Krauel v. Iowa Methodist Medical Center

• Decision Date: 11 September 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-3768,95-3768
• Citation: 95 F.3d 674
• Parties: 71 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1326, 69 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,315, 65 USLW 2186, 20 Employee Benefits Cas. 1809, 5 A.D. Cases 1503, 18 A.D.D. 112, 8 NDLR P 317 Mary Jo KRAUEL, Appellant, v. IOWA METHODIST MEDICAL CENTER, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 674

95 F.3d 674

71 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1326,

69 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,315, 65 USLW 2186,

20 Employee Benefits Cas. 1809, 5 A.D. Cases 1503,

18 A.D.D. 112, 8 NDLR P 317

Mary Jo KRAUEL, Appellant, v. IOWA METHODIST MEDICAL CENTER, Appellee.

No. 95-3768.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted May 13, 1996.

Decided Sept. 11, 1996.

Mark D. Sherinian, Des Moines, IA, argued (Roxanne Conlin and Pamela Prager, on the brief), for appellant.

Mark A. Casiari, Chicago, IL, argued (Condon A. McGlothlen, Chicago, IL, and Thomas A. Finley, Des Moines, IA, on the brief), for appellee.

Before BOWMAN, Circuit Judge, HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge, and WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge.

BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.

Mary Jo Krauel appeals the grant of summary judgment by the District Court ¹ in favor of defendant, Iowa Methodist Medical Center (IMMC), on her claim of disability discrimination brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), her claim of pregnancy discrimination brought under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), and her claim of sex discrimination brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. We affirm.

I.

Krauel has been employed as a respiratory therapist with IMMC since 1979. Throughout her employment, Krauel has participated in IMMC's HealthCare Preferred Plan (the Plan), an employee medical benefits plan regulated by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The Plan is self-funded in that benefits are paid from IMMC's general assets. As such, the Plan is not subject to state laws that regulate insurance. Since 1990, Plan Exclusion 31 has excluded medical coverage for treatment of male or female infertility problems.

Krauel was diagnosed with endometriosis ² in 1992. Later that year, Krauel had a laparoscopy a laser surgery procedure designed to eliminate endometriosis. After attempting to become pregnant naturally for over one year, Krauel visited a fertility clinic where she received artificial insemination and gamete intrafallopian tube transfer (GIFT). ³ Krauel underwent, and paid for, three GIFT treatments, one of which resulted in her pregnancy. In 1994, Krauel gave birth to a baby girl. Pursuant to the Plan's coverage scheme, IMMC paid for Krauel's laparoscopy, pregnancy, and delivery expenses, but IMMC denied coverage for Krauel's fertility treatments under the Plan's exclusion for treatment of infertility problems.

Krauel brought suit in the District Court, alleging that IMMC's denial of insurance coverage for her fertility treatments violated the ADA, the PDA, and Title VII. Krauel testified in her deposition that her infertility limits her ability to reproduce naturally and to care for others. ⁴ She also testified, however, that she has not experienced any difficulty caring for herself, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, or working as a result of her alleged disability. She indicated that her infertility has not affected her work performance, attendance, or opportunities for promotion. Krauel did not request special scheduling arrangements or any other accommodation at work because of her infertility.

The District Court granted summary judgment in favor of IMMC, concluding that: (1) Krauel is not an individual with a disability under the ADA because procreation and caring for others are not major life activities; (2) the Plan's infertility treatment exclusion is not a disability-based distinction; (3) the Plan is not a subterfuge to evade the purposes of the ADA within the meaning of § 501(c)(3) of the ADA, codified at 42 U.S.C. § 12201(c)(3) (1994); (4) the Plan did not violate the PDA because treatment for infertility is not treatment for pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition; (5) Krauel failed to establish intentional discrimination under Title VII; and (6) Krauel failed to establish a prima facie case of disparate impact under Title VII resulting from the infertility treatment exclusion. Krauel now appeals, seeking reversal as to all her claims.

II.

We review de novo the decision to grant a summary judgment motion. Kiemele v. Soo Line R.R., 93 F.3d 472, 473-74 (8th Cir. 1996). We will affirm the judgment if the record shows there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the prevailing party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id. at 474; see also Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c).

III.

