Tjernagel v. Gates Corp. (533 F.3d 666, 2008)

RILEY, Circuit Judge.

After Glena Tjernagel (Tjernagel) was dismissed from her job, she sued her former employer, The Gates Corporation (Gates), under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA), and the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The district court granted summary judgment for Gates on all claims, concluding Tjernagel did not establish she was disabled as a matter of law. Tjerna-gel appealed. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

In May 1995, Tjernagel was employed by Gates at its Boone, Iowa, plant as a part-time production employee, switching to full-time employment in August 2004. At its Boone plant, Gates manufactures hydraulic and industrial hoses. Tjerna-gel’s job description included the following demands: “repetitive body movements!,] particularly fingers, hands, legs, and feet”; “work ... performed from a standing position” with “frequent ... twisting, bending, lifting, pulling and leaning”; “[cjonstant use of a foot pedal from the standing position placing weight on one foot”; “lifting and carrying ... up to 40 pounds”; “[r]eaching for, lifting and carrying ... material and/or equipment weighing up to 40 pounds”; “[pjulling hose off reels or bales”; “[pjushing and/or pulling fully loaded material ... carts”; operating equipment; “[a] high percentage of attendance and on time arrival”; “[a]bility to handle several tasks”; “deal with deadlines and production objectives”; and ability to “[c]hange from one job to another to meet customer requirements.” The job description noted work was performed in eight hour shifts and “[o]vertime is required to meet production demands and can include Saturdays and Sundays when necessary.” In 2005, Gates’s Boone employees worked twenty-two Saturdays. There were no permanent or regular light duty production positions at the plant. While there was an office with office jobs, Tjernagel never worked in the plant office.

At the time of Tjernagel’s termination, and for several months before her termination, plant employees were required to rotate among production line positions. For example, Line 5, where Tjernagel was working during the last several months before her termination, rotated approximately every two hours. Rotation was done to reduce the risk of repetitive use injuries, to allow cross-training and to promote team work. On Line 5, positions included hose cutter (for which Tjernagel was not trained), skiving, putting on couplings, putting cloth guard over the hose, scrunching the guard, two crimping positions, putting caps on the ends of the hose, and packing the hose for shipment. Scrunching must be done standing, but most other jobs could be performed, at least part of the time, while sitting.

In May 2005, Tjernagel was first diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). Later that summer, a different physician clarified her condition as clinical isolated syndrome (CIS) which differs from MS only by the number of clinically diagnosed attacks (i.e., multiple sclerosis requires “multiple” attacks). Tjernagel described her CIS symptoms as extreme fatigue; problems standing, walking, and breathing; problems with her short term memory; and numbness and tingling in her body. Tjernagel also “thought” her eyesight “might” be affected.

In the summer of 2005, Tjernagel told human resources manager Connie Soren-son (Sorenson) she had MS. Sorenson, whose mother had MS, said, “If you need to take extra breaks ... to sit down, whatever you need, let us know.” Sometime between July and September 2005, Tjerna-gel began leaving the production area to sit down. She did not always give advance notice when leaving her work station, did not clock out, and was paid for her time. Gates documented Tjernagel left her work station about twenty times. Sometimes Tjernagel would come back later in her shift, and other times she would not return at all. As early as August, Tjernagel’s line leader and supervisor were reporting Tjer-nagel’s leaving the line was causing the line to run short and disrupting production.

On October 24, 2005, Tjernagel was informed she needed a work capacity report (WCR) from her doctor. Tjernagel’s physician, Dr. Bruce L. Hughes (Dr. Hughes), completed the WCR which was signed, dated, and returned to Gates on November 2, 2005. The WCR identified Tjernagel’s condition as MS because Dr. Hughes was concerned Gates may not know what CIS was. The WCR listed several work restrictions including “[sjtanding restricted to less than 60% of shift” with “intermittent sitting vs. standing.” The WCR noted Tjernagel’s condition was “very intermittent” as signs and symptoms “can come and go” and advised “[Tjernagel] knows what she can tolerate and can determine when certain things are going to aggravate [her] disease. [Tjernagel] can do other work, sedentary work if possible. No overtime.”

After receiving the WCR, Sorenson called Dr. Hughes’s office and spoke to Dr. Hughes’s nurse who reported Tjernagel’s “restrictions are permanent and progressive. They are intermittent, sometimes no problems and then there will be problems. Hopefully, [Gates] can find something more suited to [Tjernagel’s] needs. She wants to continue working.”

On November 10, 2005, Sorenson met with Tjernagel asking, how will Gates get the WCR to work into Tjernagel’s job description? Tjernagel replied,