Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. STME, LLC

Kimberly Lowe (plaintiff) worked as a massage therapist for STME, LLC, known as Massage Envy-South Tampa (Massage) (defendant). Lowe requested time off to take a trip to visit her sister in Ghana, a West African country. Massage approved the request. However, three days before Lowe’s trip, Ronald Wuchko, one of Massage’s owners, told Lowe that she would be fired if she visited Ghana. Wuchko cited concern that Lowe might contract Ebola and bring it back to the United States. At the time, there was an Ebola epidemic in several countries near Ghana. However, Ghana itself was not experiencing an epidemic, and nothing suggested that Lowe’s sister had the disease. When Lowe refused to cancel her trip, Wuchko fired her. Lowe took her vacation and returned home Ebola-free. She filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (plaintiff), claiming that Massage violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by discriminating against her based on her potential to become disabled. The EEOC subsequently sued Massage, asserting (1) a discrimination claim arguing that Massage terminated Lowe because it regarded her as disabled and (2) an associational-discrimination claim arguing that Massage terminated Lowe because of her association with unidentified persons in Ghana whom Massage believed to be disabled by Ebola. The district court granted Massage’s motion to dismiss the claims, determining that neither claim was viable. The EEOC and Lowe, who had intervened in the suit, appealed.