Source: http://openjurist.org/153/f3d/512/skorup-v-modern-door-corporation
Timestamp: 2017-04-23 05:46:05
Document Index: 772597772

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 12101', '§ 12102', '§ 1630', '§ 1630', '§ 12102', '§ 1630', '§ 12102', '§ 12102', '§ 12102', '§ 1630', '§ 12102', '§ 2000', '§ 2000']

After Skorup returned to racking, Stokes told her she could stay there "a few days" and that "we'll see what's going to happen." Shortly thereafter, Barnes, the department supervisor, told the racking employees that they had "better get rid of [their] doctor's excuses." The day after Modern Door fired Skorup, Barnes told the remaining racking employees that they had to "get rid of" their health problems and indicated that Skorup was terminated because she had problems with her shoulders and could not work in the closures department.
Since her termination by Modern Door, Skorup has worked as a floral designer at Ray and Kenny's Supermarket and at Orr's Flowers.
To invoke protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., Skorup must show that she suffers from a disability as defined in the Act. See Weiler v. Household Fin. Corp., 101 F.3d 519, 523 (7th Cir.1996). The Act defines "disability" in three ways:
42 U.S.C. § 12102(2). Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regulations interpreting the Act define "[m]ajor [l]ife [a]ctivities" to include "functions such as caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working." 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(i). "Substantially limits" means that the person is either "[u]nable to perform a major life activity" or is "significantly restricted as to the condition, manner or duration" under which the individual can perform the major life activity as compared to the average person in the general population. Id. at § 1630.2(j)(1).
If Skorup's condition does not rise to the level of a disability, then she cannot recover under the Act even if Modern Door terminated her on its account. "The Act is not a general protection of medically afflicted persons.... [I]f the employer discriminates against them on account of their being (or being believed by him to be) ill, even permanently ill, but not disabled, there is no violation." Christian v. St. Anthony Med. Ctr., Inc., 117 F.3d 1051, 1053 (7th Cir.1997), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 118 S.Ct. 1304, 140 L.Ed.2d 469 (1998).
Here Skorup contends that she is protected under the Act because she meets the definition of "disabled" under either section (A) or (C) of § 12102(2). She first alleges that she is substantially limited in the major life activity of working. In this context, "substantially limits" means "significantly restricts the ability to perform a class of jobs or a broad range of jobs in various classes." Weiler, 101 F.3d at 525 (citing 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(j)(3)(i)). As this Court has made explicit, however, " 'an inability to perform a particular job for a particular employer' is not sufficient to establish a substantial limitation on the ability to work; rather, 'the impairment must substantially limit employment generally.' " Id. at 524 (quoting Byrne v. Board of Educ., Sch. of West Allis-West Milwaukee, 979 F.2d 560, 565 (7th Cir.1992)). Thus, for Skorup to defeat Modern Door's motion for summary judgment, she must provide some evidence establishing a genuine issue of material fact over whether her condition resulted in her being substantially limited from employment generally.
Skorup has produced scant evidence to show that her impairment substantially limits her ability to work. While Skorup asserts in her brief that she cannot perform "[a]ny and all jobs which require [repetitive stretching and pulling of the shoulder]," she provides no evidence of the number of jobs from which she is precluded because of this impairment. To establish that the ADA applies to her condition, Skorup needed to identify what requirements posed by the class of assembly line jobs (or, alternatively, by a broad range of other jobs) were problematic in light of the limitations her fibromyalgia imposed upon her. See Davidson v. Midelfort Clinic, Ltd., 133 F.3d 499, 507 (7th Cir.1998). "This is not an onerous requirement, but it does require at least some evidence from which one might infer that [Skorup] faced 'significant restrictions' in her ability to meet the requirements of other jobs." Id.
