Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T23:48:10.552Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

ADA: Isolated Bouts of Depression Do Not Qualify as a Disability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Mayelin Prieto-Gonzalez
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In Ogborn v. United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local No. 881, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that while major depression can constitute a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), isolated bouts of depression do not. Furthermore, the court held that an employee's firing after taking medical leave for depression does not violate the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), where evidence shows that the employee would have been fired for poor performance even if he had not taken the leave.

Alleging that he was fired in violation of the ADA and the FMLA, Jerry Ogborn sued his former employer, Local 881 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, as well as the union's vice president. Beginning in 1980, Ogborn worked as a business agent for the union, which represents members employed primarily in the retail grocery industry. Ogborn's duties consisted of visiting retail grocery stores employing workers represented by the union, meeting with members about working conditions, and filing and processing members’ grievances.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , Spring 2003 , pp. 165 - 167
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ogborn v. United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local No. 881, 305 F.3d 763 (7th Cir. 2002).Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id. at 765.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id. at 766.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id: At 766–67.Google Scholar
Id. at 767.Google Scholar
Ogbom v. United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local No. 881, No. 98-C4623, 2000 U.S. District LEXIS 14092 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 25, 2000).Google Scholar
Ogbom v. United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local No. 881, No. 98-C4623, 2000 U.S. District LEXIS 17932 (N.D. 111. Dec. 7, 2000).Google Scholar
See 42 U.S.C. §§ 12111(2), 12112(a), 12112(b)(5)(A) (2003).Google Scholar
See 42 U.S.C. § 12102(2) (2003); EEOC Regulations to Implement the Equal Employment Provisions of the ADA, 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(g) (2003).Google Scholar
Ogbom, 305 F.3d at 767.Google Scholar
See id. at 767–68.Google Scholar
See id. at 767 (citing Krocka v. City of Chicago, 203 F.3d 507, 512 (7th Cir. 2000); Schneiker v. Fortis Ins. Co., 200 F.3d 1055, 1061 (7th Cir. 2000); Mustafa v. Clark County Sch. Dist., 157 F.3d 1169, 1174 (9th Cir. 1998) (per curiam)).Google Scholar
See id.Google Scholar
See id. at 768 (citing 42 U.S.C. § 12102(2)(C) (2003); Dvorak v. Mostardi Piatt Assocs., Inc., 289 F.3d 479, 483–84 (7th Cir. 2002)).Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
See 29 U.S.C. §§ 2612(a)(1), 2614(a)(1), 2615(a)(2) (2003).Google Scholar
Ogbom, 305 F.3d at 768.Google Scholar
Id. at 769.Google Scholar
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Prohibiting Discrimination in the Workplace — Title 1 of the Americans with Disabilities Act, available at <http://www.bazelon.org/adatitll.html> (last visited February 15, 2003).+(last+visited+February+15,+2003).>Google Scholar
Carroza v. Howard County, 847 F. Supp. 365 (D. Md. 1994), aff’d, 45 F.3d 425 (4th Cir. 1994).Google Scholar
Mancini v. General Electric, 820 F. Supp. 141, 147 (D. Vt. 1993).Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association, Depression, at <http://www.psych.org/public_info/depression.cfm> (last visited February 15, 2003).+(last+visited+February+15,+2003).>Google Scholar