Mail Carrier’s Heavy-Lifting Limit Undercut Disability Bias Suit | PostalReporter.com
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Mail Carrier’s Heavy-Lifting Limit Undercut Disability Bias Suit

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A mail carrier with a bad foot failed to show the U.S. Postal Service unreasonably denied him accommodation because his disability left him unable to meet the position’s lifting requirement and there was no light duty available for him to work, the Seventh Circuit ruled Monday.

Jose Vargas’ job at the USPS’s Romeoville, Ill., office required him to carry up to 35 pounds in his mail bag and to shuttle equipment and mail weighing up to 75 pounds between the Romeoville location and a satellite office, the court said. His doctor placed him on a 15-pound lifting restriction when his…

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Jose Vargas, a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, aggravated an old foot injury on the job in early 2011. He was placed on work restrictions that prohibited him from lifting and carrying heavy weights. This created a problem for Vargas because his duties included carrying heavy loads and packages.

Vargas asked his employer for accommodations, but without any alternative jobs for him to do his request was denied. As a result, Vargas had to take paid sick leave for several weeks and eventually went on leave without pay. Vargas sued his employer under Title VII and for disability-based discrimination. Apparently, his endgame is to restore the paid sick leave hours he took. He’s not out any wages—he received backpay through workers’ compensation for the time spent on leave without pay—and he still works for the Postal Service. The district court granted summary judgment for the Postal Service.

We affirm because Vargas could not perform the only job available to him, with or without a reasonable accommodation, and the record is devoid of evidence indicating he was treated differently because of his race or that he suffered unlawful workplace retaliation.