at 1:00 p.m. Dalton met with Benedict, at which time Dalton was informed that she was immediately terminated from her position at Manor Care. Dalton asserts she was terminated due to her medical condition and its corresponding disabling effects in violation of federal and state law.
Dalton filed a Complaint alleging disability discrimination under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA) against MHS, HCR, Benedict, Dean Hagen (Hagen), and Scott Keefer (Keefer) on April 12, 2012. Dalton filed an Amended Complaint on July 20, 2012, adding Manor Care of West Des Moines, IA, LLC (WDM) as a Defendant and including a new count of disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, As Amended (ADAAA), against all named Defendants. Defendants MHS and HCR (Defendants) filed a Motion to Dismiss Dalton's Amended Complaint on July 16, 2012, pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). Dalton resisted the motion on August 10, 2012.
The FMLA provides that "[s]ubject to section 2613 of this title, an eligible employee shall be entitled to a total of 12 workweeks of leave during any 12-month period" for one of five listed situations. 29 U.S.C. § 2612(a)(1). In order to protect this statutory right, another section of the FMLA provides that "[i]t shall be unlawful for any employer to interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of or the attempt to exercise, any right provided under this subchapter." 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a)(1). Further, "[i]t shall be unlawful for any employer to discharge or in any other manner discriminate against any individual for opposing any practice made unlawful by this subchapter." 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a)(2).
For purposes of the FMLA, an "employer" is "any person engaged in commerce or in any industry or activity affecting commerce who employs 50 or more employees
The enforcement section of the FMLA states that "any employer who violates section 2615 of this title shall be liable to any eligible employee affected." 29 U.S.C. § 2617(a)(1). The jurisdictional section of the FMLA provides "[a]n action to recover the damages or equitable relief prescribed in paragraph (1) may be maintained against any employer (including a public agency) in any Federal or State court of competent jurisdiction by any one or more employees for and in behalf of — (A) the employees; or (B) the employees and other employees similarly situated." 29 U.S.C. § 2617(a)(2).
In order to more fully illustrate what persons and entities are considered "employers" for purposes of the FMLA, federal regulations provide an "integrated employer" test as well as a "joint employer" test. The "integrated employer" test looks at the following factors to determine whether multiple entities should be considered as one all-encompassing employer for purposes of the FMLA: "(i) Common management; (ii) Interrelation between operations; (iii) Centralized control of labor relations; and (iv) Degree of common ownership/financial control." 29 C.F.R. § 825.104(c)(2). The "joint employer" test applies "[w]here two or more businesses exercise some control over the work or working conditions of the employee," and the common situations where such a relationship is found to exist include:
29 C.F.R. § 825.106(a). The regulation also sets forth that:
29 C.F.R. § 825.106(b)(1).
The ADAAA sets forth the general rule that "[n]o covered entity shall discriminate against a qualified individual on the basis of disability in regard to job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees, employment compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment." 42 U.S.C. § 12112(a). For purposes of the ADAAA, "[t]he term `covered entity' means an employer, employment agency, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee." 42 U.S.C. § 12111(2). An "employer" includes:
42 U.S.C. § 12111(5)(A); see also 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(e). In order to enforce the rights granted in the ADAAA:
42 U.S.C. § 12117(a). "Each United States district court and each United States court of a place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States shall have jurisdiction of actions brought under this subchapter." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(3).
The ICRA sets forth that:
Iowa Code § 216.6(1)(a). This section of the ICRA does not apply to "[a]ny employer who regularly employs less than four individuals," "[t]he employment of individuals for work within the home of the employer if the employer or members of the employer's family reside therein during such employment," or "[t]he employment of individuals to render personal service to the person of the employer or members of the employer's family." Iowa Code § 216.6(6).
An "employer" for purposes of the ICRA "means the state of Iowa or any political subdivision, board, commission, department, institution, or school district thereof, and every other person employing employees within the state." Iowa Code § 216.2(7).
Title VII sets forth that
42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a).
For purposes of Title VII, "employer" "means a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce who has fifteen or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, and any agent of such a person," with a few noted exceptions not applicable here. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b).
In their Motion to Dismiss, Defendants assert Dalton's FMLA and ADAAA claims fail under Rule 12(b)(1) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Dalton cites Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 546 U.S. 500, 126 S.Ct. 1235, 163 L.Ed.2d 1097 (2006), to support her argument that the determination of Defendants' employer status is a substantive element of her claim as opposed to a prerequisite for jurisdiction; Defendants contend Arbaugh does not apply to the case at bar because it dealt with Title VII's employee numerosity requirement and not employer status under the FMLA or ADAAA.
