Hostile work environment claims are actionable under ADA

Law Reporter, Apr 2004

Shaver v. Independent Stave Co., 350 F.3d 716 (8th Qr. 2003).

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a hostile work environment claim is actionable under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et seq.

Here, a fired timber mill employee who suffered from epilepsy sued his former employer under the ADA, alleging, among other claims, that the mill had been a hostile work environment. A trial court granted defendant summary judgment.

Reversing, the Eighth Circuit noted that remedial statutes, such as the ADA, do not grant federal courts the right to create causes of action after the manner of common law. Rather, the court's rulings must follow the text of a statute. The ADA provides that no employers "shall discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability because of the disability of such individual in regard to terms, conditions, and privileges of employment." Although the statute does not specifically reference hostile work environment, the court found, the statute's text must be interpreted according to how it was understood at the time of its passing.

The court explained that the phrase "terms, conditions, and privileges of employment," as used in the ADA, was borrowed directly from Title VTI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 1983. When the ADA was passed in 1991, the court explained, Congress intended this phrase to prohibit a broad range of employment practices, including workplace harassment. Thus, hostile work environment claims are actionable under the ADA, the court concluded.

Plaintiff's Counsel

Marie L. Gockel, Kansas City, Mo.

* Lynne Jaben Bratcher, Kansas City, Mo.

Amicus Curiae Counsel

Joseph A. Seiner, Washington, D.C.