Opinion ID: 2982544
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Agency Jury Instruction

Text: Dura takes issue with the following jury instruction regarding agency: [A]s a matter of law, . . . Freedom from Self—and its employees were the agents of Dura. Therefore, with regard to the drug testing of the Plaintiffs, you are to consider any act of Freedom from Self and its employees to be an act of Dura. No. 11-6088 Bates, et al. v. Dura Automotive Sys. Page 20 The ADA definition of “employer” includes “any agent of such person,” 42 U.S.C. § 12111(5)(A), a relationship typically determined by common-law agency principles, Swallows v. Barnes & Noble Book Stores, Inc., 128 F.3d 990, 996 n.7 (6th Cir. 1997). But the challenged jury instruction here addresses a broader agency concept: whether FFS’s conduct necessarily constitutes Dura’s conduct for purposes of determining the design and likely effects of Dura’s drug tests. The answer to this question matters because FFS received more information about employees’ prescription medications than Dura did. On that score, the ADA offers more specific guidance. It prohibits employers from “participating in a contractual or other arrangement or relationship that has the effect of subjecting a . . . qualified applicant or employee with a disability to the discrimination prohibited by [the ADA].” 42 U.S.C. § 12112(b)(2) (emphasis added). Similarly, the EEOC interprets subsection (d)(4)’s protections to cover not just direct inquiries by the employer, but also “indirect or surreptitious inquiries such as a search through an employee’s belongings to confirm an employer’s suspicions about an employee’s medical condition.” DRI&ME Guidance n.20. In short, employers may not use third parties to circumvent ADA protections. See also Holiday v. City of Chattanooga, 206 F.3d 637, 645 (6th Cir. 2000) (“Employers do not escape their legal obligations under the ADA by contracting out certain hiring and personnel functions to third parties.”). Yet these precepts do not compel the conclusion that Dura used FFS to retrieve protected information. Rather, as explored above, Dura may have used FFS to insulate itself from proscribed information. The factfinder may consider FFS’s role in Dura’s drug-testing protocol to the extent that it bears on Dura’s intent and/or whether the testing would likely reveal plaintiffs-appellees’ physical and mental-health conditions to Dura. But the jury ought not be instructed to assume that, because FFS obtained additional information during the testing protocol, Dura also sought to obtain that information. The district court’s instructions should so reflect and direct the factfinder No. 11-6088 Bates, et al. v. Dura Automotive Sys. Page 21 to the remaining liability issue: whether Dura’s testing constituted a medical examination or disability inquiry under subsection (d)(4). B. The Justification Under 42 U.S.C. § 12112(d)(4)(A): The Jury’s Adverse Verdict Next, Dura challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury’s adverse verdict on the second part of their (d)(4) claim, the justification issue. The jury found Dura’s drug tests neither job related nor a matter of business necessity. Our remand of the regulated-conduct issue does not disturb this finding. We therefore consider Dura’s challenge to the weight of the evidence. Appeals courts uphold jury verdicts unless contrary to the “clear weight of the evidence.” Barnes v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp., 201 F.3d 815, 820–21 (6th Cir. 2000). Our review reduces to a test of objective reasonableness asking whether “a reasonable juror could reach the challenged verdict”; we will not “reweigh the evidence and set aside the jury verdict merely because the jury could have drawn different inferences or conclusions.” Id. at 821 (quoting Duncan v. Duncan, 377 F.2d 49, 52 (6th Cir. 1967)). Because the evidence supports the jury’s verdict, the district court acted within its discretion in denying a new trial on this issue. See id. The employer shoulders the burden of proving the job relatedness and business necessity justifying a medical examination or disability-related inquiry. Thomas v. Corwin, 483 F.3d 516, 527 (8th Cir. 2007). The EEOC instructs that a disability-related inquiry or medical examination of an employee may be job-related and consistent with business necessity when an employer has a reasonable belief, based on objective evidence, that: (1) an employee’s ability to perform essential job functions will be impaired by a medical condition; or (2) an employee will pose a direct threat due to a medical condition. DRI&ME Guidance (quotation marks and footnotes omitted). This “reasonable belief . . . must be based on objective evidence obtained, or reasonably available to the employer, prior to making a disability-related inquiry or requiring a medical examination. Such a belief requires an assessment of the employee and his/her position and cannot be No. 11-6088 Bates, et al. v. Dura Automotive Sys. Page 22 based on general assumptions.” Id.; see also Sullivan v. River Valley Sch. Dist., 197 F.3d 804, 811 (6th Cir. 1999) (“[F]or an employer’s request for an exam to be upheld, there must be