United States Ninth Circuit

In the context of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): 1) when plaintiffs challenge an employer's use of a safety-based qualification standard, they need not, independently of that challenge, establish generally that they can perform the essential function of doing the job safely; 2) they are, however, required to show they are "qualified" in the sense that they satisfy prerequisites for the position, including safety-related prerequisites, not connected to the challenged criterion; 3) also, they have the burden to prove that the challenged qualification standard "screen[s] out or tend[s] to screen out an individual with a disability or a class of individuals with disabilities;" and 4) the burden then shifts to the employer to establish the business necessity defense.

Appellate Information

• Argued 06/20/2007
• Decided 10/10/2006
• Published 10/10/2006

Judges

• Before:  ALEX KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, MARY M. SCHROEDER, STEPHEN REINHARDT, PAMELA ANN RYMER, MICHAEL DALY HAWKINS, SIDNEY R. THOMAS, BARRY G. SILVERMAN, M. MARGARET McKEOWN, RAYMOND C. FISHER, RONALD M. GOULD, RICHARD A. PAEZ, MARSHA S. BERZON, RICHARD R. CLIFTON, MILAN D. SMITH, JR., and SANDRA S. IKUTA, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• James L. Lee, Carolyn L. Wheeler, Vincent J. Blackwood and Barbara L. Sloan (argued), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Washington, D.C., for amicus curiae Equal Employment Opportunity Commission., Claudia Center and Lewis Bossing, The Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center, San Francisco, CA, for amici curiae American Association of People with Disabilities et al., Rae T. Vann, McGuiness Norris & Williams, LLP, Washington, D.C., for amicus curiae Equal Employment Advisory Council., Robin S. Conrad and Shane Brennan, National Chamber Litigation Center, Inc., for amicus curiae Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America., Robert Digges, Jr., American Trucking Associations, Inc., Alexandria, VA, J. Brett Busby and Jeffrey L. Oldham, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP, Houston, TX, for amicus curiae American Trucking Associations, Inc.


• For Appellees:
  
• Mark A. Perry (argued), Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, Washington, D.C., Christopher J. Martin, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, Palo Alto, CA, Rachel S. Brass and Amanda M. Rose, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, San Francisco, CA, for the defendant-appellant., Laurence W. Paradis (argued) and Kevin M. Knestrick, Disability Rights Advocates, Berkeley, CA, Todd M. Schneider and Guy B. Wallace, Schneider & Wallace, San Francisco, CA, for the plaintiffs-appellees.