Ready For Love At First Cite?

A plaintiff is a “qualified individual” only if he can perform the essential functions of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation; where an employer prepared a written description before advertising the job, that description is evidence of its essential functions.[42 U.S.C. § 12111(8).]✓ Exhibit A's position description, effective January 4, 2023 — nearly two years before this dispute — lists “safe operation of powered industrial trucks” first among the position's core duties.[Ex. A.]✓ Ex. A · Position DescriptionGrounded to“Safe operation of powered industrial trucks (forklifts, reach trucks, and electric pallet jacks) to load, unload, stack, and retrieve palletized goods.” Exhibit B's first restriction bars Reyes from “operation of powered industrial equipment, including forklifts and powered pallet jacks” — the same function, in the same words.[Ex. B.]✓ A plaintiff may not recast an essential function as marginal merely because a coworker could absorb it.[Cripe v. City of San Jose, 261 F.3d 877, 887 (9th Cir. 2001).]✓ Exhibit C's final written warning, issued November 14, 2024, advised Reyes that any further load-securement violation would result in termination — three months before the February 27 collapse.[Ex. C.]✓ Summary judgment is required where the record, taken as a whole, could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the nonmoving party.[Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587 (1986).]✓ Exhibit E's incident report records that at approximately 14:42 on February 27, 2025 a stack of palletized goods staged for outbound transport shifted and partially collapsed after being prepared and released by Reyes.[Ex. E.]✓ Calderon's discharge memorandum states that the termination was “for violation of the Company's safety policies, specifically the Load Securement Standard, following a prior final written warning for the same category of violation.”[Ex. F.]✓ An employer may hold every employee to the same neutral safety standard, and an employee's disability does not immunize conduct that would end another employee's employment.[Bates v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 511 F.3d 974, 989 (9th Cir. 2007).]✓ Because the progressive-discipline policy was announced, applied, and documented before the restriction issued, no reasonable juror could find the stated reason pretextual.[Snead v. Metro. Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co., 237 F.3d 1080, 1093 (9th Cir. 2001).]✓ Exhibit D's floor plan confirms that Outbound Staging Lane 3 is served by a single reach truck on the second shift, so the duty could not have been reassigned without leaving the lane uncovered.[Ex. D.]✓ Where a plaintiff cannot perform an essential function, the inquiry ends and the employer is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.[Tyndall v. Nat'l Educ. Ctrs., Inc., 31 F.3d 209, 213 (4th Cir. 1994).]✓ Reyes never requested any accommodation for his restrictions.⊘ Blocked — no source. Not drafted.