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Chipotle prevails in suit by worker fired over bad drug reaction

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Chipotle prevails in suit by worker fired over bad drug reaction

A restaurant worker who was fired while under the influence of anxiety medication cannot successfully charge her former employer with violating the Americans with Disabilities Act because it fired her based on its neutral drug and alcohol policy, says a federal court.

Lisa Caporicci, a crew member at a South Tampa, Florida, restaurant operated by Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. was terminated on June 7, 2013, after, having taken a relatively new medicine for anxiety, she “was very slow, messed up orders and was incoherent,” according to the May 27 ruling by the U.S. District Court in Tampa in Lisa Caporicci v. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.

Ms. Caporicci filed suit against the chain on charges including violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The court granted Chipotle summary judgment dismissing the case.

Ms. Caporicci “raises a genuine issue of fact about whether she has a disability,” said the ruling by Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell. However, most courts have held “an employer may discipline or terminate an employee for workplace misconduct even when the misconduct is a result of the disability,” said the ruling.

“Although plaintiff was arguably fired for disability-related misconduct — inebriation due to her medication — Chipotle asserts that this conduct violated the company's Drug and Alcohol Policy, which prohibits any employee from reporting to work or being at work 'under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or controlled substances,' ” said the ruling.

“That prohibition is neutral and generally applicable, and therefore satisfies Chipotle's burden to produce a non-discriminatory reason for Plaintiff's termination,” said the ruling, in granting Chipotle summary judgment dismissing the case.

In February, three female Cincinnati-area former general managers at Chipotle, who charged the company with gender discrimination, were awarded about $200,000 each in back pay and punitive damages by a federal jury in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati.

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