HOUSTON - A former FMC Technologies who refused the COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic and says he was forced to quit as a result has now lost his disability discrimination lawsuit.
A doctor told Dakota Pietsch not to get the vaccine because of his mitral valve prolapse, though his cardiologist couldn't tell him one way or the other whether the vaccine would exacerbate his condition.
An ear, nose and throat doctor, Mary Bowden, calls herself an expert in vaccine risks and told Pietsch not to get it. So he didn't, and FMC said OK.
It allegedly, however, placed him on leave with minimum pay because his position required vaccination. He was offered a different job, though he refused because he wasn't qualified for it.
All this led Pietsch to quit and file suit under the Americans with Disabilities Act. That claim was rejected Oct. 15 by Judge George Hanks, Jr., who found Pietsch couldn't show he has a physical impairment that substantially limits one of his major life activities.
"Pietsch fails to demonstrate that FMC treated him as having such an impairment," Hanks wrote.
"Indeed, Pietsch has only alleged that FMC treated him as an individual who could not receive the COVID-19 vaccine due to his mitral valve prolapse. Again, as the Fifth Circuit affirmed in Hughes, the inability to get the COVID-19 vaccine in this context is not a disability."
The Hughes case was decided in July by the Fifth Circuit. It was filed against Terminix Pest Control, and the court held those with preexisting medical conditions that prevent them from receiving the vaccine and then working a job that mandates it do not qualify as disabled under the ADA.
Hanks followed the Fifth Circuit's reasoning to reject Pietsch's case.
"(L)ike the plaintiff in Hughes, Pietsch does not allege that any activity other than 'working' is impaired by his mitral valve prolapse," he wrote.
"The Court finds that in the absence of such allegations Pietsch's alleged limitation on his ability to work for certain employers who require COVID vaccination is 'too attenuated' to support a finding of disability under the ADA."
The ruling grants summary judgment to FMC, which was represented by Alexandra Irene Ledyard and others at Akerman LLP. Jared Woodfill of Houston represented Pietsch.