Lead Opinion
OPINION OF THE COURT
I. INTRODUCTION
Appellant Francis J. Kelly appeals from an order for summary judgment entered in this action which he brought against his former employer, Drexel University, alleging that Drexel terminated his employment and subsequently failed to rehire him in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-34, the American with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-13, and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (“PHRA”), 43 Pa. Cons.Stat. Ann. §§ 951-63 (1991). In addition, Kelly alleges that Drexel discriminated against him with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, and privileges of employment on the basis of his age.
The district court entered summary judgment in Drexel’s favor. Kelly v. Drexel Univ.,
In view of the procedural posture of the case, we recite the facts in a light most favorable to Kelly. Drexel hired Kelly, who was then 56 years old, in April 1981, as a buyer in its purchasing department. In Sep
In 1993, Drexel was experiencing financial difficulties and as a part of a university-wide effort to cut spending, Freddie Gallot, Drex-el’s vice president and treasurer, instructed Graham to reduce the purchasing department’s budget by $30,000. Graham determined that he could attain the required savings by eliminating Kelly’s position, which paid $32,340, and assigning Kelly’s responsibilities to Tucker and himself. On January 26, 1993, Drexel notified Kelly that his position was to be eliminated effective January 31,1993.
On July 1, 1993, Kelly filed a charge of disability and age discrimination with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and a similar complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. After the EEOC issued a right to sue letter, Kelly brought suit on August 29, 1994, in the district court. On June 23, 1995, Drexel moved for summary judgment. On November 9, 1995, the district court, pursuant to its memorandum opinion of November 7, 1995, entered an order granting Drexel’s motion and on December 7, 1995, the court entered an order denying Kelly’s motion for reconsideration. Kelly filed a notice of appeal on December 6, 1995, and an amended notice of appeal on December 19,1995.
As we have indicated, the court found that Kelly was not disabled and that Drexel did not discriminate against him when it discharged him. Kelly challenges these determinations on this appeal. As we also have indicated, the district court rejected Kelly’s claims that Drexel discriminated against him with respect to rehiring and with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, and privileges of employment, Kelly,
The district court had federal question jurisdiction over Kelly’s ADEA and ADA claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331, and exercisеd supplemental jurisdiction over Kelly’s state claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1367. We have appellate jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and exercise plenary review.
II. DISCUSSION
The ADA proMbits employers from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities because of their disabilities in certain employment-related matters. 42 U.S.C. § 12112(a).
As we have indicated, in granting summary judgment the district court held thаt Kelly failed to establish a prima facie case of disability discrimination because the court found that he was not disabled for the purposes of the ADA. Kelly,
The ADA does not define “major life activities.” Bolton v. Scrivner, Inc.,
Mr. Kelly has been under my care since December of 1987, for severe problems with his right hip joint.
The diagnosis on this patient was severe post-traumatic degenerative joint disease of the right hip and protrusio acetabulum of the right Mp joint.
The patient’s condition causes him great difficulty in walking around.
App. at 334. Kelly, however, presented no evidence that he required any special devices like a cane or crutches to aid him in walking. The district court held “as a matter of law that [Kelly’s] trouble climbing stairs, which requires him to move slowly and hold the handrail, does not substantially limit his ability to walk.” Kelly,
The EEOC Compliance Manual
Example 1 — CP has a permanent knee impairment that causes him pain when he walks fоr extended periods. He can walk for ten miles at a time without discomfort, but he experiences pain on the eleventh mile. CP’s knee impairment does not substantially limit his ability to walk. The average person in the general population would not be able to walk for eleven miles without experiencing some discomfort.
Example 2 — CP, who has sickle cell anemia, frequently experiences severe back and joint pain. As a result of the sickle cell diseаse, CP often cannot walk for more than very short distances. CP’s impairment (sickle cell anemia) substantially limits his ability to walk. The average person in the general population can walk for more than very short distances.
Id. at 902-17.
While the severity of Kelly’s injury falls somewhere between the cases discussed in these examples, both the regulations and the manual make clear that comparatively moderate restrictions on the ability to walk are not disabilities. The regulations state:
[A]n individual who, because of an impairment, can only walk for very brief periods of time would be substantially limited in the major life activity of walMng. An individual who uses artificial legs would likewise be substantially limited in the major life activity of walking because the individual is unable to walk without the aid of prosthetic devices.
29 C.F.R. app. § 1630.2(j) (emphasis added). The regulations further provide:
An individual is not substantially limited in a major life activity if the limitation ... does not amount to a significant restriction when compared with the abilities of the average person. For example, an individual who had once been able to walk at an extraordinary speed would not be substantially limited in the major life activity of walking if, as a result of a physical impairment, he or she were only able to walk at an average speed, or even at moderately below average speed.
Id. (emphasis added). Similarly, the manual states that “[t]o rise to the level of a disability, an impairment must significantly restrict an individual’s major life activities. Impairments that result in only mild limitations are not disabilities.” 2 EEOC Compliance Manual § 902, at 902-19.
Kelly points to no case in which a court has held that a plaintiffs moderate difficulty walking or climbing stairs sufficed to constitute a “disability” under the ADA. In fact, it appears that in the several district court cases in which the issue has arisen, the courts have rejected such claims. See Graver v. National Eng’g Co., No. 94-C-1228,
For example, in Stone v. Entergy Servs., Inc., the plaintiff testified that due to his bout with polio, he suffered from “muscle weakness, partial paralysis, one leg longer than the other and one foot longer than the other.”
