COURT VIEWS DRUG USE, JOB DISCRIMINATION

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- The Supreme Court Monday agreed to decide
whether a federal law designed to protect the disabled against job
discrimination, the Americans with Disabilities Act, also protects a former
drug user against bias.

A federal appeals court has ruled that it does.

If the ruling is upheld by the Supreme Court, an outcome by no means
certain, it would affect how employers across the nation deal with workers
who have been tested positive for drugs.

The case involves Joel Hernandez, who worked 25 years for the Hughes Missile
Systems Co. Hernandez started out with the company as a janitor and worked
his way up to calibration service technician.

But in July 1991, Hernandez was given a drug test at work and tested
positive for cocaine. The court record says Hughes was also aware that
Hernandez was struggling with an alcohol problem.

Instead of firing him outright, however, Hughes gave Hernandez the option of
resigning, which he did.

After two years, Hernandez asked Hughes to rehire him as a calibration
service technician or similar specialist. When Hughes refused, Hernandez
filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The commission issued a letter affirming Hernandez's right to sue, and he
filed a lawsuit against the company in Tucson, Ariz., under the ADA.

In general, the ADA bans discrimination against the disabled. Employers are
required to "accommodate" disabled employees as long as they can reasonably
do so.

A federal judge granted a Hughes request for summary judgment on the
lawsuit, but a federal appeals court in San Francisco reversed.

Hernandez "has made a prima facie case of discrimination on the basis of a
disability," the appeals court ruled. "He has presented sufficient evidence
from which a jury could conclude that he was 'qualified' for the position he
sought in 1994 and that his application was rejected because of his record
of drug addiction.

"Additionally," the court said, "we hold that a policy that serves to bar
the re-employment of a drug addict despite his successful rehabilitation
violates the ADA."

Hughes then asked the Supreme Court for review, which was granted Monday.
The justices should hear the case early next term in the fall.