Ill District Court: EEOC’s ADA Suit to Proceed Sans Employee’s Disability Availments

Holding:

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois has determined that a suit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) brought on behalf of a disabled sales manager (John Shepherd) could still proceed, even though the employee had already availed of Social Security benefits. In so doing, the district court denied defendant Autozone, Inc.’s motion to amend its answer so it could assert that based on the employee’s statements to the Social Security Administration (“SSA”), the EEOC was judicially estopped from claiming that Shepherd was capable of performing essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation. The district court explained that the EEOC’s interest in pursuing perpetuators of discrimination is much broader than simply obtaining relief for the victim of that discrimination. It held that the EEOC was not estopped by Shepherd’s statements and conduct, and concluded that the affirmative defense of judicial estoppel was futile as a matter of law.

Detailed Summary:

EEOC alleged in this suit that Autozone violated certain rights of an Autozone employee, John Shepherd, arising under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Shepherd himself is not a party to this suit.

Autozone argued in its motion that it should be allowed to amend its affirmative defenses to raise the defense of judicial estoppel. According to Autozone, Shepherd applied for Social Security Disability (“SSD”) benefits. In the process, Shepherd made sworn statements to the effect that:

1. He has been unable to work since 9/13/03 due to severe impairments;

2. those impairments include depression, myofascial pain, degenerative disc disease of…

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