KAREN SHIELDS V. CREDIT ONE BANK, N.A., No. 20-15647 (9th Cir. 2022)
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Plaintiff alleged that her former employer violated the ADA by failing to accommodate her disability and instead terminating her from her human resources job after she underwent a bone biopsy surgery on her right shoulder and arm. The district court concluded that Plaintiff failed to plead a “disability” because she did not adequately allege that she had “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limit[ed] one or more major life activities.”
The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s dismissal of Plaintiff’s employment discrimination action. The court concluded that Plaintiff pleaded facts plausibly establishing that she had a physical impairment both during an immediate post-surgical period and during an extension period in which her surgeon concluded that her injuries had not sufficiently healed to permit her to return to work. The court also found that the activities that Plaintiff pleaded she was unable to perform qualified as “major life activities,” which included caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, lifting, and working. Finally, the complaint adequately alleged that Plaintiff’s impairment substantially limited her ability to perform at least one major life activity.
Court Description: Employment Discrimination. The panel reversed the district court’s dismissal of an employment discrimination action under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act and remanded. Kate Shields alleged that her former employer violated the ADA by failing to accommodate her disability and instead terminating her from her human resources job after she underwent a bone biopsy surgery of her right shoulder and arm. The district court concluded that Shields failed to plead a “disability” because she did not adequately allege that she had “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limit[ed] one or more major life activities.” Applying the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 and regulations issued in 2011, the panel held that in order to be substantially limiting, an impairment need not involve permanent or long-term effects. The panel concluded that Shields pleaded facts plausibly establishing that she had a physical impairment both during an immediate post-surgical period and during an extension period in which her surgeon concluded that her injuries had not sufficiently healed to permit her to return to work. The panel also concluded that the activities that Shields pleaded she was unable to perform qualified as “major life activities,” which include caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, lifting, and working. Finally, the complaint adequately alleged that Shields’s SHIELDS V. CREDIT ONE BANK 3 impairment substantially limited her ability to perform at least one major life activity.
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