NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION

File Name: 18a0359n.06

Case No. 17-2127

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

FREDERICK PEOPLES,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

FCA US, LLC,

Defendant-Appellee.

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ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED 

STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR 

THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF 

MICHIGAN

BEFORE: SUTTON, McKEAGUE, and DONALD, Circuit Judges.

BERNICE BOUIE DONALD, Circuit Judge. Frederick Peoples appeals the district 

court’s grant of summary judgment to Defendant FCA US, LLC (“FCA US”), denial of his motion 

for partial summary judgment, and denial of his motion for reconsideration. This employment 

discrimination case arises from Peoples’ termination from his job with FCA US in November 

2014. After filing a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and 

receiving a right to sue letter, Peoples brought suit for multiple claims under federal law and 

Michigan state law, including disability discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment. 

The district court granted summary judgment to FCA US on all claims and denied Peoples’ motion 

for partial summary judgment as moot. Peoples filed a motion for reconsideration, which the 

district court denied. On appeal, Peoples argues that the district court erred by: 1) ruling that 
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unsworn letters he submitted as exhibits to his motion for partial summary judgment were 

inadmissible hearsay; 2) failing to recognize record evidence in his motion for reconsideration that 

would negate any nondiscriminatory reason for Peoples’ discharge; and 3) dismissing his hostile 

work environment claim under Michigan law. For the reasons below, we AFFIRM. 

I.

In 2011, Peoples began working as an assembly worker in the chassis department in 

Defendant FCA US’s Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (“SHAP”), located in Sterling Heights, 

Michigan. In August 2011, Peoples complained to his supervisor that his team was not rotating 

all tasks among team members, which he believed was required by his union contract. He alleges 

his complaint led to a confrontation with a coworker, Nate Hansen, on August 15, 2011. In his 

description of the incident, Peoples testified that Hansen moved toward him and yelled at him for 

complaining about the rotation and later threw a bottle in his car, which Peoples threw back at him. 

Peoples also testified that he incurred back and neck pain as a result of the rotation violations, and 

that Hansen contributed to “the anxiety part of [his] injuries.” 

Due to his back and neck pain, Peoples missed work from October 14, 2011 to January 4, 

2012. Peoples returned to work for less than two weeks. He then left work again and was on 

approved leave from January 13, 2012 to April 9, 2012.1 

Following his return to work, on May 7, 2012, Boisey Collins lunged at Peoples and 

accused him of not rotating with other team members. Other coworkers restrained Collins, who 

did not physically touch Peoples. Peoples vented that he was sick of the treatment and that he 

would retaliate against anyone who messed with him. He was removed from his work station, 

 

1 FCA US’s statement of material facts, which the district court references, states that Peoples was out from January 

18, 2012 to April 9, 2012. However, the reinstatement form that FCA US cites for this information states that Peoples’ 

last day of work was January 12, 2012. 
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taken to the Labor Department, and then to the plant medical office. Afterwards, Peoples visited 

urgent care, where he was advised not to return to work that week. He began seeing a psychiatrist, 

who extended his leave until July 12, 2012. Peoples was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress 

disorder, and his leave was extended until February 2013. 

During his leave, Peoples filed an EEOC charge alleging race and disability discrimination, 

as well as retaliation, in connection with the August 2011 and May 2012 incidents. Peoples 

returned to work on February 18, 2013. He received a right to sue letter on February 19, 2013 but 

did not file suit within ninety days of receipt of the letter.

Prior to his return to work, Sedgwick—the company responsible for overseeing disability 

and medical leave requests for FCA US—sent Peoples for an independent medical examination 

(“IME”). The IME report, dated August 9, 2012, recommended that Peoples be permanently 

transferred from SHAP to another plant location. On January 5, 2013, FCA US offered Peoples 

two reassignment options: one at a paint shop on the SHAP campus but in a different building, and 

the other at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant, a separate location. FCA US asked Peoples to 

respond with his selection by January 22, 2013. On February 6, 2013, Peoples advised FCA US 

that he would choose the paint shop placement. 

