Bonnie Mantolete v. William G. Bolger, in His Capacity as Postmaster General, United States Postal Service

767 F.2d 1416
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedAugust 27, 1985
Docket83-2197
StatusPublished
Cited by184 cases

This text of 767 F.2d 1416 (Bonnie Mantolete v. William G. Bolger, in His Capacity as Postmaster General, United States Postal Service) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bonnie Mantolete v. William G. Bolger, in His Capacity as Postmaster General, United States Postal Service, 767 F.2d 1416 (9th Cir. 1985).

Opinions

TANG, Circuit Judge:

Bonnie Mantolete brought this action under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S. C.A. § 791, alleging that the United States Postal Service improperly denied her a position based on her physical handicap. The district court entered judgment for the defendant. Plaintiff makes four assertions on appeal: first, the court erroneously admitted evidence regarding her medical condition which the Post Office did not possess at the time it refused to hire her for the job; second, the court erroneously dismissed plaintiff’s class action allegations and refused to allow pertinent discovery; third, the court applied an incorrect legal standard in determining plaintiff was not an otherwise qualified handicapped person; and fourth, the court failed to apply a meaningful standard for determining a rea-' [1418]*1418sonable accommodation could not be made by the Post Office. We affirm the district court on the first two grounds and reverse and remand on the others.

I.

On July 23, 1976, Bonnie Mantelete applied for a job as a machine distribution clerk at the United States Postal Service in Phoenix, Arizona. As a machine distribution clerk, she would have been employed as a Multi Purpose Letter Sorter Machine (“LSM”) operator. Mantelete passed a written exam and was placed on a list of people to be considered for the position. She was an epileptic at the time she applied for the position.

Mantelete was referred to the Occupational Medical Clinic for a standard pre-employment physical. Dr. Jose C. Pallares gave her a complete physical, took a medical history, and recommended to the Post Office that she not be placed in a position which would involve driving a vehicle or using dangerous tools or machinery with moving parts. He noted on the Post Office’s form that she averaged one grand mal seizure per year, was taking medication, and that her epilepsy was adequately controlled.

Dr. Pallares sent to the Post Office: plaintiff’s medical history record, her physical fitness inquiry, a certificate of medical examination, an x-ray report, and a medical report. On the basis of this information, Dr. Mason, the Post Office Medical Officer, recommended to the Phoenix Post Office that Mantelete not be considered further for the LSM position. Mantelete appealed this recommendation unsuccessfully to Dr. Nixon, the Regional Medical Officer. Neither Dr. Mason nor Dr. Nixon requested any additional medical information nor any information regarding plaintiff’s prior employment history. Based upon these recommendations, the Post Office denied further consideration of Mantolete’s application.

The Letter Sorter Machine

The LSM is a large letter sorting machine on which a crew of 17 machine distribution clerks works. The front of the machine has 12 operator consoles which are 7 feet long by 33 inches wide. There are various mail racks and trucks in the adjacent area. The back has 277 mail bins into which letters are automatically sorted and again, various mail racks and trucks are adjacent to it. Both parties agree that the LSM is safe for all employees.

The LSM job entails three distinct functions which an operator normally performs for the coding and distribution of mail. They are called “ledge loading,” “keying” and “sweeper-tying”. First, in loading the mail, the “ledge loading operation,” the machine distribution clerk picks up large trays of mail and places these trays on one of the ledges in the front of the machine. The “ledge loader” is responsible for placing the mail on the ledge so that it can be slowly carried to the automatic “pick-off arm,” an arm that is constantly picking off by a vacuum process a one to three-ounce letter and placing it in front of a seated operator for distribution.

Next, in “keying” mail, an operator sits in front of a keyboard and watches as the vacuum arm places a letter.on the keyboard for the punching of a distribution code, based on the address, which the operator has committed to memory. Once the code is punched by the operator, the letter is carried along by a drive chain mechanism. Letters move in and out of the operator’s field of vision at the rate approximately of one letter per second. The mail supply to the vacuum pick-off arm is controlled by a photoelectric cell. The automatic pick-off arm is approximately two-feet from the seated console operator, and the recessed chains are exposed through a narrow slot. The size of the arm is approximately 8-12 inches long and % inches in diameter. The arm is well-rounded, with no sharp corners.

The final job duty performed by a machine distribution clerk is called “sweeper-tying.” An operator pulls mail which has been sorted by the console operator and carried to the back of the machine. The [1419]*1419operator retrieves the mail from the slots. A person who cannot reach the top bins climbs on a stool to reach mail in those bins.

Another duty of the sweep-tyer is to disengage letters jammed in the machine. The area in which the sweeper-tyer removes jammed letters is called the “dropper jam” area and is located just above letter carts that carry mail throughout the machine. In order to unjam a letter, an employee must first turn a switch which halts the movement of a dropper arm, but not the letter carts, and then opens a plexiglass door marked “caution” in order to reach into the jammed area.

Previous Employment

From 1971 through the trial below, Ms. Mantelete was successfully employed in various capacities at Motorola. Specifically she worked in the epitaxial, thryster, piece parts and metal small signal assembly departments. Her work in those departments involved the operation of a number of sophisticated machines including a vapor washer, a high speed box spinner, a wafer scrubber, a high pressure water blasting cleaning machine, a stamping machine, a dyeing machine and a rotary welder. Other responsibilities required Ms. Mantelete to pour at shoulder-level five gallon jugs of lye and acids into degreasing machines, to load and withdraw items from hot furnaces, and to operate an envelope stuffer machine which rhythmically carried and stuffed checks into envelopes. Finally, Ms. Mantelete also worked in the Motorola cafeteria where there were steam tables, a meat slicing machine and a high coffee urn that employees had to fill by standing on a stool or ladder.

Ms. Mantelete was accustomed to working a twelve-hour night shift and was described by her supervisor as a “very good employee,” “very productive”, “always willing to learn new jobs”, a “self-starter” with an above average attendance record. On the night shift she was “alert” and “wide awake” and worked without difficulty-

Mr. Robert Roehl, plaintiffs rehabilitation engineer, testified at trial that the work Ms. Mantelete performed, and the machinery she worked on at Motorola, exposed her to moving parts that were slightly more dangerous than the postal service machine but were not unsafe. The Postal Service did not contradict this testimony.

Plaintiffs Medical Condition

Epilepsy is defined as a paroxysmal disorder of the nervous system which may be associated with, or accompanied by, impairment of the individual’s consciousness or awareness and may also be accompanied by convulsive or more complex movements of the body.

The extent of Ms. Mantolete’s condition is somewhat in dispute.

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Bluebook (online)
767 F.2d 1416, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bonnie-mantolete-v-william-g-bolger-in-his-capacity-as-postmaster-ca9-1985.