Gennari began working at Amazon's BWI2 fulfillment center in Baltimore on April 20, 2020. He underwent hip replacement surgery on June 30, 2020, and his doctor cleared him to return to work on August 17, 2020, but only subject to permanent restrictions barring him from standing or walking more than 15 minutes per hour, lifting more than 10 pounds, pushing or pulling more than 20 pounds, climbing ladders, or performing overhead lifting. The same doctor recommended that Gennari find a new role at Amazon given his physical condition.
The operations manager position required shifts of 13 to 15 hours per day and demanded that employees lift and move material up to 49 pounds, walk and stand for up to 12 hours, and ascend and descend ladders, stairs, and gangways without limitation — requirements that U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby held were plainly incompatible with Gennari's permanent restrictions.
Amazon had proposed allowing Gennari to use a motorized mobility scooter to travel from his vehicle to the facility's office space. Gennari testified during his deposition that the accommodation "made a ton of sense because the only thing limiting [his] ability to do the role [of an operations manager] was [his] inability to roll through the facility." Amazon contends, however, that scooters would not be permitted on the warehouse floor for safety purposes, and Griggsby held that Gennari had produced no evidence showing a scooter would have allowed him to lift 49 pounds or climb ladders in any event.
Gennari also argued that Amazon failed to adequately support him during a job reassignment process that began in January 2021, contending the company sent him applications without first determining whether he was qualified and failed to identify positions suited to his skill set. Amazon proposed more than 20 positions during the 90-day process, which was extended 60 days. Gennari withdrew himself from consideration for many of them, and Amazon closed his accommodation case on March 3, 2021, before terminating his employment on April 3, 2021.
It is undisputed that Gennari applied for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits on multiple occasions and was denied twice. During the SSA appeal process, he maintained that he "remain[s] totally disabled due to [his] condition."
Griggsby declined to reach Amazon's judicial estoppel argument — that Gennari was barred from claiming he was a qualified individual under the ADA because he had separately certified to the Social Security Administration that he remained totally disabled and unable to work. The qualified-individual finding was sufficient to end the case, she wrote.
Because the ADA and Maryland's Fair Employment Practices Act are analyzed under the same framework, the ruling disposed of all four counts in Gennari's complaint.