significant evidence that could cause a reasonable person to inquire as to whether an employee is still capable of performing his job.”). The guidance further explains that an employer “[g]enerally” may not “ask all employees what prescription medications they are taking,” because such an inquiry “is not job-related and consistent with business necessity,” but notes that the questioning may be necessary for “employees in positions affecting public safety.” DRI&ME Guidance. Dura presented some evidence at trial supporting its drug testing—e.g., testimony and video evidence of the “congested” nature of the Lawrenceburg facility and numerous hazards there, including machinery, glass, chemicals, and forklifts. Nonetheless, plaintiffs-appellees also presented evidence consistent with a reasonable jury conclusion that Dura’s showing fell short of the high standard for job relatedness and business necessity. For example, Jent testified that Dura neglected to make individualized risk determinations of jobs, tools, and work stations in the facility. Jent and Boots also admitted that they failed to consider the plaintiffs’ abilities or the risk that they posed by taking medications. The jury could infer from this evidence that Dura lacked a reasonable belief, based on objective evidence, that plaintiffs-appellees’ medications impaired their abilities to do their jobs or made them dangerous to others. Further, Killen testified that employees had unrestricted access to hazardous parts of the facility and were not required to wear hard hats. Indeed, the video of the facility showed individuals with loose clothing, jewelry, and long hairstyles, in apparent violation of Dura’s safety policies. This evidence reasonably supports the conclusion that Dura could have advanced its interest in employee safety by other, less intrusive means. Because the evidence supported the jury’s conclusion, we affirm the district court’s denial of a new trial on the (d)(4) justification issue. No. 11-6088 Bates, et al. v. Dura Automotive Sys. Page 23 C. Availability of Statutory Damages Dura next contests the availability of damages under the ADA’s damages provision, 42 U.S.C. § 12117(a), arguing that the non-disabled plaintiffs-appellees do not qualify under the statute as “person[s] alleging discrimination on the basis of disability.” We reject this argument because § 12112(d)(1) clarifies that the ADA “prohibition against discrimination referred to in [§ 12112(a)] . . . include[s] medical examinations and inquiries,” and subsection (d)(4) extends this protection to all employees. 42 U.S.C. § 12112(d)(1), (d)(4). The ADA ban of “discriminat[ion] . . . on the basis of disability” thus encompasses medical examinations and disability inquiries involving employees. Because the damages provision does not exclude (d)(4) claims, we affirm the district court’s judgment that plaintiffs-appellees qualify for statutory damages should they prevail on their (d)(4) claim. D. Jury’s Punitive Damages Award Finally, Dura challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury’s award of punitive damages. The ADA permits an award of punitive damages “if the complaining party demonstrates that the [employer] engaged in a discriminatory practice . . . with malice or with reckless indifference to [her] federally protected rights.” 42 U.S.C. § 1981a(a)(2) & (b)(1). “The terms ‘malice’ or ‘reckless indifference’ pertain to the employer’s knowledge that it may be acting in violation of federal law, not its awareness that it is engaging in discrimination.” Kolstad v. Am. Dental Ass’n, 527 U.S. 526, 535 (1999). To be liable for punitive damages, “an employer must at least discriminate in the face of a perceived risk that its actions will violate federal law.” Id. at 536. “Employers who are simply ‘unaware of the relevant federal prohibition’ or believe that the discrimination is lawful are not subject to punitive damages liability.” Preferred Props., Inc. v. Indian River Estates, Inc., 276 F.3d 790, 799 (6th Cir. 2002) (quoting Kolstad, 527 U.S. at 536–37). Here, though certain facts supported the jury’s award of punitive damages, the jury had no meaningful opportunity to consider Dura’s defense that it “tried to craft and No. 11-6088 Bates, et al. v. Dura Automotive Sys. Page 24 carry out its policy in compliance with the law” (Appellant Br. at 49) because the district court determined the (d)(4) regulated-conduct issue as a matter of law. By starting with the premise that Dura conducted prohibited testing, the jury’s punitive damages analysis likely addressed only Dura’s justification for the tests (deemed insufficient), without considering the very real possibility that Dura intended its drug tests to comply with the ADA. Since the jury must determine whether Dura’s tests constituted medical examinations or disability inquiries, and that decisionmaking process might affect the jury’s perspective on punitive damages, we think it appropriate to permit the jury to examine the two at the same time. We therefore reverse the district court’s denial of a new trial on the issue of punitive damages, consistent with our reversal of the district court’s judgment on the (d)(4) regulated-conduct issue.