Hoffman v. Carefirst of Fort Wayne

In 2006, Stephen Hoffman (plaintiff) was hired as a service technician by Pharmacare. Hoffman worked from Pharmacare’s office in Angola, Indiana, traveling by van to supply patients with home medical devices. Hoffman worked eight hours per day, Monday through Friday. In 2007, Carefirst of Fort Wayne, Inc. d/b/a Advanced Healthcare (Advanced) (defendant) acquired Pharmacare and offered Hoffman a similar service-technician position. Hoffman signed a job description, acknowledging that the new role would require on-call availability after hours, but Hoffman’s job duties did not change significantly. Later that year, Hoffman was diagnosed with cancer. Following a medical leave, Hoffman returned to work in January 2008 with no specific restrictions on his work. Although he suffered some pain and fatigue, Hoffman continued to perform his normal job responsibilities. Hoffman also converted his garage in Angola to a home office and began to work from there. In January 2009, Hoffman’s supervisor, David Long, notified Hoffman that Hoffman and his fellow service technicians would have to begin working 65 to 70 hours per week. Hoffman would also have to work a weekly night shift in Fort Wayne, an hour away from Hoffman’s home, and be on call on weekends. The next day, Hoffman provided Long with a note from his doctor stating that Hoffman could not work more than eight hours per day, five days per week. Long told Hoffman that he could either resign or work the overtime like the other service technicians. Hoffman declined, and Long told Hoffman that he would be discharged. Later that day, however, Long told Hoffman that he would be allowed to work 40 hours per week but would have to work from Fort Wayne instead of his home office. Hoffman told Long that he could not add two hours of commute time to his day. At the time, Hoffman’s cancer was in remission, and Hoffman did not ask his doctors whether it would be advisable for him to commute to Fort Wayne. Hoffman filed suit under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Advanced moved for summary judgment. Hoffman presented evidence that his discharge resulted in Advanced having to pay additional overtime to its service technicians and additional transportation expenses.