In Arbaugh, the defendants asserted a lack of subject matter jurisdiction after trial because they did not have the requisite number of employees to be considered an "employer" under Title VII.
The Supreme Court in Arbaugh expressed its concern with "drive-by jurisdictional rulings" in which courts stated they lacked jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(1), when they were really dealing with a Rule 12(b)(6) problem. Arbaugh, 546 U.S. at 511, 126 S.Ct. 1235. In order to clear up the confusion with these two avenues to dismissal, the Supreme Court used Title VII's numerosity requirement to illustrate the difference between a jurisdictional bar and a substantive threshold for recovery under the statute.
First, the Court noted that "[t]he basic statutory grants of federal-court subject-matter jurisdiction are contained in 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1332," providing federal courts with federal question and diversity jurisdiction. Id. at 513, 126 S.Ct. 1235. In Arbaugh, the plaintiff was invoking federal question jurisdiction under section
Second, the Court reasoned that "in some instances, if subject-matter jurisdiction turns on contested facts, the trial judge may be authorized to review the evidence and resolve the dispute on her own," but "[i]f satisfaction of an essential element of a claim for relief is at issue ... the jury is the proper trier of contested facts." Id. (citations omitted).
Third, the Court noted that if a federal court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction, it must dismiss the complaint in its entirety, but if the court grants a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim, it typically retains supplemental jurisdiction to hear any pendent state-law claims. Id.
The Court reasoned that "Congress could make the employee-numerosity requirement 'jurisdictional,' just as it has made an amount-in-controversy threshold an ingredient of subject-matter jurisdiction in delineating diversity-of-citizenship jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332." Id. at 514-15, 126 S.Ct. 1235. However, Congress has not specified any such jurisdictional threshold under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 or 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(3). "Instead, the 15-employee threshold appears in a separate provision that `does not speak in jurisdictional terms or refer in any way to the jurisdiction of the district courts.'" Id. at 515, 126 S.Ct. 1235 (quoting Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 455 U.S. 385, 394, 102 S.Ct. 1127, 71 L.Ed.2d 234 (1982)).
When Congress has not clearly set forth a jurisdictional threshold requirement, as it did with the amount-in-controversy requirement in 28 U.S.C. § 1331, the Court will not read such a requirement into a statute. "If the Legislature clearly states that a threshold limitation on a statute's scope shall count as jurisdictional, then courts and litigants will be duly instructed and will not be left to wrestle with the issue," but in situations where "Congress does not rank a statutory limitation on coverage as jurisdictional, courts should treat the restriction as nonjurisdictional in character." Id. at 515-16, 126 S.Ct. 1235. The Court, applying this bright-line rule, held in Arbaugh that the numerosity requirement in Title VII was not jurisdictional; rather, it was a substantive element of plaintiff's Title VII claim for relief and could not be contested under Rule 12(b)(1). Id. at 516, 126 S.Ct. 1235.
Defendants in the case at bar attempt to argue that Arbaugh is inapplicable as it deals solely with Title VII's employee numerosity requirement.
Arbaugh set forth a broadly-applicable bright-line rule to provide guidance to courts in a variety of contexts — not just the Title VII numerosity requirement. Thus, this Court will apply Arbaugh's bright-line rule to the FMLA and ADAAA "employer" requirements to determine whether they are jurisdictional or substantive elements of Dalton's claim.
Jurisdiction was established in Arbaugh under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(3). See Arbaugh, 546 U.S. at 513, 126 S.Ct. 1235. Dalton's case is in federal court under 28 U.S.C. § 1331, and it is specifically provided with federal court subject matter jurisdiction in the FMLA at 29 U.S.C. § 2617(a)(2), and the ADAAA at 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(3). As Dalton's ADAAA claim uses the same jurisdictional provisions to enter federal court as those in Arbaugh, and the ADAAA's "employer" requirement is set forth in a separate statutory provision as in Arbaugh, it is clear that the ADAAA's "employer" requirement is a nonjurisdictional element of Dalton's claim.
Dalton is properly in federal court with her ADAAA claim, so this Court need not address whether FMLA's "employer" requirement is a jurisdictional prerequisite for bringing suit in federal court due to its supplemental jurisdiction over the FMLA and ICRA claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1367. The Court finds the "employer" requirement in the ADAAA is nonjurisdictional, and Dalton's claims can otherwise join her ADAAA claim under this Court's supplemental jurisdiction; therefore, Defendants' motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(1) must be denied.
