Tarry Brown v. First Transit, Inc.
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
I. Background
A. Facts The following facts are drawn from Plaintiff Tarry Brown’s (“Plaintiff”) Complaint (Dkt. 1-1). Plaintiff was employed as a “Coach Operator” by Defendant First Transit, Inc. (“Defendant”), starting around September 2015. Compl. ¶ 14. Around July 2019, Plaintiff realized that he had sustained a knee injury from repeatedly stepping on the brake pedal while driving his bus. Id. ¶ 16. Plaintiff notified his supervisor of his injury, filed a workers’ compensation claim, and visited a physician, who diagnosed him with arthritis. Id. ¶¶ 16-18. After Plaintiff notified Defendant that he would need to be placed on a light, restricted work duty, Defendant refused to engage in an interactive process to discuss the needed restrictions and failed to provide Plaintiff any accommodation. Id. ¶ 19. Plaintiff’s supervisor became increasingly hostile towards him, causing Plaintiff to abandon his workers’ compensation claim in order to keep his job. Id. ¶ 20. On or about October 23, 2019, Plaintiff was called into a meeting, wherein