Kwesi Amonoo, a Black employee who disclosed a five percent permanent partial disability affecting his neck, shoulder, elbow, hand, and lower back when hired by David J. Frank Landscape Contracting in October 2023, alleged he faced escalating mistreatment after refusing drugs offered by coworkers and reporting safety violations to OSHA. The discrimination allegedly included being assigned tasks beyond his medical restrictions, being passed over for promotion, and ultimately being terminated while on medical leave in June 2024.
Judge Dries found Amonoo's Family and Medical Leave Act claims lacked merit, writing that 'firing an employee while he is still on protected leave is not automatically unlawful' and noting Amonoo 'does not allege any facts from which I can plausibly infer that the company terminated him because he took FMLA leave.' The court observed that messages Amonoo attached to his complaint 'seem to suggest that he was the one who refused to report to work.'
While the court acknowledged Amonoo's Americans with Disabilities Act claims appeared 'plausible' under the Seventh Circuit's minimal pleading requirements, Judge Dries delivered a crushing blow: 'Amonoo's ADA claims are untimely.' The court noted that Amonoo received his EEOC right-to-sue letter on July 8, 2024, but didn't file his federal complaint until September 9, 2025—well beyond the required 90-day window.
Amonoo's troubles began when coworker Adam A. offered him Adderall at a job site and then stranded him there for hours after Amonoo refused. When Amonoo reported the incident to HR manager Donna L., she allegedly 'laughed and sarcastically responded, "I hope you don't quit."' His supervisor Randy C. subsequently began assigning him difficult tasks like 'arborist work and unassisted lifting' that would 'trigger Amonoo's ailments,' and later denied him a promotion specifically because of 'his altercation with Adam.'
The court rejected Amonoo's arguments about discriminatory treatment, finding his claims about being denied promotion for refusing Adderall implausible. As Judge Dries explained, 'Amonoo fails to allege a connection between that incident and his alleged disability or perceived disability. It is also implausible that the company harbored ill-will toward Amonoo because he refused Adderall and reported the incident to higher-ups.'
Judge Dries also noted procedural problems with Amonoo's complaint, including unclear references to racial discrimination claims that weren't formally pleaded and confusion about which individual defendants remained in the case. The court observed that 'the ADA and Title VII do not provide for individual liability,' raising questions about whether individual employees could properly be sued under these statutes.
The court granted Amonoo until May 5, 2026, to file a second amended complaint, warning that any new filing 'must be complete without reference' to prior complaints and suggesting he use the district's form employment-discrimination complaint. Judge Dries cautioned that failure to meet this deadline could result in dismissal for failure to prosecute.