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Baltimore County hit by ADA suits from ex-employees
Two former firefighters and an ex-police lieutenant are seeking $6.9 million from Baltimore County for having allegedly forced them from their county jobs in violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
Donald K. Becker Sr., Stanley P. Kuklinski and Michael D. Lauenstein claim in separate lawsuits that the county required them to have medical tests that were not job-related and fired them after the examinations.
The lawsuits, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, follow the county’s $475,000 settlement in August with 10 current, former and prospective employees to resolve federal claims it had engaged in a “pattern or practice” of discriminating against police officers, firefighters and paramedics with disabilities by requiring medical tests that were not job-related.
The county, which admitted no wrongdoing, agreed to stop requiring physical fitness and medical tests of its employees except when “job-related and consistent with business necessity.”
That agreement, a consent decree with the U.S. Justice Department, did not foreclose additional ADA lawsuits against the county. On the day the agreement was announced, Aug. 7, the attorney for the 10 plaintiffs said she was preparing these three other lawsuits, in which each plaintiff seeks $2.3 million in compensation.
Kathleen Cahill, the lawyer, filed the lawsuits Wednesday after settlement negotiations with the county broke down.
“We will not relax until every one of these courageous first responders … gets their jobs back and are compensated,” said Cahill, a Towson solo practitioner, who is trying the cases with Benjamin Rosenberg, of Rosenberg Martin Greenberg LLP in Baltimore.
“We need all the troops we can get to keep fighting this long battle until it’s done,” Cahill said.
Baltimore County Attorney Michael E. Field did not return a telephone message seeking comment Friday afternoon.
But in a blog post published the day the settlement was announced, Field anticipated Cahill’s filing of the three lawsuits and defended the county-ordered medical tests as valid under the ADA and necessary to ensure public safety.
“These medical exams protect employees and citizens alike, and Baltimore County cannot in good conscience operate in any other manner,” Field said in a statement posted on the county’s blog, Baltimore County Now.
“The three … complainants made settlement demands that the county believed were unreasonable based upon the facts of those cases,” he added. “Should any of those complainants choose to file suit, the county law office will vigorously defend those cases on the merits, and it is not anticipated that outside attorneys will be hired to assist in those cases.”
According to their complaints, Becker and Kuklinski were forced into retirement after being labeled “not fit for duty” despite being able to perform their job’s essential functions.
In August 2008, Becker underwent elective shoulder replacement surgery to relieve pain from an old injury and subsequently received a clean bill of health from his orthopedic surgeon, the plaintiff alleged.
But upon returning to work that December, Becker was ordered to have a fitness evaluation and release all medical information to the county.
One county doctor concluded in December 2008 that Becker risked needing “another joint replacement down the road,” and another, in April 2009, went well beyond the shoulder surgery and probed into other health matters, including Becker’s psoriasis, he alleged.
On April 7, 2009, Becker took and passed a physical exam designed for emergency responders.
But the county forced Becker to take “disability retirement” on June 9, 2009, he said.
Kuklinski had heart surgery on June 27, 2007, and was cleared by his cardiologist to return to work, without restrictions, on Sept. 27, 2007, he alleged.
But the county ordered him to have a medical examination and release all his medical records. The county’s doctor concluded on Oct. 15, 2007, that he could not properly evaluate Kuklinski without a stress test, which he subsequently passed two months later, he alleged.
However, the county’s doctor deemed him unfit for duty in April 2008.
The county forced Becker to take disability retirement on Oct. 14, 2008, according to his complaint.
Lauenstein claims he was ordered to have a medical test and release all his medical records in 2006 after a fellow officer said the lieutenant had suffered a seizure about 10 years earlier. The county’s doctor found Lauenstein unfit for duty on Oct. 7, 2006, due to a 20 percent to 50 percent chance of having a seizure on the job in the foreseeable future.
The county told Lauenstein he would have to take retirement effective Nov. 13, 2006, because of his diagnosed potential for another seizure, even though he had not had one in at least 10 years and had received only glowing performance reports, according to his complaint.
