U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. AIC Security Investigations

Charles Wessel (plaintiff) worked at AIC Security Investigation, Ltd. (AIC) (defendant) running the security-guard division of the business. Wessel held the highest management position in AIC and was responsible for the company’s overall profitability. Essential functions of Wessel’s job included managing and directing over 300 employees, dealing with labor unions, supervising investigations, tracking litigation, overseeing company discipline and policy development, and establishing price rates. When Wessel began working at AIC, he had emphysema from frequent smoking and was deemed 20 percent disabled by Veterans Affairs for a previous back injury. After starting with AIC, Wessel was diagnosed with lung cancer and took a leave of absence to undergo surgery and recovery. After returning to work, Wessel suffered another bout of lung cancer, again forcing him to take a leave of absence. After Wessel’s second return to AIC, Wessel was diagnosed with multiple tumors and told that his condition was terminal. Wessel continued to work at AIC while receiving palliative treatment but had to leave early on days when his treatments were scheduled in the afternoon. Wessel and AIC later disputed how much work time Wessel missed from the beginning of his first cancer surgeries through his recovery time and recent treatments. In addition, Wessel’s doctors had advised Wessel not to drive, but he continued doing so and refused AIC’s offer of a driver. AIC staff met with Wessel and advised him to retire, and after Wessel refused, AIC terminated his employment with no prior warnings about his attendance or performance. Wessel and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (plaintiff) filed suit against AIC for discriminating against Wessel due to his cancer and for terminating him in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). AIC moved for summary judgment, arguing that Wessel was not a qualified individual with a disability because regular and predictable attendance was an essential function of his position. AIC also stated that Wessel had short-term memory problems that prevented him from performing his job; Wessel testified about his limited short-term memory. Lastly, AIC argued that because Wessel refused to stop driving despite his doctor’s advice, he could not perform the essential driving functions of the job without risk to himself and others.