Haase v. Bayou Steel Corp.

783 So. 2d 474, 12 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 969, 0 La.App. 5 Cir. 1830, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 546, 2001 WL 370249
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 14, 2001
DocketNo. 00-CA-1830
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 783 So. 2d 474 (Haase v. Bayou Steel Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Haase v. Bayou Steel Corp., 783 So. 2d 474, 12 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 969, 0 La.App. 5 Cir. 1830, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 546, 2001 WL 370249 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

| .CHEHARDY, J.

Plaintiff appeals the dismissal of his suit under the Louisiana Civil Rights Act for Handicapped Persons, La. R.S. 46:2251, et seq. We affirm.

On October 25, 1994 Timothy Haase began working in electrical maintenance for Electrical Instrumentation Unlimited (“EÍU”), a sub-contractor of Bayou Steel Corporation. His duties involved working in Bayou Steel’s steel mill in Laplace. He applied to become an electrical maintenance employee of Bayou Steel, but was required to undergo a pre-employment physical examination first. The examination report indicated that Haase had a color vision problem.

Because of the report, Bayou Steel required Haase to undergo a practical test designed to reflect the type of work encountered by electrical technicians in the mill. The test required Haase to match colors of wires and to connect unsecured wires to secured wires. He made errors in matching and in identifying colors of some of the wires. A subsequent medical exam[475]*475ination disclosed that he has color vision deficiency (“CVD”).

13As a result, the company withdrew the offer of a position as an electrical technician and offered Haase positions in the shipping department and the hydraulics department. He rejected the alternative positions and was terminated from Bayou Steel on January 15,1996.

On November 7, 1996 Haase filed suit against Bayou Steel on the ground that he is a handicapped person as defined in the Louisiana Civil Rights Act for Handicapped Persons (LCRHP), because he has a record of impairment or is regarded as having an impairment. He asserted that defendant had failed to reasonably accommodate him, had discharged or otherwise discriminated against him on the basis of a handicap unrelated to his ability to perform the duties of a particular job or position, and committed other acts in violation of the law. He sought reinstatement, compensatory damages, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.

Bayou Steel filed a motion for summary judgment. Defendant asserted that under Louisiana law, plaintiff is not disabled, is not regarded as disabled, and is not an otherwise qualified individual; therefore, defendant asserted it is entitled to summary judgment.

Plaintiff filed a cross-motion for summary judgment, asserting that under the LCRHP he is entitled to recover on a showing of discrimination because of a perceived handicap which, in the mind of the defendant, precludes plaintiffs employment in a particular job. In addition, he asserted he is entitled to recover on a showing of discrimination based on a practical test that was not administered to all persons seeking employment as electrical technicians and that was not directly related to the job plaintiff was seeking.

|4The trial court granted Bayou Steel’s motion for summary judgment and denied Haase’s cross-motion for summary judgment. In written reasons for judgment, the court found, first, that Haase failed to show he could prove he is “handicapped” as defined in La. R.S. 46:2253(1) because he offered no evidence that he is unable to engage in any usual activity because of his CVD, that he is substantially limited or substantially limited from working, or significantly restricted in performing any job other than as electrician with Bayou Steel. Further, he admitted that none of his coworkers treated him differently because of his diagnosis nor was he restricted from working on any building or structure.

Thus, the court concluded, Haase had failed to show that he could establish a prima facie case that he is disabled as defined by both the Americans with Disabilities Act (“A.D.A.”) and the LCRHP. Based on the determination that plaintiff could not make a prima facie case of discrimination, the court stated it was not necessary to discuss the practical test given to plaintiff by defendant.

After denial of his motion for new trial, Haase appealed. On appeal he asserts the trial court erred in following respects: granting summary judgment in favor of the defendant; ignoring a decision of the Second Circuit squarely on point with the facts of this case; ruling that the earlier-enacted Louisiana law is in all respects identical to the later-enacted A.D.A.; ruling that the prima facie case requirements under state law and the A.D.A. are identical; ruling that it did not have to reach the issue of whether the practical test was permitted by the Louisiana statute; in failing to grant summary judgment in favor of plaintiff; and in denying plaintiffs motion for new trial.

| BHaase contends the issue is whether he proved a prima facie case un[476]*476der the LCRHP. He argues that the trial court’s task was to interpret a state statute in light of applicable state case law, but instead the trial court erroneously relied on subsequently enacted federal law and subsequently decided federal case law in order to deny recovery to the plaintiff.

In 1997 the Louisiana Civil Rights Act for Handicapped Persons was repealed in part, amended in part, and re-enacted as part of the Louisiana Employment Discrimination Act. Acts 1997, No. 1409, § 1, eff. Aug. 1, 1997. The title of the act states that its purpose was to consolidate employment discrimination provisions of law into one chapter of law. The provisions now are combined under the chapter known as the Louisiana Employment Discrimination Law, La. R.S. 23:301, et seq.

The applicable provisions of law, however, are those in effect at the time the lawsuit was filed. Our supreme court has held, “The provisions of Chapter 3-A of Title 23 create and define the rights and duties of employers and employees relative to discrimination in the workplace. Therefore, the enactment of these provisions by Acts 1997, No. 1409 is substantive and cannot be retroactively applied.” King v. Phelps Dunbar, L.L.P., 98-1805 (La.6/4/99), 743 So.2d 181, 185.

Thus, the trial court should have applied the law as it existed prior to the 1997 revision; any reference to federal law should have been on the basis of federal law on which the LCRHP was based. See, e.g., Turner v. City of Monroe, 25,554, p. 3 (La.App. 2 Cir. 3/30/94), 634 So.2d 981, 984, discussing Rehabilitation Act of 1978, 29 U.S.C. § 701, et seq.

| fiPrior to the passage of Acts 1997, No. 1409, La. R.S. 46:2254 provided in pertinent part:

C. An employer, labor organization, or employment agency shall not:
(1) Fail or refuse to hire, promote, or reasonably accommodate an otherwise qualified individual on the basis of a handicap when it is unrelated to the individual’s ability with reasonable accommodation to perform the duties of a particular job or position.
(2) Discharge or otherwise discriminate against an otherwise qualified individual with respect to compensation or the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, on the basis of a handicap when it is unrelated to the individual’s ability to perform the duties of a particular job or position
(3) Limit, segregate, or classify an otherwise qualified employee or applicant for employment in a way which deprives an individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affects the status of an employee on the basis of a handicap when it is unrelated to the individual’s ability to perform the duties of a particular job or position.

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783 So. 2d 474, 12 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 969, 0 La.App. 5 Cir. 1830, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 546, 2001 WL 370249, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haase-v-bayou-steel-corp-lactapp-2001.