Opinion ID: 149654
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Claim of Retaliatory Termination

Text: The principal retaliation claimed by Kaytor was Electric Boat's termination of her employment a short time after she filed the present action. As the district court noted, Kaytor presented a prima facie case with respect to this claim. The court concluded, however, as described below, that Electric Boat presented evidence of a non-retaliatory reason for terminating Kaytor's employment, namely that, with good reason, the Company instructed Kaytor to have a psychiatric examination and warned that she would be discharged if she refused; that Kaytor refused; and that the Company fired her for insubordination. As described in Kaytor I, 2009 WL 840669, at -6, -11, Electric Boat presented evidence that it maintained an on-site medical facility at which it employed nurses, physician assistants, and physicians, including Robert Hurley, M.D., a board-certified physician who supervised the facility. One of Dr. Hurley's principal responsibilities was to make determinations as to employees' fitness to perform the functions of their jobs. Dr. Hurley had training in interviewing, evaluating, and treating common psychiatric disorders, and he often sought outside opinions from specialists as part of his fitness-for-duty determinations. ( See Declaration of Dr. Robert Hurley dated March 26, 2008 (Hurley Decl.), ¶¶ 4, 8, 10.) On January 4, 2007, two days after Kaytor returned to work from a medical leave of absence, some of the Electric Boat plant facilities had to be evacuated because of an explosion in one of the laboratories, and employees took refuge in the Company's cafeteria. In the cafeteria, Kaytor experienced dizziness, and she went to the medical facility. While there, she spoke at some length with Dr. Hurley. During that conversation, Kaytor expressed her views, inter alia, that there might be a hidden camera in Dr. Hurley's office; that Electric Boat was spying on her at work and in her home; that a therapeutic counselor she had been consulting was conspiring with Electric Boat to spy on her; and that Dr. Hurley was a part of the conspiracy against her. ( See Kaytor Dep. 334; Hurley Decl. ¶ 14.) This January 4, 2007 meeting with Kaytor caused Dr. Hurley to question her fitness for duty. ( See Hurley Decl. ¶ 23.) He also received from Kaytor a January 4, 2007 email in which she stated, inter alia, that she had had to release all of her doctors because they had been targeted by Dr. Hurley and Electric Boat's legal department. (Hurley Decl. ¶ 17 & Exhibit 2.) And on the following day, Kaytor sent him another email stating, inter alia, that Electric Boat was intentionally trying to make her sick. ( See Hurley Decl. ¶ 20 & Exhibit 5.) In addition, Dr. Hurley had previously received communications from Kaytor that made him question her fitness for duty. These included a September 2006 letter in which Kaytor complained that Electric Boat was sending her to doctors who, in giving skin sensation test[s], punctured her thighs and le[ft] medical equipment in [her] legs. (Hurley Decl. ¶ 16 & Exhibit 1.) Dr. Hurley, in light of these experiences, determined that Kaytor should have an examination as to her psychiatric fitness for duty. Electric Boat, to show that Dr. Hurley's concerns about Kaytor's mental state were reasonable, also presented deposition testimony from two professionals who were not employees of the CompanyKaytor's personal primary care physician and a licensed counselor who had treated Kaytorwho stated that they viewed Kaytor as having paranoid ideation. On or about January 8, 2007, Dr. Hurley scheduled Kaytor for a January 11, 2007 independent medical examination with Dr. Jay Lasser, a psychiatrist. However, Kaytor had a conflicting appointment and could not see Dr. Lasser on January 11. On January 17, 2007, when Kaytor had not rescheduled, the Company sent her a letter instructing her to reschedule by January 24, 2007. The letter stated that Dr. Hurley will be unable to make a determination on your return to work without further information from Dr. Lasser, and that if Kaytor did not reschedule, her refusal would be considered an act of insubordination and her employment would immediately be terminated. (Letter from Linda G. Gastiger, Manager of Labor Relations, Electric Boat, to Sharon Kaytor, dated January 17, 2007.) Kaytor refused to schedule an appointment with Dr. Lasser. She testified that although she received and understood this letter, she did not believe the Company would terminate her employment. ( See Kaytor Dep. 343-44.) In accordance with its warning, however, and in light of Kaytor's failure to schedule an appointment with Dr. Lasser, the Company sent Kaytor a letter on January 25, 2007, informing her that her employment was terminated on account of her insubordination. ( See Letter from Linda G. Gastiger, Manager of Labor Relations, Electric Boat, to Sharon Kaytor, dated January 25, 2007.) The district court found Electric Boat's proffer ample to show a non-retaliatory reasonKaytor's repeated exhibition of signs of paranoiafor ordering the independent psychiatric examination and for terminating her employment because of her refusal to do so, and we agree. The court also concluded that Kaytor presented no evidence from which a rational juror could find that that proffered reason was pretext for retaliation. Kaytor has not pointed us to evidence in the record sufficient to warrant overturning that conclusion. Accordingly, we affirm the dismissal of Kaytor's claim that the termination of her employment violated Title VII for the reasons stated by the district court in Kaytor I, 2009 WL 840669, at -6, -11.