ADA Suit by Ex-Kmart Manager Reinstated

A federal appeals court in Florida has rejected its own precedent and reinstated a lawsuit by a former Kmart Corp. manager suing over benefits under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The decision revolves around two questions: whether former employees can sue under the ADA and whether people can sue when employers offer different levels of benefits for physical and mental disabilities.

A split three-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta sent the case of James Johnson back to federal court in Tampa for fresh consideration.

Kmart spokeswoman Lori McTavish said she could not comment on the lawsuit.

Johnson, a 30-year employee of Kmart and a manager of a store in Tampa, quit on his doctor’s advice in 1997 because of severe depression. But he sued the following year because Kmart offers much better benefits to people who leave with physical rather than mental disabilities.

The company offers salary replacement until age 65 for people with physical disabilities but only two years of similar benefits for mental disabilities.

Relying on U.S. Supreme Court decisions in an ADA case in 1999 and in a civil rights case in 1997, the 11th Circuit panel cast aside its own precedent to support Johnson.

The two-tier benefit system appears to treat recipients differently in violation of the ADA antidiscrimination language, the appeals court majority ruled.