Similarly, in Richardson v. William Powell Co. the plaintiff testified that she suffered from degenerative arthritis in her hip, which “cause[d] her to walk with a noticeable limp” and “made it difficult for her to climb stairs.”
In Graver v. National Eng’g Co. the plaintiff suffered from arthritis in his left ankle and testified that he “walked with a pronounced limp and experienced significant pain while walking.”
Finally, in Lowe v. Angelo’s Italian Foods, Inc. the district court addressed the plaintiffs dual claim that she was substantially limited in her ability to walk and to work.
Because of her neurological problems she fatigues exceedingly easily and needs to beable to sit down occasionally. She is not going to be able to do lots of stooping, bending and cannot carry anything heavy (greater than 15 lbs.) and anything up to 15 lbs. only occasionally. She should avoid stairs. She needs to use a hand rail if she has to climb stairs, so cannot climb stairs and carry anything.
Id. at *4.
The district court noted that “[tjhere was no evidence of the impact of [her impairment] on [her] life away from work. To the contrary, the only evidence in the case focuses on the effect of these limitations upon [her] ability to perform her job.” Id. at *5. On these facts, the court held that the plaintiff failed to show that her impairment substantially limited her ability to work or to walk and granted summary judgment against the plaintiff. Id. We recognize that the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Lowe v. Angelo’s Italian Foods, Inc.,
Moreover, in two other cases district courts have rejected contentions that residual impairments after serious injuries constituted disabilities under the ADA. See Rogers v. International Marine Terminals, Inc., No. 94-0056,
In Rogers v. International Marine Terminals, Inc. the employer laid off the plaintiff after he took sick leave for treatment of bone spurs, ligament damage, and gout in the right ankle.
It is difficult, indeed perhaps not possible, to draw a bright line delineating the point at which a condition affecting an employee’s ability to walk can be regarded as a disability within the ADA. Yet we agree with the general thrust of these district court cases. While we are not unfeeling with respect to Kelly’s condition, still we simply cannot regard it as a disability under the ADA as it does not substantially limit him in the relevant major life activity, walking. As the court indicated in Dutcher v. Ingalls Shipbuilding, “[a] physical impairment, standing alone, is not necessarily a disability as contemplated by the ADA.”
Kelly also suggests that Drexel may have terminated him because he was perceived as being disabled. Br. at 36-37. Under the ADA and the EEOC regulations, a claimant may be considered disabled even if his impairment does not substantially limit a major life activity, if his impairment “is treated by a covered entity as constituting'such limitation.” 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(i)(l).
In support of this claim, Kelly alleges only that his limp was “visible and apparent,” br. at 37, and that Graham was aware of his problem, app. at 157. The district court properly rejected this argument. Kelly,
Overall, we are satisfied that Kelly is not disabled within ADA on either basis that he advances on this appeal. Thus, the district court properly granted Drexel summary judgment on that claim and under the paral-lei provisions of the PHRA.
We carefully have considered Kelly’s age discrimination claims and are in full accord with the district court’s conclusion that Drexel was entitled to a summary judgment on them. Consequently, we will affirm its order for summary judgment on those claims without discussion, except to point out that while Kelly questions the economic necessity for Drexel having reduced its employee force, it hardly would be appropriate for us to second guess that management decision. We are dealing, after all, with discrimination statutes which are not intended “to handcuff the managers and owners of businesses to the status quo.” Gray v. York Newspapers, Inc.,
III. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the order for summary judgment of November 9, 1995, аnd the order of December 7, 1995, denying reconsideration.
Notes
. The ADA provides in relevant part:
No covered entity shall discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability because of the disability of such individual in regard to job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees, employee compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.
42 U.S.C. § 12112(a).
. The ADEA provides in relevant part:
It shall be unlawful for an employer ...
to fail or refuse to hire оr to discharge any individual or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's age....
29 U.S.C. § 623(a)(1).
.The PHRA reads in relevant part:
It shall he an unlawful discriminatory practice, ... (a) For any employer because of the race,color, religious creed, ancestry, age, sex, national origin or non-job related handicap or disability or the use of a guide or support animal becausе of the blindness, deafness or physical handicap of any individual or independent contractor, to refuse to hire or employ or contract with, or to bar or to discharge from employment such individual or independent contractor, or to otherwise discriminate against such individual or independent contractor with respect to compensation, hire, tenure, terms, conditions or privileges of employment or contract, if the individual or independent contractor is the best able and most competent to perform the services required.
43 Pa. Cons.Stat. Ann. § 955(a).
. The regulations also provide that the decision maker should consider “[t]he duration or expected duration of the impairment” and "[t]he permanent or long term impact, or the expected permanent or long term impact of or resulting from the impairment.” 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(j). These provisions are not determinative in this case.
. The manual explains that it was "issued for use by EEOC investigators when investigating charges of discrimination under the ADA” and that section 902 in particular provides guidance for determining whether an individual should be considered disabled. 2 EEOC Compliance Manual § 902, at 1.
. Kelly does not suggest that subsections (2) or (3) of section 1630.2(7) are applicable. Subsec
Lead Opinion
SUR PETITION FOR REHEARING
Sept. 20, 1996
The petition for rehearing filed by the appellant, Francis J. Kelly, in the above cap
