By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//August 3, 2012//
United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit
Civil
Employment — ADA
Where an employer offered an injured employee several different jobs, the employee failed to show that her employer regarded her as disabled.
“The facts here are markedly different than those presented in Miller. Unlike the Illinois Department of Transportation, Caterpillar willingly placed Hanson in three temporary positions within her prescribed medical restrictions: she spent time working in ‘the cage,’ on a subassembly line, and even back on the 980-tractor line. Meanwhile, Miller was terminated even though he appeared capable of performing any number of tasks that did not implicate his acrophobia. Caterpillar’s willingness to place Hanson in other jobs within her medical restrictions clearly belies the claim that the company subjectively regarded her as unable to perform a broad class of jobs. It also makes Hanson’s analogy to Miller unavailing.”
Affirmed.
11-3292 Hanson v. Caterpillar, Inc.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Zagel, J., Kanne, J.