Staub v. Boeing Co.

• Decision Date: 26 February 1996
• Docket Number: No. C94-332C.,C94-332C.
• Citation: 919 F. Supp. 366
• Parties: Stephen Gerald STAUB, Plaintiff, v. The BOEING COMPANY, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Washington

919 F. Supp. 366

Stephen Gerald STAUB, Plaintiff, v. The BOEING COMPANY, Defendant.

No. C94-332C.

United States District Court, W.D. Washington.

February 26, 1996.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

G. Val Tollefson, Danielson Harrigan & Tollefson, Seattle, WA, John Thomas Costo, Bellevue, WA, for plaintiff.

Kevin J. Hamilton, Thomas More Kellenberg, Perkins Coie, Seattle, WA, for defendant.

ORDER ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

COUGHENOUR, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on defendant's motion for summary judgment. Neither party requests oral argument. Having reviewed the pleadings, memoranda, exhibits, and other documents on file, the Court now finds and concludes as follows:

I. BACKGROUND

Stephen Staub is suing Boeing for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101, et seq., and Washington's Law Against Discrimination, Wash.Rev.Code § 49.60.

The parties agree on much of the factual history, and it will not be entirely recounted here. Staub worked at Boeing from 1985 until May of 1994, in a number of jobs in the Fabrication Division. He suffered a series of workplace injuries that culminated in an extended medical leave in September, 1992. Staub's physician, Dr. Lee Norman, extended the medical leave through 1993. Boeing also conducted an independent medical exam of Staub, and concluded that he could not return to work in the Woodshop Toolmaker position he had held in 1992. Staub's medical leave was further extended when he had shoulder surgery in July, 1993.

In December, 1993, Staub's doctor concluded that Staub's condition had stabilized and released Staub to work. Among the medical restrictions imposed on Staub's return to work by Dr. Norman were the following:

(1) No use of vibratory tools; (2) No prolonged or continuous overhead work; (3) No climbing or ladder work; (4) No crawling; (5) No repetitive lift/grip/grasp/torque tasks; (6) No lift over 25 lbs; (7) No carry over 50 lbs. for 3 mos.; (8) No unprotected heights.

Boeing's doctor issued the same restrictions. The parties appear to agree that Staub's limitations are quite severe.

Boeing states that by the time he was released to work, it had laid off thousands of workers due to retrenchment in the airline industry, lack of new orders, delays in deliveries, and canceled orders. Boeing notes, for example, that its total orders fell from 887 in 1989 to 243 in 1992. Since January, 1991, Boeing has laid off 18,848 employees in its Commercial Airplane Group. The overall contraction was felt similarly in the Fabrication Division. Layoffs beginning in January 1991 total 3,735, representing over a third of the 8,500 employees in the division now.

Boeing states that it made enormous efforts to accommodate Staub's new medical restrictions and find him an open position. All of the positions Staub had previously held, "Toolmaker Plaster Plastic B," "Woodshop Toolmaker B," and "Template Man B," were no longer suitable for Staub, due to his medical restrictions. Boeing states that it also examined other positions within the tooling division that Staub had occupied previously, but found none open.

Boeing then attempted to find a position that would fit with Staub's medical restrictions and capabilities elsewhere within the company. Staub does not dispute the existence of Boeing's internal review process and that his case was individually reviewed. Boeing's Medical Placement Review Board, which examines the medical restrictions placed on an employee and attempts to match the restrictions to an open position within the company, considered Staub's case on January 12, 1994. The Board found no open positions for which Staub was qualified, considering his seniority and his medical restrictions. The Board concluded that it could accommodate Staub's disabilities only by displacing someone from a position or by violating preferential rights under the collective bargaining agreement. Staub was laid off in May of 1994.

Staub states that during the time between his release to work and his layoff, he attempted to get information but was "rebuffed" by Marjorie Wooten, his case coordinator and by Janice Donley, the rehabilitation counselor hired by Boeing to assist him with finding employment outside the company. Further, Staub states that Boeing refused to reassign him to the Modified Workshop, a unit designed for medically restricted employees. Finally, Staub states that he was not contacted during the review process, was not invited to attend the Board meeting with his attorney.

II. ANALYSIS

Summary judgment is appropriate when the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions, together with affidavits, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Under the Rule, summary judgment must be entered "against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

A. ADA Claim

The ADA prohibits discrimination in the terms and conditions of employment based on a person's disability. To establish a claim, the plaintiff must show (1) that he is disabled within the meaning of the ADA, (2) that he is qualified to perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation, and (3) that he has suffered adverse employment action because of his disability. 42 U.S.C. § 12112; Benson v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., 62 F.3d 1108, 1112 (8th Cir.1995). The plaintiff bears the burden, at all times, of persuading the trier of fact that he has been the victim of illegal discrimination due to his disability. See St. Mary's Honor Center v. Hicks, 509 U.S. 502, 506-13, 113 S.Ct. 2742, 2747-50, 125 L.Ed.2d 407 (1993); White v. York Int'l Corp., 45 F.3d 357, 361 (10th Cir.1995). Once the plaintiff makes a facial showing that reasonable accommodation is possible, however, the burden of production shifts to the employer to show that it is unable to accommodate the employee. Mason v. Frank, 32 F.3d 315, 318-19 (8th Cir.1994). If the employer shows that the plaintiff cannot perform the essential functions of the job even with reasonable accommodation, the plaintiff must rebut that showing with evidence of his individual capabilities. Benson, 62 F.3d at 1112.

The parties do not dispute that Staub is disabled within the meaning of the ADA. The dispute here concerns whether there were job openings and whether Boeing reasonably accommodated Staub's disability. Staub argues, first, that Boeing has failed to meet its burden of production on the issue of inability to accommodate Staub. This argument is soundly refuted by the record. Virginia Rush, Supervisor-Workforce Administration for the Fabrication Division, testified that she conducted a search for hourly positions that Staub could perform throughout the Puget Sound Region after he was released to work by his physician. To conduct this search, she compared Staub's seniority, work history, training, and medical restrictions with a listing of job codes in the division. Between January and April, 1994, when Staub was laid off, Rush found no open hourly positions for which Staub was qualified. Rush testified that the only way Staub could have been placed was by displacing an employee already in a position for which Staub was qualified. Rush testified no one at the MPRB meeting was able to identify positions that were open for Staub. Rush also testified that after the Fabrications Division was unavailable for Staub, the Hourly Workforce Administrations for other divisions were asked to search, but also found nothing. Similarly, Marjorie Wooten testified that the Board considered Staub for several different types of positions, but found no openings for positions for which he might be qualified. Wooten also noted that two factors impeded Boeing's ability to accommodate Staub: first, the widespread workforce reductions severely limited placement...