Rule 8(a)(2) requires only a "short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." However, the "plaintiff's obligation to provide the `grounds' of his `entitle[ment] to relief' requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (abrogating Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)) (alteration in original). "To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to `state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.'" Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955). The plaintiffs complaint must be read as a whole, rather than "parsed piece by piece to determine whether each allegation, in isolation, is plausible." Braden v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 588 F.3d 585, 594 (8th Cir.2009) (citing Vila v. Inter-Am. Inv. Corp., 570 F.3d 274, 285 (D.C.Cir.2009)).
Under the current pleading standard, "[a] claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that
In evaluating the sufficiency of a complaint under Rule 12(b)(6), a court must generally "ignore materials outside the pleadings, but it may consider ... materials that are `necessarily embraced by the pleadings.'" Porous Media Corp. v. Pall Corp., 186 F.3d 1077, 1079 (8th Cir.1999) (quoting Piper Jaffray Cos. v. Nat'l Union Fire Ins. Co., 967 F.Supp. 1148, 1152 (D.Minn.1997)). The purpose of this rule "is to prevent a plaintiff from avoiding an otherwise proper motion to dismiss by failing to attach to the complaint documents upon which it relies." Young v. Principal Fin. Grp., Inc., 547 F.Supp.2d 965, 973-74 (S.D.Iowa 2008) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). "Documents necessarily embraced by the pleadings include `documents whose contents are alleged in a complaint and whose authenticity no party questions, but which are not physically attached to the pleading.'" Ashanti v. City of Golden Valley, 666 F.3d 1148, 1151 (8th Cir.2012) (quoting Kushner v. Beverly Enters., Inc., 317 F.3d 820, 831 (8th Cir.2003)). As set forth in Rule 12(d), "[i]f, on a motion under
Both Dalton and Defendants attached affidavits and other documents to their filings with the Court and relied on them heavily in their briefs regarding Defendants' Motion to Dismiss.
As set forth in Rule 56(a), "[a] court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Typically, the moving party must support its motion by using "the record, including depositions, documents, electronically stored information, affidavits or declarations, stipulations (including those made for purposes of the motion only), admissions, interrogatory answers, or other materials" to show there is no genuine issue of material fact before the court.
Defendants' Motion to Dismiss will be treated as a motion for summary judgment
Defendants claim HCR is simply a parent company — several corporate levels up — for Dalton's actual employers in this case, HES and WDM. However, even a parent company may be found liable for its subsidiary's discriminatory action in some circumstances. The Eighth Circuit held that "[a] parent company may employ its subsidiary's employees if (a) the parent company so dominates the subsidiary's operations that the two are one entity and therefore one employer, or (b) the parent company is linked to the alleged discriminatory action because it controls `individual employment decisions.'" Brown v. Fred's Inc., 494 F.3d 736, 739 (8th Cir.2007) (quoting Leichihman v. Pickwick Int'l, 814 F.2d 1263, 1268 (8th Cir.1987)) (internal citation omitted).
In Brown, the plaintiff had submitted a copy of his payroll check, the employee handbook, and related documents to support his argument that the defendant was his employer. Additionally, the defendant had responded to Brown's EEOC complaint, identifying itself as the respondent in the case, which Brown also asserted was evidence of an employment relationship. The court found that the evidence provided by the parties was insufficient to show the defendant "actually controlled individual employment decisions regarding Brown." Id. at 740. Further, the court held that "the response to the EEOC stated clearly that [the defendant] was not the employer," so it affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant. Id.
The Eighth Circuit in Sandoval v. American Building Maintenance Industries, Inc., 578 F.3d 787, 795-96 (8th Cir. 2009), clarified that Brown only analyzed part (a) of the above-stated test — the "parent company domination" test. Thus, a parent can still be held liable to actions committed by its subsidiary if there is sufficient control under part (b) of the Eighth Circuit test. In Sandoval, the parent corporation and its subsidiary shared some corporate officers, entered into an agreement whereby the parent agreed to provide services for its subsidiary, "including accounting services, administrative services, electronic services, employee benefits, human resources, insurance, legal services, safety advice, and treasury services." Sandoval, 578 F.3d at 796. In the human resources realm, the parent corporation agreed to provide the subsidiary with the following services:
Id. at 796-97. The court further discussed the parent corporation's involvement in each of the above-listed services and found that "[t]hese descriptions of [the parent corporation's] involvement in the operations of its subsidiaries, and in particular [the subsidiary at issue in this case], are sufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact with respect to whether [the subsidiary and its parent corporation] are an integrated enterprise." Id. at 800.
