PHILADELPHIA (LN) — A federal judge on Friday denied summary judgment in an employment discrimination lawsuit filed by a former Sam’s Club employee who alleged he was fired because of his sickle-cell anemia and his request for intermittent medical leave.
U.S. District Judge John F. Murphy ruled that a reasonable jury could find Sam’s Club discriminated against Christopher Jenkins, a tire and battery technician at the Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, location, by counting hospitalizations toward his attendance points.
Jenkins, who has had sickle-cell anemia since birth, worked at the warehouse club for two and a half years. He disclosed his condition during his 2021 interview, stating he might miss work due to painful flare-ups about twice a month.
Sam’s Club fired Jenkins on Dec. 21, 2023, the same day his medical certification for a new leave request was due and one day before his leave administrator approved the request. At the time of his termination, Jenkins had accumulated more than five attendance points, the threshold for termination under company policy.
The retailer argued Jenkins violated its attendance policy by failing to properly report absences to Sedgwick, its third-party leave administrator. The policy states that failure to provide notification may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination, even if the absence is authorized.
Murphy noted the evidence on summary judgment was "decidedly mixed." He observed that Sam’s Club pointed to Jenkins’s attendance record, which included points for absences on Nov. 28 and Dec. 1, when Jenkins was hospitalized for a sickle-cell crisis.
"A jury could also conclude that Sam’s Club treated similarly situated non-disabled employees more favorably by issuing them official written warnings, accompanied by meetings to discuss the written warnings, before they were terminated," Murphy wrote.
Jenkins identified two other tire technicians who had attendance issues but received verbal and written discipline before termination. Unlike Jenkins, those employees did not disclose medical conditions or request accommodations.
The judge also denied summary judgment on Jenkins’s retaliation and failure-to-accommodate claims. Murphy noted that Jenkins’s supervisor stated in a deposition that if Jenkins had provided documentation for his absences, it "would have changed his mind about terminating him."
"All of Mr. Jenkins’s claims proceed to trial," Murphy wrote.