00-3779 & 01-1546 Ogborn v. United Food and Commercial Workers Union

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“In Ogborn’s case the record reflects that depression prevented him from working for just over eight weeks – the period stretching from Aug. 25, 1997, when Dr. Clark made his diagnosis, until Oct. 23, 1997, when Ogborn certified in his application for unemployment insurance that he could return to work. True, Ogborn first suffered symptoms of depression after his divorce in July 1996, more than a year before Local 881 fired him, and it is unclear if Ogborn continued to suffer symptoms of depression after he applied for unemployment insurance. Nevertheless, merely having an impairment, such as depression, does not make an individual disabled under the statute. A claimant must also demonstrate that the impairment limits a major life activity-in Ogborn’s case the activity of working.”

“According to Local 881, Ogborn would have been fired even if he had not taken leave because the union discovered additional evidence of his poor work after warning him that further performance problems would lead to his termination. As President Powell explained in his deposition, if he had known of ‘all of the things that came up’ after Ogborn’s suspension, he would have fired Ogborn at that time. Ogborn maintains that Local 881’s position is unsupported by any evidence that the union in fact discovered additional examples of his deficient work. But that contention is untenable given Lisa Cantanzaro’s testimony that she personally fielded calls from Roger Ferrera and Janice Calise after Ogborn took leave and then handled their grievances, which Ogborn had not completed.”

Affirmed.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Hart, J., Rovner, J.