Lipp v. Cargill Meat Solutions Corp., No. 17-2152 (8th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseThe Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment for Cargill in an action alleging that the company discriminated against a former employee in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA). The court held that plaintiff failed to present direct and indirect evidence of disability discrimination; plaintiff was not a qualified individual protected by the ADA because she failed to demonstrate that at the time of her termination she could regularly and reliably attend work, an essential function of her employment; and the ADA's protections did not extend to providing plaintiff with her desired accommodation of more time off following her 194 days of unplanned absences.
Court Description: Grasz, Author, with Loken and Erickson, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Employment discrimination. Plaintiff failed to present direct evidence of disability discrimination; with respect to whether there was indirect evidence of disability discrimination, the court applies the McDonnell Douglas analysis; plaintiff was not a qualified individual; plaintiff's 195 days of unplanned absences for both personal and medical reasons in less than one year amounted to an inability to perform her job; plaintiff's desired accommodation at the time of her termination - i.e., additional absences to cover flare-ups without timely medical verification and almost immediately following her 194 days of unplanned absences - was not one that would enable her to perform the essential function of regular and reliable attendance but one that would relieve her of that function, and the ADA's protections do not extend that far.
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