Kammueller v. Loomis, Fargo & Co.

• Decision Date: 25 August 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-3472.,03-3472.
• Citation: 383 F.3d 779
• Parties: Mac Arthur KAMMUELLER, Plaintiff — Appellant, v. LOOMIS, FARGO & CO., Defendant — Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

383 F.3d 779

Mac Arthur KAMMUELLER, Plaintiff — Appellant, v. LOOMIS, FARGO & CO., Defendant — Appellee.

No. 03-3472.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: June 14, 2004.

Filed: August 25, 2004.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, James M. Rosenbaum, Chief Judge.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Steven A. Smith, argued, Minneapolis, Minnesota, for appellant.

Kathryn A. Mrkonich-Wilson, argued, Minneapolis, Minnesota, for appellee.

Before MURPHY, BRIGHT, and MELLOY, Circuit Judges.

MELLOY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff-Appellant, Mac Kammueller, appeals from a Motion for Summary Judgment granted in favor of Defendant-Appellee, Loomis, Fargo & Co. ("Loomis"), on his reasonable accommodation and disability discrimination claims under the Minnesota Human Rights Act ("MHRA").¹ Kammueller, who worked for Loomis for thirty-one years until his discharge in 2002, has polycystic kidney disease ("PKD"). Kammueller's PKD caused renal failure in 1995 and forced him to submit to three-and-a-half hours of dialysis three days each week. We find that, as a matter of law, Kammueller is disabled under the MHRA. Additionally, we hold that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Kammueller was qualified to perform the essential functions of his job with a reasonable accommodation and whether his termination was because of his disability. Accordingly, we reverse.

I. Facts

Kammueller was born with PKD. It is a permanent physical impairment, which, since his kidneys failed in 1995, requires dialysis three afternoons per week for three-and-a-half hours. He necessarily spends additional recovery time in the hospital following treatment as well as time to travel to and from the hospital prior to and following treatment. His dialysis schedule is determined by the availability of the machine and is inflexible. The rigorous treatment prevents him from working during and following dialysis. The treatment renders him exhausted and unable to return immediately to work after it is completed. After dialysis he goes to sleep. Kammueller has a shunt in his right arm which, in combination with his kidney disorder, prevents him from lifting over forty pounds. He requires at least thirteen different medications and is unable to miss a dialysis appointment, at risk of death. He may consume limited kinds of food and beverages and only twelve ounces of liquids per day.

Loomis is a company that maintains a fleet of armored trucks that regularly services banks and financial institutions. Prior to 2000, Loomis employed "driver/guards" to drive armored trucks and serve as guards. Loomis also employed "custodians" to ride in the back of the armored trucks with the cargo and take and retrieve cargo from customers. The record is unclear regarding the extent to which Loomis maintained a strict division of labor between the custodians and the driver/guards. In 2000, however, Loomis formally consolidated the functions of these two positions and began to refer to the one resultant position as an Armored Service Technician ("AST"). Accordingly, after 2000, the tasks of the ASTs included driving the armored trucks, picking up and delivering cargo, guarding other ASTs during loading and unloading, recording information about the cargo, and lifting and carrying up to fifty pounds.

Kammueller began work for Loomis in 1968 as a driver/guard. He also held a supervisory position from 1970-1973. The record does not reflect the extent to which Kammueller did or did not perform the full spectrum of duties as a driver/guard and/or custodian prior to 1986. He left Loomis from 1986 until 1988 in an attempt to earn more money as an over-the-road driver. In 1988, he resumed employment with Loomis as a driver/guard. Between 1988 and 1995, except on one isolated occasion, Kammueller did not perform any lifting duties; he only drove. Kammueller does not allege that medical limitations prior to 1995 prevented him from performing the full range of driver/guard and/or custodian duties, nor does he allege that his limited duties were due to an accommodation.

Beginning in 1995, after Kammueller's kidneys failed and after he started on dialysis, his job description changed to match his limited duties — driving only. With his altered job description, from 1995 to 2001, Loomis did not require Kammueller to lift over forty pounds. In addition, the local general manager in Minnesota, Tim Maurer, assigned Kammueller to the three o'clock until eleven o'clock a.m. shift to accommodate the dialysis schedule. This altered schedule was also a benefit to Loomis because the early morning shift was unpopular and difficult to fill. Further, the early morning shift was in place at the request of a customer, MTC, not merely as an accommodation for Kammueller. Kammueller performed his job satisfactorily for at least the six years from 1995 to 2001.

