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BARLOW v. PIGGLY WIGGLY DIXIELAND5/10/1996
Clayton Barlow appeals from a summary judgment entered in favor of Piggly Wiggly Dixieland, Inc. Our supreme court transferred the appeal to this court pursuant to § 12-2-7(6), Ala. Code 1975. We reverse and remand.
Barlow worked for Piggly Wiggly, a grocery company, for 22 years. From 1984 to 1994, he worked at Piggly Wiggly's grocery store in Evergreen. On August 8, 1992, Barlow injured his back at work while unloading a pallet of sugar. At that time, Barlow was the store's grocery manager. His duties consisted of unloading grocery trucks, opening the store, mopping and buffing the floors, sweeping, stocking shelves, operating the cash register, cashing checks, working in the deli, putting up displays, retrieving shopping carts, and cleaning the parking lot. He both performed these duties and supervised others in their performance of them. He also was being considered for further training so that he could become eligible for a promotion to assistant manager. Between August 28, when Barlow consulted a doctor about his back injury, and December 2, he estimates that he missed about two or three weeks of work while undergoing physical therapy. During the fall of 1992, he remained the grocery manager. He continued his supervisory duties, but was assigned lighter duty in that he stocked only the shelves of the cereal aisle instead of stocking the entire store.
Barlow suffered additional back pain, even though he was working a lighter duty assignment. On December 2, he met with three employees of Piggly Wiggly, who informed him, he says, that he could no longer perform the duties of grocery manager and that he would have to become a cashier. Barlow says they also informed him that his doctor had limited him to working 24 hours a week. Barlow insists that his doctor never placed any time limitations on his work schedule, and the doctor's notes in evidence support that claim. Piggly Wiggly contends that it was informed by its workers' compensation insurance carrier, Hartford Insurance Company, that Barlow's doctor had placed the 24-hour restriction on him. Despite Barlow's protests, he was demoted from grocery manager to cashier, his hours per week were reduced from 48 to 24, and his pay was reduced from $370 per week to hourly pay at the minimum wage.
After Barlow's hours and salary were reduced, he received temporary partial disability benefits from Hartford until August 1, 1993. The benefits were paid irregularly. Barlow claims that when he complained to Hartford, he was told that Piggly Wiggly was not reporting his wages regularly and was thereby hampering Hartford's efforts to pay the benefits.
In April 1993, Barlow's work schedule became erratic. The time at which he was to report for work changed daily, and his shift changed frequently. Since July 1993, however, Barlow has been assigned consistently to the 6:00 to 11:00 a.m. shift as a cashier. Piggly Wiggly contends that the early shift is the lightest duty assignment for a cashier and that the store accommodated Barlow's continued difficulty from his injury by allowing him preferential treatment for breaks and by allowing him to sit or stand as needed. Piggly Wiggly also alleges that Barlow requested the early shift so that he could devote time to a barbecue business he owns. Barlow denies those allegations.
Barlow testified that when he complained to his supervisor, John Johnson, about his erratic shift assignments, Johnson informed Barlow that he had been instructed to make things difficult for Barlow in an effort to make him quit his job. Johnson denies Barlow's allegation. We note, however, that records generated by Hartford reflect that Piggly Wiggly informed Hartford it did not want to k
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