Peoplesreported to the paint shop on February 18, 2013, and suffered a work-related injury 

on March 9, 2013, leaving work on March 13, 2013. Peoples contends that he was sent for another 

IME in February 2014 to address his mental health. In March 2014, Peoples returned to work. He 

went on medical leave again on July 2, 2014. 

On October 14 or 15, 2014, Peoples returned to work and reported to the paint shop. He 

learned the position of paint seal operator over the course of four days. The length of his training 

was atypical—Brad Devine (“Devine”), a SHAP labor relations supervisor at the time of the events 
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in question, testified that employees typically returned to the job within a day or two of training. 

Peoples claims that the work violated his work restrictions and that he reported this to management. 

On October 21, 2014, Peoples was directed to begin performing the job. He was unable to perform 

the job, and the line had to be shut down. Peoples was disciplined via written warning. 

The next day, October 22, 2014, Peoples reported that he was physically unable to perform 

his job. A doctor was not immediately available, so he called himself an ambulance. Peoples saw 

a doctor for his back pain and received a note excusing him from work for October 23-24, 2014. 

Later that day, the plant doctor reviewed Peoples’ area and determined that the operation Peoples 

was required to perform did not violate his restrictions. 

On October 24, 2014, Peoples received a “5-day letter” that stated that he had been absent 

from work since July 2, 2014 and asked him to report to SHAP’s HR office by October 31, 2014 

unless he could provide satisfactory evidence on or before that date that justified his leave. 

Otherwise, the letter advised, his seniority would be terminated. 

On October 29, 2014, Peoples reported to HR, which directed him to the plant medical 

office to be cleared for work. Peoples had a doctor’s note to explain his absence, which he claims 

to have submitted.2 Though instructed to wait to see a plant doctor, he left the office and did not 

return to work. On November 13, 2014, FCA US terminated Peoples’ employment. The letter 

 

2 The district court stated that Peoples claimed to have provided medical documentation excusing his absence, but 

that his support in the record is only a partially legible doctor’s note he claims to have submitted. The note appears 

to say that Peoples was seen on October 15, 2014, and that it was recommended that he not work from October 23, 

2014 to February 2, 2015, for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Peoples did not cite to any support in the record, 

however, that he did in fact provide the note to the medical office. Devine testified in his deposition that Peoples did 

provide a doctor’s note to the medical office, but that he did not wait to see a medical plant doctor. Peoples did not 

bring this fact to the district court’s attention or provide any other record support for his compliance. 

FCA US states in its appellate brief that Peoples did show the doctor’s note to plant medical staff and that he was 

referred to the plant doctor for evaluation. FCA US further states that Peoples refused to wait for the doctor to arrive 

and then left, never to return. Peoples was terminated, according to FCA US, “for his failure to provide satisfactory 

evidence substantiating his absences and his failure to be medically cleared to return to work by the plant doctor.” 

This is pertinent to Peoples’ second argument of error, which is addressed further in Part II.B.
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stated that he was terminated for failure to “follow[] the reinstatement procedure[,]” as detailed in 

the 5-day letter. 

Peoples filed a second EEOC charge on February 26, 2015, alleging disability 

discrimination and retaliation that began on October 22, 2014. The EEOC dismissed Peoples’ 

charge and issued him a right to sue letter on August 13, 2015. Peoples filed the underlying 

complaint on November 14, 2015, alleging disability discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work 

environment under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act 

of 1964, and Michigan’s Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act (“PWDCRA”). Peoples also 

alleged negligent infliction of emotional distress under Michigan law. Following discovery,

Peoples and FCA US filed cross-motions for partial summary judgment and summary judgment. 

