In Pfendler v. Liberty Dialysis-Hawaii, No. 14-00377 (D. Haw. Sept. 22, 2016), an employee who worked as a Dialysis Technical Specialist unsuccessfully sued his employer, Liberty Dialysis-Hawaii, for disability discrimination and retaliation.  After an off-work injury left the plaintiff unable to meet the 75-100 pound lifting requirement of the job, he was granted medical leave from January 2012 to December 2012.  During his leave, he requested "light duty" by eliminating the lifting functions of the job, but the employer denied his request.  The plaintiff returned to work in January 2013, after he accepted the employer's invitation to apply for another position that did not require heavy lifting and was placed into the Hemodialysis Technician II position.

 

The court granted the employer's motion for summary judgment, in part because the plaintiff was not a "qualified individual" for the Dialysis Technical Specialist Position due to his inability to perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation.  The court determined that the employer successfully established that lifting was indeed an essential function of the job by (1) producing a written job description that specifically required lifting of 75 to 100 pounds and (2) obtaining the plaintiff's own admission in his deposition that the job required lifting more than 50 pounds.  In addition, the court considered that the employer provided him reasonable accommodations by (1) granting his requests for medical leave and (2) approving his transfer request to another position for which he was qualified so he could return to work.

 

The lead attorney representing the plaintiff was Charles H. Brower.  Marr Jones & Wang represented Liberty Dialysis-Hawaii.