This Littler Lightbulb highlights some of the more significant employment law developments in federal courts of appeal in the last month.
Fourth Circuit Rejects ADA Claim of Employee Who Tested Positive for Illegal Drugs to Treat Anxiety and Muscle Spasms
The plaintiff in Anderson v. Diamondback Investment Group LLC, __ F.4th __ (4th Cir. 2024), claimed she was terminated from employment during her 90-day “introductory period” in violation of the ADA after twice testing positive for illegal drugs she said she purchased to treat anxiety and muscle spasms. The district court granted summary judgment to the employer and the plaintiff appealed. The Fourth Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court finding that the plaintiff failed to provide sufficient evidence that she was disabled under the ADA.
Examining the evidence provided by the plaintiff regarding her alleged disability, the Fourth Circuit agreed with the district court that “mere conclusory statements of opinion by [the plaintiff] untethered to any specific facts, medical evidence, or other competent evidence…do not provide sufficient admissible evidence from which a reasonable factfinder could conclude that [the plaintiff] did have anxiety and joint pain, and further that such impairment is a disability in that substantially limits a major life activity.”
The court also rejected the plaintiff’s claim that the company’s policy conditioning employment on the prospective employee’s testing negative for drugs...
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