On May 24, 2017, the district court granted FCA US’s motion for summary judgment on all claims 

and dismissed Peoples’ motion for partial summary judgment as moot. On June 7, 2017, Peoples 

filed a motion for reconsideration, citing “palpable defects” in the May 24, 2017 order. The district 

court denied the motion, holding, inter alia, that Peoples relied upon arguments and evidence he 

could have submitted at summary judgment. Peoples timely appealed the rulings on the crossmotions for summary judgment and the motion for reconsideration. 

II.

We review de novo a district court’s grant of summary judgment. Jackson v. VHS Detroit 

Receiving Hosp., Inc., 814 F.3d 769, 775 (6th Cir. 2016). Summary judgment is appropriate “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.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). A dispute is “genuine” “if the evidence is 

such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the non-moving party.” Ford v. Gen. Motors 

Corp., 305 F.3d 545, 551 (6th Cir. 2002) (quoting Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 
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248 (1986)). The moving party bears the initial burden of establishing that there are no genuine 

issues of material facts, which it may accomplish “by demonstrating that the nonmoving party 

lacks evidence to support an essential element of its case.” Id. (citing Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 

477 U.S. 317, 322-23 (1986)). In response, the nonmoving party must present “significant

probative evidence” that will reveal that there is more than “some metaphysical doubt as to the 

material facts.” Moore v. Philip Morris Cos., Inc., 8 F.3d 335, 340 (6th Cir. 1993). The mere 

existence of a scintilla of evidence in support of the nonmovant’s position will not suffice to avoid 

summary judgment. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 252. 

We review a district court’s evidentiary rulings, including whether evidence is inadmissible 

hearsay, for abuse of discretion. United States v. Khalil, 279 F.3d 358, 363 (6th Cir. 2002). We 

likewise review a motion for reconsideration for abuse of discretion, unless, as here, the underlying 

ruling involves a grant of summary judgment. Indah v. U.S. S.E.C., 661 F.3d 914, 924 (6th Cir. 

2011). However, we review a district court’s refusal to consider evidence presented for the first 

time on a motion to reconsider for abuse of discretion, even in this context. Hayes v. Norfolk S. 

Corp., 25 F. App’x 308, 315 (6th Cir. 2001).

A. Admissibility of Unsworn Letters

Peoples argues that the district court erred in refusing to admit unsworn letters attached to 

his motion for summary judgment.3 He alleges that he wrote the letters to FCA US management, 

detailing harassment he had suffered and management’s failure to properly address his complaints. 

Peoples repeats his argument below that the unsworn letters are admissible as admissions by a 

 

3 Peoples references three letters in Exhibits A, C, and D, which he argues the district court erred in refusing to admit. 

FCA US objected to unsworn letters in Exhibits A, D, E, F, and G. The district court only referenced the unsworn 

letters generally and stated that the court would not consider inadmissible evidence Peoples provided in support of his 

version of the facts. We construe Exhibits A, C, and D as having been excluded and as the evidence Peoples seeks to 

have admitted.
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party opponent under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2).4 FCA US responds that the district 

court properly ruled that the letters are inadmissible hearsay.

After Peoples’ moved for partial summary judgment, FCA US objected to Peoples’ use of 

the letters in his motion. When a defendant objects, it is improper for the district court to consider 

documents not admissible in evidence. Alexander, 576 F.3d at 561. In Alexander, the court 

reviewed the district court’s exclusion of unsworn documents and found that it did not err in 

excluding the unauthenticated or otherwise inadmissible evidence. Id. Here, the district court 

addressed FCA US’s objection and found that the letters were inadmissible to support Peoples’ 

version of the facts under either hearsay exception under Federal Rule of Evidence 801. 

Specifically, the court held that the party-opponent admission exception did not apply to Peoples’ 

submission of the unsworn letters because he is not his own opponent and cannot use 801(d)(2) to 

admit his own statements. 

Peoples argues that FCA US had placed the same letters in the record, and accordingly, 

that Peoples should have been able to rely on them to oppose FCA US’s motion for summary 

judgment. The district court did not address the fact that the same letters were included with FCA 

US’s motion for summary judgment, nor did it reference them in its disposition of Peoples’ claims. 