Krauel argues that the District Court improperly granted summary judgment in favor of IMMC on her ADA claim because: (1) she is an individual with a disability; (2) the Plan's infertility exclusion is a disability-based distinction; and (3) the Plan is a subterfuge to evade the purposes of the ADA. After carefully reviewing the record, we conclude that the District Court properly granted summary judgment in favor of IMMC on the ADA claims.

A.

Krauel first argues that the District Court improperly determined that she is not an individual with a disability who is protected by the ADA. Krauel asserts that she has a physical impairment, infertility, that prevents her from becoming pregnant naturally. She argues that her infertility substantially limits two major life activities, reproduction and caring for others.

The threshold requirement for coverage under the ADA is that the plaintiff be a "qualified individual with a disability." 42 U.S.C. § 12112(a) (1994). The ADA defines disability as "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more ... major life activities." 42 U.S.C. § 12102(2)(A) (1994). Krauel's condition, infertility, prevents her from becoming pregnant naturally. Regulations issued by the EEOC define "physical or mental impairment" as including a disorder of the reproductive system. 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(h)(1). IMMC does not dispute that Krauel's infertility is a covered physical impairment, instead arguing that, as the District Court concluded, the impairment does not substantially affect a major life activity within the meaning of the ADA.

Because the ADA does not define the term major life activity, we are guided by the definition provided in 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) regulations issued to implement Title I of the ADA. See 42 U.S.C. § 12116 (1994) (requiring EEOC to issue regulations implementing ADA). As defined in 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(i), the term major life activity means "functions such as caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working." ⁵ While we recognize that this list is non-exclusive, we note that reproduction and caring for others are not among the examples of listed activities. Although Krauel is unable to conceive without medical intervention, she has the ability to care for herself, perform manual tasks, walk, see, hear, speak, breathe, learn, and work. It is undisputed that her infertility in no way prevented her from performing her full job duties as a respiratory therapist. We conclude, then, that to treat reproduction and caring for others as major life activities under the ADA would be inconsistent with the illustrative list of activities in the regulations, and a considerable stretch of federal law. See Zatarain v. WDSU-Television, Inc., 881 F.Supp. 240, 243 (E.D.La.1995) (holding that reproduction is not a major life activity under the ADA), aff'd, 79 F.3d 1143 (5th Cir.1996) (table).

Krauel relies on Pacourek v. Inland Steel Co., 858 F.Supp. 1393 (N.D.Ill.1994), to support the proposition that reproduction is a major life activity. We are unpersuaded. The court in Pacourek found that reproduction was a major life activity because the reproductive system was included among the systems that can have an ADA impairment. Id. at 1404; see 29 C.F.R. § 1630.1(h)(1). As the court in Zatarain observed, this argument is flawed because "physical or mental impairment" and "major life activities" are "separate and distinct" components of the ADA's definition of disability. Zatarain, 881 F.Supp. at 243. We hold that the District Court properly concluded that reproduction and caring for others are not cognizable major life activities under the ADA. As the District Court held, Krauel does not have any impairment that substantially limits her in any major life activity that is within the purview of the ADA, and thus she is not an individual with a disability under the ADA.

B.

Krauel next argues that even if reproduction and caring for others are not major life activities, summary judgment in favor of IMMC is inappropriate because the Plan is discriminatory on its face. Specifically, she argues that the Plan's exclusion for treatment of infertility is a disability-based distinction. We disagree.

"A term or provision is 'disability-based' if it singles out a particular disability (e.g., deafness, AIDS, schizophrenia), a discrete group of disabilities (e.g., cancers, muscular dystrophies, kidney diseases), or disability in general (e.g., non-coverage of all conditions that substantially limit a major life activity)." EEOC: Interim Enforcement Guidance on Application of ADA to Health Insurance, (June 8, 1993), reprinted in Fair.Empl.Prac.Man. 405:7115, 7118(BNA). Insurance distinctions that apply equally to all insured employees, that is, to individuals with disabilities and to those who are not disabled, do not discriminate on the basis of disability. Id. at 405:7117.

For example, a feature of some employer provided health insurance plans is a distinction between the benefits provided for the treatment of physical conditions on the one hand, and the benefits provided for the treatment of "mental/nervous" conditions on the other. Typically, a lower level of benefits is provided for the treatment of mental/nervous conditions than is provided for the treatment of physical conditions. Similarly, some health insurance plans provide fewer benefits for "eye care" than for other physical conditions. Such broad distinctions which apply to the treatment of a...