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Employee Fails to Disclose Disability Until After They Are Fired? Good Luck With That ADA Claim...


Lucas v. Gregg Appliances, Inc. - United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio, Western District


Facts:  Chris Lucas ("Lucas") suffered from paruesis (shy bladder syndrome).  As a result, he claimed he could not urinate in public bathrooms and would hold his bladder throughout the work day to avoid having to use the bathroom at work.  Lucas's employer, Gregg Appliances ("Gregg") maintained a drug free workplace which required periodic drug testing of employees.  

When Luis was promoted to general manager, the position was contingent upon him passing a drug test.  When Lucas could not complete the drug test (because of his shy bladder), the testing clinic reported to Greg "PER COLLECTOR:  DONOR LEFT COLLECTION SITE BEFORE COMPLETION OF DRUG TEST."  When management confronted Lucas, he did not mention his difficulty urinating or his paruresis.  Lucas did not vist a physician for the condition until the day after Gregg fired him for failing o take the required drug test. 

Lucas subsequently brought an Americans with Disabilities ("ADA") claim against Gregg on the grounds that he was terminated because of his disability and Gregg failed to accommodate the disability.  Both parties moved for summary judgment. 

Holding:  The District Court granted Gregg's motion for summary judgment on the grounds that it had no knowledge of Lucas's disability.  The facts demonstrated that Lucas never told anyone at Gregg about his disability before taking the drug test or even after he failed to complete the test.  In fact, Lucas only informed Gregg about his disability after he was terminated.  As the Court noted, when a disability is not obvious, the burden is on the employee to make the employer aware of the disability. 

In addition, the Court held that the burden rested with the employee to request a reasonable accommodation.  In this instance, Lucas failed to request a reasonable accommodation until after he had been terminated.  As the Court held, when an employee fails to request a reasonable accommodation during his employment, he cannot later complain that the employer failed to provide an accommodation.

Judgment:  The Court granted Gregg's motion for summary judgment on the grounds that it had no knowledge of Lucas's disability and Lucas's failure to inform his employer of his disability and request a reasonable accommodation doomed his ADA claim. 

The Takeaway:  Employees take note, if you do not make your employer aware of a disability and request a reasonable accommodation, your ADA claim is likely to fail.  As this Court noted, the ADA does not require the employer to "guess" and play detective as to what disabilities their employees suffer from.  Note, whichever party fails to take part in a conversation about the disability and the accommodation is likely to be staring at the barrel of an ADA suit. 

Majority Opinion Judge:  Judge Black

Date:  April 15, 2015

Opinion:  https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2501102956069465697

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