Opinion ID: 768070
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: EEOC v. Chase Manhattan Bank

Text: 10 The complaint against Chase was brought by the EEOC on behalf of another complainant and at least 27 other similarly situated individuals. This complainant was an employee of Chemical Bank, which later merged with Chase. Chase does not dispute its legal responsibility for the acts of Chemical Bank that were the subject of the complaint. On May 11, 1993, the complainant became unable to work because of major depression and anxiety. On November 9, 1993, she applied for long-term disability benefits under her employer's long-term disability plan, which was administered by Unum Life Insurance Company of America (Unum). Unum determined that the complainant was disabled within the meaning of the plan, and granted her benefits beginning December 1, 1993. As with the SISB plan, the benefits took the form of monthly payments calculated on the basis of an employee's prior monthly compensation and did not bear a relationship to the costs of the disability. 11 The plan provided benefits to employees absent from work because of Temporary Disability as well as Total and Permanent Disability. According to the plan: 12 Total and Permanent Disability or Totally and Permanently Disabled means any medically determinable physical or mental impairment that can be expected to result in death or that can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months which disability renders the Participant unable to physically perform the duties of the position for which employed by a Participating Company or the duties of any other substantial gainful activity . . . . 13 Temporary Disability or Temporarily Disabled means any medically determinable physical or mental impairment that is expected to last for a continuous period of more than 27 consecutive weeks which disability renders the Participant unable to physically perform the duties of the position for which employed by a Participating Company: provided that such impairment is not expected to result in the Participant being deemed to have a Total and Permanent Disability . . . . 14 Disability benefits were generally available under the plan for any Total and Permanent Disability occurring at age sixty or less until the attainment of age sixtyfive. The plan provided, however, that benefits for a disability caused by a mental disease or disorder would last for no more than eighteen months. 2 The complainant's long-term disability benefits were terminated on May 31, 1995 because of the eighteen-month limitation on mental disability benefits. 15 On September 8, 1997, the same day that the EEOC filed suit against SISB and Guardian in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the EEOC also filed its complaint against Chase and Unum in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The complaint alleged that the long-term disability benefit plan offered to the complainant and other similarly situated employees discriminated on the basis of mental disability in violation of Title I of the ADA. 16 Chase and Unum filed separate motions to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), arguing, inter alia, that Title I of the ADA does not forbid long-term disability benefit plans from providing different benefits for different disabilities. 3 The district court agreed, granting both defendants' motions to dismiss on the sole ground that Title I of the ADA does not require equal long-term disability benefits for mental and physical disabilities. 17 The EEOC appeals only from the dismissal of its claims against Chase.