FCA US concedes that it included the letters in question with its motion for summary judgment, 

stating that they were admitted as statements of a party opponent under Rule 801(d)(2), but argues 

that the admission of evidence for one party for one purpose does not automatically translate to 

admissibility for another purpose.5 Put simply, though FCA US put the letters in the record, and 

 

4

In his reply brief to FCA US’s response to his motion for partial summary judgment, Peoples only generally argued 

that the letters were admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 801. Peoples also argues on appeal that the letters are 

admissible as past recollection recorded under Rule 803(5). As this is a new argument Peoples could have made 

before the district court, we do not consider it. Michigan Bell Tel. Co. v. Strand, 305 F.3d 580, 590 (6th Cir. 2002). 

5 FCA US placed the letters in question in the record as exhibits to its own motion for summary judgment and cited 

them numerous times in its statement of material facts. FCA US also states that the district court admitted the letters 
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relied on them, it claims that Peoples should be precluded from relying on them in his own motion 

for summary judgment. FCA US cites National Labor Relations Board v. Dayton Motels, Inc., 

474 F.2d 328 (6th Cir. 1973), to support the idea that Peoples cannot use the documents simply 

because they were admissible as to FCA US. FCA US misapplies the doctrine referenced in 

Dayton Motels, however, which is also inapposite to this case.6 

Given that the district court allowed FCA US to rely on the letters for its statement of facts, 

and the court itself cited some of those facts, we find that it was likely error to exclude the same 

letters as to Peoples. Nevertheless, we find that this error was harmless. Though FCA US relied 

on the letters for its own motion for summary judgment, Peoples does not establish how the letters 

are material to his claims on appeal or how their admission would have changed the outcome of 

the district court’s ruling on any of his claims at summary judgment. First, in ruling on Peoples’ 

discrimination claims under the ADA and the PWDCRA, the district court held that Peoples could 

not establish pretext regarding his termination in November 2014 following his unexcused failure 

to appear at work. In so ruling, the court focused on Peoples’ lack of compliance with the 5-day 

letter. Second, in ruling on Peoples’ retaliation claims, the court analyzed protected activity in 

October and November 2014 and determined that Peoples did not present sufficient evidence to 

rebut FCA US’s legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for its adverse employment actions. Finally, 

in ruling on Peoples’ hostile environment claim, while considering the incidents described in the 

 

as to itself as admissions by a party opponent under Rule 801(d)(2), but makes no citation to the record regarding their 

admission under this rule. A review of the hearing transcript on the cross-motions for summary judgment also does 

not reveal any discussion of FCA US’s use of the letters; the only reference to the letters is FCA US’s objection to 

Peoples’ use of them in his motion. FCA US did state at the hearing, however, that the letters are inadmissible and 

should not be considered by the court “in making this decision on the summary judgments.” 

6 The Court in Dayton Motels stated, “[t]he doctrine that evidence inadmissible for one purpose can be admitted for 

another purpose is firmly established in the law.” 474 F.2d at 333 n.3 (citation omitted). In other words, evidence 

admissible for one purpose remains admissible even if it would be inadmissible for another purpose. Courts have 

referenced this doctrine in the context of clearly identifying to the jury the purpose for which evidence has been 

introduced at trial, see, e.g., United States v. Bovee, 233 F. Supp. 2d 864, 869 (E.D. Mich. 2002), which is inapposite 

to the facts here. Both FCA US and Peoples cited the letters for the truth of the statements contained therein.
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letters, the district court determined that they were “background” to no evidence within the statute 

of limitations period. On appeal, Peoples fails to demonstrate how the letters detailing incidents 

in 2011 and 2012 are relevant or necessary to analyzing any of the above-mentioned rulings. 

Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s exclusion of the letters as harmless error. 