The only evidence the record provides is that Skorup can work the racking job without accommodation, while she is precluded from working in the closures department because that job requires the kind of stretching and pulling of the shoulder that her impairment forbids. It is nearly axiomatic in this Circuit that "it is not enough for the plaintiff to show that her impairment 'prevented [her] from performing one narrow job for one employer.' " Id. at 506 (quoting Best v. Shell Oil Co., 107 F.3d 544, 548 (7th Cir.1997)). While we do not require that plaintiffs establish the precise percentage of jobs their impairment precludes them from performing, in this case Skorup has not set forth any evidence from which we can determine even general guideposts, such as whether her impairment forecloses her from accepting a few, many, or most of the jobs in a particular class or in a broad range of classes. Without some evidence suggesting that Skorup is precluded from performing a class of jobs or a broad range of jobs in various classes, her impairment does not meet the definition of a disability under 42 U.S.C. § 12102(2)(A).
Skorup's second approach is to argue that she is disabled under 42 U.S.C. § 12102(2)(C); i.e., that Modern Door perceived her as having a disability that substantially limited a major life activity. The question for us, then, is whether Modern Door perceived Skorup's impairment to be sufficiently severe to substantially limit a major life activity. It is not enough for Skorup to show that Modern Door was aware of her impairment; instead Skorup must show that Modern Door knew of the impairment and believed that she was substantially limited because of it. The "substantially limits" inquiry in this context is comparable to our inquiry above:
[Section] 12102(2)(A) looks for proof beyond the plaintiff's inability to satisfy the expectations of a single employer; to be "substantial," a limitation on the ability to work must be one that affects the plaintiff's ability to perform a class or range of jobs before it qualifies as a disabling limitation under the ADA. For purposes of § 12102(2)(C), the employer's perception of the plaintiff's inability to work must have a comparable breadth.
Davidson, 133 F.3d at 511 (citing 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(l) and collecting cases). In this case, Skorup must show that Modern Door believed that she was unable to work a particular class or broad range of jobs.
Skorup has not produced any evidence suggesting that Modern Door held this belief. Skorup relies on the fact that Stokes was "flustered" by her medical slip and impairment and the fact that Barnes admitted that he was "angry" about it. This evidence does not support an inference that Modern Door regarded her as having an impairment that substantially limited one or more of her major life activities. Based on her doctor's work restriction, Modern Door may have regarded Skorup as having an impairment that kept her from continuously stretching and pulling her shoulder, and Modern Door employees may have been "flustered" and "angry" about this restriction. However, Skorup has not shown that Modern Door considered her restriction on stretching and pulling her shoulder a severe restriction on her ability to perform assembly line jobs generally, or to substantially limit any of her other major life activities. Thus, Skorup has not established that she is disabled under § 12102(2)(C).
Because Skorup did not create a genuine issue of material fact as to whether she has a disability under the ADA, the district court properly granted Modern Door's motion for summary judgment.
C. Religious Discrimination Claim
Title VII provides that "it shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer ... to discharge any individual ... because of such individual's ... religion." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). Religion includes "all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief." Id. at § 2000e(j). To defeat Modern Door's motion for summary judgment, Skorup was required to show a genuine issue of material fact over whether "her perceived religious shortcomings ... played a motivating role in her discharge." Venters v. City of Delphi, 123 F.3d 956, 972 (7th Cir.1997). Skorup's argument on this count deserves little discussion.
Skorup, a Roman Catholic, alleges that she would not have been terminated if she were Baptist, the faith shared by Morris, the general manager, and several of Modern Door's employees. She alleges that Baptist management employees showed a strong preference to Baptist employees, from hiring to preferential job assignments. However, Skorup does not connect this preference for Baptists to her termination. Although Skorup believes that if she were Baptist she would not have been laid off, this belief alone is insufficient to defeat a summary judgment motion. See Chiaramonte v. Fashion Bed Group, Inc., 129 F.3d 391, 401 (7th Cir.1997) (" '[I]f the subjective beliefs of plaintiffs in employment discrimination cases could, by themselves, create genuine issues of material fact, then virtually all defense motions for summary judgment in such cases would be doomed.' "), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 118 S.Ct. 1795, 140 L.Ed.2d 936 (1998) (quoting Mills v. First Federal Savings & Loan Assoc., 83 F.3d 833, 841-42 (7th Cir.1996)). Additionally, Skorup does not address one of the most powerful pieces of evidence against her position: Stokes, the person responsible for selecting her for termination, is also Roman Catholic. Skorup has not presented evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact regarding her religious termination claim; the district court properly granted Modern Door's motion for summary judgment on this claim.