Opinion ID: 772937
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 4 Randy Tice has a long and checkered employment history with CATA. Therefore, because determinations under the ADA are quite fact-specific, we must recount much of the minutiae of Tice's odyssey through CATA's medical leave procedures. 5 Tice began his employment with CATA as a bus driver in 1988. During the relevant periods of Tice's employment, CATA's collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1203-B (the Union) allowed employees with serious injuries or illnesses to take up to two consecutive years of unpaid leave (while continuing to accrue seniority) for any single medical condition. If the employee did not return to work after two years, the employee would be deemed to have voluntarily resigned under the terms of the CBA. However, if an employee were to return to work before the expiration of the two years and then leave again for the same illness or injury, the return would only interrupt the two-year time clock if that employee worked for a minimum of six weeks before going back on leave. CATA's policy was to require that after taking such leave, the employee only be permitted to return after submitting a Return to Work Certificate from a treating physician, affirming that the employee was physically fit to resume his or her duties. 6 In October 1993, Tice was injured at a McDonald's restaurant when a utility room door opened suddenly and struck him in the back. He continued to work until February 1994, when he informed CATA that back problems resulting from the injury required him to take medical leave. Tice remained on leave throughout 1994 and all of 1995, except for a few brief periods when he attempted to return to his job but quickly discovered that his back injuries would not allow him to continue. His last such attempt took place for several weeks from September to October 1994, after which time he submitted to CATA a note from Dr. Wayne Stokes stating that Tice was to be off work until further notice and evaluation by surgeon. Subsequently, Tice submitted periodic updates on his condition to CATA, including a letter from a surgeon, Dr. Keith Kuhlengel, recommending that Tice receive back surgery. In the exchange of correspondence, CATA reminded Tice that if he desired to return to work, he would need to submit a doctor's note certifying that he could perform his duties without risk. 7 In April 1996, Tice informed CATA that in July he would be undergoing the back surgery recommended by Dr. Kuhlengel; however, in early June, Tice advised CATA that he had canceled his surgery and submitted a Return to Work Certificate, signed by Dr. Kuhlengel, stating that Tice could return to work if given an air ride seat with lumbar support, power steering, lumbar work belt, 8 hr/day. The certification did not comment on the safety of Tice's return, either to himself or to his passengers. 8 CATA requested further information from Dr. Kuhlengel before allowing Tice to return and, after an initial exchange of letters, CATA informed Tice that he would be required to submit to an Independent Medical Examination (IME) before he could be reinstated. No CATA employee before (or since) had ever been required to submit to an IME after taking medical leave, and CATA had not warned Tice of such a possibility in its earlier correspondence. 9 Tice filed a number of grievances with the Union regarding the delay in reinstatement. At this time, Tice also complained that CATA's method of recordkeeping improperly commingled confidential medical information with non-confidential personnel information, in violation of the ADA's recordkeeping requirements. See 42 U.S.C. S 12112(d)(4)(C). In the course of union grievance procedures, CATA admitted that it had inadvertently failed to comply with the ADA's recordkeeping requirements, but promised to modify its policies. After these violations were remedied, the Union withdrew this grievance. 10 Tice submitted to the IME in August 1996, and was diagnosed with lumbar spondylolysis with degenerate disc disease. The examining physician stated that with exercise and medication, Tice would nonetheless be able to work, and he returned to his job on August 21, 1996. He then settled his grievance with CATA regarding the IME. The seniority he had accrued while on leave entitled him to bid on driving routes with newer buses that were equipped with the seating and steering accommodations he required. 11 Tice worked for CATA for a month (from August 1996 to September 1996). However, on September 24, 1996, Tice was injured in an automobile accident unrelated to his employment with CATA, and submitted to CATA a note from Dr. Stokes stating that he would not be able to continue to work because he had sustained a shoulder contusion and bursitis and reexacerbation of his back pain. 12 In October 1996, Tice's two-year period of leave was close to expiring because his brief return did not meet the six-week minimum required under the CBA. CATA informed Tice that he would be deemed to have voluntarily resigned if he did not return by October 24, 1996. In response, on October 24, Tice submitted a note from one Dr. Worobec stating that due to a rotator cuff injury incurred in the automobile accident -- ostensibly a new injury, unrelated to the back injury that had originally kept him out of work -- Tice would need to refrain from working for another two weeks. A few days later, CATA informed him that it now considered him to have resigned. 13 Both during his medical leave from CATA, and after his termination in October 1996, Tice worked part-time cleaning and restocking for Allegheny Airlines, a job which he held until May 1997. Upon further training, he began work as an airline mechanic, continuing until February 1998, when he injured his knee falling from the cockpit of a plane, requiring that his duties be lessened. Tice eventually left this employment because of an inconvenient commute. Subsequent to his employment with CATA, Tice also ran a ticket-sales operation out of his home.