B. Motion for Reconsideration

Peoples appeals the district court’s denial of his motion for reconsideration on one narrow 

issue: the court’s failure “to recognize the previously submitted employee medical records as 

evidence that Peoples had complied with the [5-day] letter,” which Peoples argues would have 

negated any legitimate nondiscriminatory reason for his discharge as pretext. We review the 

decision not to recognize the Employee Medical Record for abuse of discretion. Hayes, 25 F. 

App’x at 315. A district court does not abuse its discretion in refusing to grant a motion for 

reconsideration when evidence a party wants the court to consider was available at the time 

summary judgment was decided and would not have affected the outcome. Tolbert v. Potter, 

206 F. App’x 416, 418 (6th Cir. 2006). 

The parties do not dispute that Peoples did submit a doctor’s note when he reported to the 

plant medical office on October 29, 2014. In its ruling on Peoples’ motion for reconsideration, the 

district court acknowledged that a doctor’s note was submitted: “Peoples offers his Employee 

Medical Record, which does appear to show that a note was submitted.” Peoples argues that he 

submitted the Employee Medical Record as an exhibit with his response to FCA US’s motion for 

summary judgment, which the court should have considered. The issue is whether Peoples 

directed the district court at summary judgment to record support, such as the Employee Medical 

Record, to establish a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether Peoples provided the 

doctor’s note, and if so, whether he sufficiently complied with the 5-day letter. 
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Peoples concedes that he did not direct the court to any record support, however. The 

district court noted in its order denying the motion for reconsideration that Peoples only cited the 

Employee Medical Record in his response to FCA US’s motion for summary judgment to establish 

other unrelated facts. As mentioned supra, Peoples only cited an exhibit of the doctor’s note itself 

at summary judgment to prove that he complied with the 5-day letter. He cited the doctor’s note 

multiple times: in his motion for summary judgment, in response to FCA US’s motion for 

summary judgment, and in his reply brief. But he provided no support for the proposition that he 

had actually submitted the note in accordance with the 5-day letter. This is fatal to Peoples’ 

argument that he created a fact question as to whether termination was pretextual.

Given his citation to the Employee Medical Record at summary judgment, the document 

was plainly available to Peoples. He failed to bring it to the attention of the court to establish a 

genuine issue of material fact regarding his compliance with the 5-day letter. On appeal, Peoples 

states that the district court “did not realize the significance of the Employee Medical Record.” Of 

course, it is not the job of the district court to mine the record for support that a movant had not 

brought to the court’s attention.

Moreover, in reviewing the motions for summary judgment, the district court analyzed in 

depth whether Peoples’ appearance at the plant medical office, without being seen by a doctor, 

even accomplished the purpose of the 5-day letter, finding that Peoples did not create a fact 

question regarding his compliance. The district court concluded that Peoples was required to 

substantiate his absence, and any potential ambiguity in what the letter required (mere appearance 

versus substantiating his absence to a plant medical doctor) was insufficient to create a genuine 

issue of material fact about whether Peoples’ termination was pretextual. See Sybrandt v. Home 

Depot, U.S.A., Inc., 560 F.3d 553, 561 (6th Cir. 2009); see also Marshall v. Belmont Cty. Bd. of 
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Com’rs, 110 F. Supp. 3d 780, 787 (S.D. Ohio 2015), aff’d 634 F. App’x 574 (6th Cir. 2016). 

Peoples counters on appeal that “course of conduct evidence” suggests that his submission of the 

note was sufficient, citing two other occasions when he brought in medical reports in response to 

5-day letters. He states that FCA US accepted his documentation, continued his disability leave, 

and did not terminate him. But neither he, nor the Employee Medical Record, describes the 

circumstances of Peoples’ previous medical report submissions in response to 5-day letters. 

Whether or not he was seen by a plant medical doctor is simply unclear.

On these facts, we do not find that evidence that Peoples presented his doctor’s note to the 

plant medical office would have changed the outcome on summary judgment. Accordingly, we 

find no abuse of discretion.

