Gaylus Bailey v. Real Time Staffing Services, Inc., 2013 WL 5811647 (6th Cir. 2013)

This United States Court Appeals for the Sixth Circuit opinion affirms the district court’s summary judgment in favor of the defendant, Real Time Staffing Services (“Real Time”). A motion for summary judgment effectively asks the court to decide in one party’s favor before the conclusion of the trial. The plaintiff, Gaylus Bailey, worked at Real Time for several years before he was fired for failing a drug test. After failing the drug test but prior to his termination, Bailey provided Real Time with a note from his doctor explaining that he was prescribed a medication that could cause a positive drug screen. Bailey did not disclose to Real Time that the medication was for the treatment of HIV. Following his termination, Bailey sued Real Time for discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), alleging that he had been fired for “manifestation of a disability” – here, the false positive on a drug test caused by his HIV medication. The trial court found that Bailey’s ADA claim necessarily failed, since Real Time could not have fired Bailey based on his HIV status simply because Real Time was unaware that Bailey had HIV. The appeals court agreed that Bailey could not show that Real Time fired him because of a disability, and therefore affirmed the summary judgment in favor of Real Time.