By Steve Jones, JD, Jack Nelson Jones & Bryant, P.A
The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals—which covers Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota—recently affirmed an Arkansas district court’s ruling that the termination of a juvenile detention officer didn’t amount to discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or retaliation under the ADA, the Arkansas Civil Rights Act (ACRA), or the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
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Background
Javonda Scruggs worked as a juvenile detention officer for Pulaski County from November 24, 2001, to May 21, 2013. Scruggs suffers from fibromyalgia and degenerative disk and cervical disease. Beginning in 2008, she obtained an annual FMLA certification from her doctor so she could take unpaid intermittent leave when necessary.
By February 2013, her conditions had deteriorated to the point that Dr. Christopher Mocek, a pain management specialist who had been treating her, placed restrictions on her FMLA certification that forbade her from sitting, standing, bending, and stooping for extended periods and lifting more than 25 pounds.
One of the requirements listed in the juvenile detention officer’s job description is the ability to lift and carry up to 40 pounds. Because Mocek restricted Scruggs from lifting more than 25 pounds, county officials placed her on continuous, rather than intermittent, FMLA leave. While she was on leave, she asked Mocek to issue a new FMLA certification without any restrictions, but he refused.
Scruggs’ FMLA leave expired on May 15, 2013. Before it expired, she asked the county for an additional week of unpaid leave to allow her to obtain an FMLA certification from her rheumatologist, Dr. Jason Chi. She claimed that Chi would have given her an FMLA certification with no lifting restrictions, but she never provided the county a certification from him.
The county initially agreed to provide Scruggs the extra week, but on May 21, it decided to terminate her employment because she couldn’t meet the job requirement of lifting 40 pounds. In its termination letter, the county stated Scruggs was valuable and encouraged her to reapply if a change in circumstances allowed her to return to work.
Scruggs sued the county for, among other things, discrimination in violation of the ADA and retaliation in violation of the ADA, the ACRA, and the FMLA. The district court dismissed her discrimination claim, finding her inability to lift up to 40 pounds disqualified her from working as a juvenile detention officer.
The court dismissed her retaliation claim because she failed to establish a causal connection between her use of FMLA leave and her termination. Scruggs appealed the district court’s decision.