C. Michigan Hostile Work Environment Claim

Lastly, Peoples argues that the district court erred when it granted summary judgment as 

to his hostile work environment claim under Michigan’s PWDCRA. We review this claim de 

novo. Echols v. Kalamazoo Pub. Sch., 508 F. App’x 392, 394 (6th Cir. 2012).

In order to establish a hostile work environment claim under Michigan law, Peoples must

establish the following: 1) that he belongs to a protected group; 2) that he was subjected to 

communication or conduct on the basis of the protected status; 3) that the communication or 

conduct was unwelcome; 4) that the unwelcome communication or conduct was intended to or did 

interfere substantially with his employment or created “an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work 

environment”; and 5) respondeat superior. Mazur v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 250 F. App’x 120, 

127-28 (6th Cir. 2017); Downey v. Charleroi Co. Bd. of Rd. Comm’rs, 576 N.W.2d 712, 716 (Mich. 

Ct. App. 1998). We look to whether a reasonable person would perceive the conduct at issue to 

be a substantial interference with the plaintiff’s employment or if the conduct had the purpose of 
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creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive employment environment. Id. We are also required 

to examine the frequency and severity of the conduct, “and whether it unreasonably interferes with 

an employee’s work performance.” Id. at *6. (quoting Hussain v. Highgate Hotels, Inc., 126 F. 

App’x 256, 268 (6th Cir. 2015)). Isolated incidents must be “extremely serious” to rise to the level 

of interference with an employee’s work performance. Id. (internal citations omitted). 

The district court reviewed Peoples’ response to FCA US’s motion for summary judgment 

to identify which events were part of his hostile environment claim. From the response, the district 

court identified the relevant events as the 2011 and 2012 interpersonal altercations, Peoples’ 

placement at the paint shop, and the events surrounding the October 2014 assembly-line shutdown. 

Peoples argues that the district court erred in concluding that neither the paint shop placement nor 

the assembly-line shutdown provided admissible evidence of a hostile work environment. Peoples 

also argues that background from 2011 to 2014 must be considered, during which time he alleges 

he was assaulted by coworkers, berated for seeking accommodations, and assigned to jobs which 

violated his work restrictions.

Beginning with Peoples’ placement at the paint shop, the district court found that Peoples 

did not produce any admissible evidence to support the claim, noting that Peoples himself chose 

the placement at the paint shop. On appeal, Peoples does not counter this finding. He responds 

that FCA US ignored his suggested accommodation of a placement at another location, the Trenton 

Engine Plant, and that he chose the paint shop “under duress.” Peoples argues that the choices of 

location he was offered at the paint shop or the Warren Truck Assembly Plant were both 

problematic because he would continue to be exposed to coworkers who had harassed him. The 

district court concluded that the Warren Plant was a facility other than the SHAP facility, and that 

Peoples’ placement there would have complied with the IME’s recommendation. Peoples does 
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not contradict this. On appeal, he remarks in passing that the same employees moved between the 

SHAP and Warren plants, apparently intimating that this might have subjected him to continued 

harassment. But again, he offers no evidence that the placement contributed to a hostile work 

environment and does not articulate how the district court erred. The facts of his placement plainly 

do not suggest the creation of a hostile work environment or an extremely serious incident that 

interfered with his work performance. The IME recommended that Peoples be placed at another 

facility. To that end, another facility—the Warren Plant—was offered, and Peoples did not choose 

it. Accordingly, the district court did not err in finding no admissible evidence that Peoples’ 

placement at the paint shop contributed to a hostile work environment based on his disability.

Peoples also makes no substantiated argument to counter the district court’s finding 

regarding the October 2014 assembly-line shutdown. The district court held that the comments 

Peoples cited as creating a hostile environment gave no indication that any remarks were made in 

connection with his disability. Rather, the remarks were consistent with those made to an 

employee whose work performance is unsatisfactory. Peoples testified:

[My supervisor] demanded that I do the job on line although I had never been trained on 

line to do the job. And I explained to Amen, “I do not know the job, Amen. I cannot bend 

to complete the job, Amen. And if you put me on line, the line is gonna go down, because 

everyone over here knows I don't know this job.”

