Train conductor's discrimination suit derailed

December 4th, 2008
| by noahs |
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly - Boston,MA

A transportation company did not break the law by firing a train conductor
after a derailment because he was unable to produce enough urine to permit
drug testing, the U.S. District Court ruled in a recent case.

Michael Bratton was hired as a conductor by CSX Transportation in 2002. He
was at the controls when a train went off the tracks in 2006.

Bratton suffers from Crohn's disease and, because of that condition, had to
undergo an ileostomy in 1994. Due to the surgery, he is unable to remove
waste from his body in the usual manner and typically urinates only twice in
a 24-hour period.

On the day of the derailment, when he arrived at work he was that no random
drug testing would be required, and so he emptied his bladder.

Several hours later, following the derailment, he was asked to provide a
urine sample so that it could be determined if drugs played a part in the
accident. When he was initially unable to do so, he was instructed to drink
fluids and did so over the course of three hours. At the end of that time,
however, he was still unable to produce enough urine for testing and was
fired for "refusal to test."

He filed suit, claiming that he was the victim of illegal handicap
discrimination because of his Crohn's disease.

But U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young disagreed, awarding the
employer summary judgment.

Young found, first, that Bratton had not presented evidence that similarly
situated employees had been treated differently than he was.

Young then went on to find that the employer's reason for firing Bratton - a
"refusal to test" amounting to insubordination - was not a mere pretext for
discrimination.

"Rather than supporting Bratton's claims," th e judge said, "the record
supports a conclusion that, in terminating Bratton, CSX acted in accordance
with Federal law and its own policies, and not in bad faith."

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