In September 2001, Loomis lost the business of an important client, Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo accounted for a significant portion of Loomis's business. The loss required a substantial reduction in force. The staff reduction affected fifty employees, about half of Loomis's workers, through termination or attrition. Corporate management in Texas directed the local management in Minnesota to terminate employees in order of reverse seniority and require all ASTs to perform all of functions of the position. Curt Deaver, the local operations manager in Minnesota, and Chuck Hedlund, the local human resources manager in Minnesota, advised Kammueller of this change. Kammueller had the seniority to survive layoffs that occurred following the loss of Wells Fargo's business but could not meet the fifty pound lifting requirement for the AST position. Kammueller informed them that he could not lift more than forty pounds and requested continued accommodation. At the time, Loomis considered the possibility of retaining Kammueller. Mauer and Deaver agreed that Loomis could continue to accommodate and employ Kammueller after the reduction in force. They modified his position; he drove for four hours, from three o'clock to seven o'clock a.m., and he worked on paperwork in the vault from seven o'clock to eleven o'clock a.m. Kammueller remained in this modified position for several months after the loss of the Wells Fargo account.

The record has conflicting testimony as to whether there was adequate driving and vault work to occupy Kammueller's time in his modified position. There is no clear indication of what then led to Loomis's subsequent decision to revisit the issue of an accommodation for Kammueller and enforce the lifting requirement against Kammueller. However, the local managers apparently renewed discussions with corporate managers in Texas regarding their inability to conceive of a solution to the application of the lifting requirement to Kammueller. Human resources managers at the corporate level in Texas authorized the elimination of Kammueller's modified position and gave permission for his termination. In a termination letter to Kammueller, Hedlund cited Kammueller's inability to meet the minimum lifting requirement as the reason for termination. In this litigation, but not in the termination letter, Loomis also cites scheduling inflexibility as an additional ground for termination.

The record does show, however, that operations manager Deaver was dissatisfied with the decision to terminate Kammueller because a driver for the early route was necessary, the position was difficult to fill, and Deaver thought there was adequate vault work to occupy Kammueller's remaining hours. At his deposition, Deaver testified that he continues to believe Kammueller's disability could be accommodated.

II. Standard of Review

We review the grant of the motion for summary judgment de novo and we view the facts in a light most favorable to the non-moving party. Equal Employment Opportunity Comm'n v. Liberal R-II Sch Dist., 314 F.3d 920, 922 (8th Cir.2002). We affirm only if there is a genuine issue of material fact or if no material factual dispute exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Mayer v. Nextel W. Corp., 318 F.3d 803, 806 (8th Cir.2003); Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 56(c). At summary judgment, because we view the facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, we do not weigh the evidence or attempt to determine the credibility of the witnesses. Quick v. Donaldson Co., 90 F.3d 1372, 1376-77 (8th Cir.1996).

III. Discussion

Kammueller raised claims under the MHRA for failure to accommodate and disability discrimination. Kammueller may use direct or circumstantial evidence to prove his claims. Hoover v. Norwest Private Mortgage Banking, 632 N.W.2d 534, 542 (Minn.2001). Using circumstantial evidence to establish his prima facie case, which is a requirement under both claims, Kammueller must present evidence sufficient to permit a reasonable jury to conclude that he was (1) disabled within the meaning of the MHRA, (2) qualified to perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation, and (3) suffered an adverse employment action because of his disability. Liljedahl v. Ryder Student Transp. Services, Inc., 341 F.3d 836, 841 (8th Cir.2003). Under the failure to accommodate claim, Kammueller must also show that his employer knew of, and failed to reasonably accommodate, his disability. Minn.Stat. § 363A.08 subd. 6. Under the claim of disability discrimination, we apply the McDonnell Douglas burden shifting analysis. Hoover, 632 N.W.2d at 542. We address these claims in turn below.

A. Failure to Accommodate

i. Disabled Under MHRA

The MHRA provides, in relevant part, that an individual is disabled if he or she has a "physical, sensory, or mental impairment which materially limits one or more major life activities." Minn.Stat. § 363A.03 subd. 12 (2003). The MHRA "materially limits" standard is less stringent than the Americans with...