R. 37-2 at PageID #729. As the district court noted, Michigan law requires that comments offered 

in support of a hostile work environment claim must pertain to the protected characteristic, here 

Peoples’ disability. Watz v. Wal-Mart Stores East, LP, No. 320883, 2015 WL 2329076, at *4 

(Mich. Ct. App. 2015); see also Corley v. Detroit Bd. of Educ., 681 N.W.2d 342, 346 (Mich. 2004)

(holding that a hostile work environment sexual harassment claim required that the alleged conduct 

or communication at issue was “of a sexual nature”). Peoples testified that his supervisor 

demanded that he perform his job. When asked if he had otherwise been threatened with 
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termination, Peoples reported that he had not. When asked if any other conduct constituted a 

hostile work environment, he reported none. 

On appeal, Peoples makes conclusory assertions that a supervisor’s remarks, in which he 

was told he would suffer disciplinary action if he did not comply with her instructions, were 

motivated by hostility toward Peoples because the supervisor had been briefed regarding his 

previous requests for rotations and accommodations. Beyond being unsupported with any citation 

to the record, these alleged statements also show no relation to Peoples’ disability. His subjective 

belief that statements made to him regarding his performance were based on his disability status 

is not enough to establish discrimination. Watz, 2015 WL 2320976, at *4. Documentary evidence 

must substantiate that belief. Id. The facts of this incident do not provide such substantiation.

Peoples lastly urges that events in 2011 and 2012 provide important background context 

for his hostile work environment claim. He argues that he was assaulted by coworkers, that 

management failed to discipline his abusers, that he was berated for seeking accommodations, and 

that he was assigned jobs that violated his restrictions. The district court concluded that the 2011 

and 2012 altercations were unsupportive of Peoples’ hostile work environment claim. First, the 

district court observed that the altercations are themselves time-barred under the PWDCRA. Garg 

v. Macomb Cnty. Cmty. Mental Health Servs., 696 N.W.2d 646 (Mich. 2005). But even if not 

time-barred, the district court also concluded that the altercations did not qualify as “background” 

supportive of a hostile work environment claim, because the above-mentioned events fail to pose 

a question of fact upon which any “background” could add evidentiary support. Furthermore, the 

district court found that the assaults were temporally removed from the hostile work environment 

claim, which reduced their value as background evidence. 
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The 2011 and 2012 incidents are indeed temporally removed from the hostile environment 

alleged, which begins in 2013. Regarding the temporal difference, the district court cited a case 

from this court which involved a temporal break of 10 years. Barrett v. Whirlpool Corp., 556 F.3d 

502, 519 (6th Cir. 2009). Barrett, in turn, relied on a case in which the Supreme Court held that 

statements made by the same actors outside the 300-day filing period were still part of an 

actionable hostile environment claim. Nat’l R.R. Passenger Corp. v. Morgan, 536 U.S. 101, 120-

21 (2002). It may be questionable whether the assaults are temporally too far removed, as they 

are not nearly as far removed as the events in Barrett, but this is mostly beside the point—while 

background circumstances can be supportive, Peoples does not point to an event within the filing 

period that suggests a hostile work environment for which any background circumstances could 

possibly provide support.

Given that the incidents Peoples describes do not satisfy the test for a hostile work 

environment, Peoples’ argument boils down to an objection to remarks made to him about his 

work performance. Though understandably upsetting, such feedback is not illegal. Plautz v. 

Potter, 156 F. App’x 812, 819 (6th Cir. 2005). Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s grant 

of summary judgment to FCA US on Peoples’ claim for hostile work environment under Michigan 

law. 

III.

For the reasons set forth above, we AFFIRM the district court.