Based on the record currently before this Court, the Defendants' relationship to its subsidiary defendants is similar to that found in Sandoval and is certainly closer than the companies in Brown. In Brown, the court stated that the defendant's company name appeared on "Brown's payroll check and other documents, such as the employee handbook," and that the defendant responded to Brown's EEOC complaint, though it stated in its response that it was not Brown's employer. Brown, 494 F.3d at 739-40.
In the present case, Dalton provided the Court with an employee handbook, which had "HCR ManorCare" emblazoned on the front and back covers; declared "[w]e, the employees of HCR ManorCare," in the first sentence of the Vision Statement on the inside cover; and stated "[w]elcome to the HCR ManorCare team! I'm pleased that you've decided to join me in working for a company dedicated to delivering quality service," in the message from Chairman, President, and CEO of HCR ManorCare, Paul A. Ormond. Pl. Res. To Def. Mot. to Dismiss, Ex. A, at 1-4, ECF No. 26-2. These types of representations — that the recipient of the handbook is an employee of HCR ManorCare — are present throughout the handbook.
Dalton's job description form also has "HCR ManorCare" across the top right corner of the first page, and it states on page three of the document that Dalton is required to abide by all policies set forth in the "HCR ManorCare Employee Handbook" as well as the "HCR ManorCare Policies and Procedures" manual. Id., Exhibit B, pp. 1, 3, ECF No. 26-2. Dalton's paycheck also prominently includes "HCR ManorCare" across the top of the actual check portion. Id., Ex. C, ECF No. 26-2. The Performance Improvement Plan that Dalton was instructed to follow had "HCR ManorCare" across the top of the form, as did her Employee Warning Notice received on March 3, 2011. Id., Exs. D & E, ECF No. 26-2. Finally, the letterhead used by the respondents in Dalton's claim to the Iowa Civil Rights Commission also had "HCR ManorCare" across the top of the page, and the letter itself was sent to
Additionally, Ms. Jenson rather confusingly refers to Heartland Employment Services, LLC, as both ManorCare Health Services — West Des Moines and Manor Care Health Services in her Position Statement to the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, which seems to conflict with the organizational chart submitted by Mary Brownell that Defendants attached to their motion. Id., Ex. F, ECF No. 26-2; Decl. of Mary Brownell in Support of Mot. to Dismiss, Ex. 1, ECF No. 20-3 (listing HCR ManorCare, Inc.; Heartland Employment Services, LLC; ManorCare Health Services, LLC; and Manor Care of West Des Moines IA, LLC (or West Des Moines Manor Care) as separate entities).
Based on the documentation provided by the parties, there does appear to be a genuine issue of fact as to whether Defendants are Dalton's employer for purposes of the FMLA, the ICRA, and the ADAAA. The Court's conclusion is based upon the limited record now available and is without prejudice to an appropriate subsequent motion based upon discovery and a more developed record.
For the reasons stated, the ManorCare Health Services, LLC (MHS) and HCR ManorCare, Inc. Motion to Dismiss pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6), ECF No. 20, must be
Swierkiewicz was decided before Iqbal and Twombly set forth a new standard for pleading after Conley, so its analysis was focused on the Conley notice-pleading standard. The Court reasoned that "under a notice pleading system, it is not appropriate to require a plaintiff to plead facts establishing a prima facie case because the McDonnell Douglas framework does not apply in every employment discrimination case." Id. at 511, 122 S.Ct. 992 (discussing McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), and holding that the prima facie case under McDonnell Douglas is an evidentiary standard, rather than a pleading requirement).
The Eighth Circuit regarded Swierkiewicz as good law for discrimination cases after Twombly, confirming that Rule 8(a) "requires only that a complaint `give the defendant fair notice of what the plaintiff's claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.'" Gregory v. Dillard's, Inc., 565 F.3d 464, 496 (8th Cir. 2009) (quoting Swierkiewicz, 534 U.S. at 512, 122 S.Ct. 992). Swierkiewicz has never been expressly overruled, though many courts regard it as effectively overruled by Iqbal's heightened pleading rules. In order to reconcile Swierkiewicz with the Iqbal/Twombly pleading standard, it seems the Supreme Court wants to leave Conley and its bare notice-pleading standard behind, while also taking note of the limited facts at a plaintiff's disposal in an employment discrimination case before discovery commences — thus tempering the harshness of dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) for such a plaintiff.
In sum, Rule 8(a) is the pleading standard for all civil actions, unless a specific exception applies; there is no such exception for employment discrimination cases, so the Iqbal/Twombly standard applies, though it is possibly tempered by the concerns set forth in Swierkiewicz.