Gelabert-Ladenheim v. American Airlines, Inc.

LYNCH, Circuit Judge.

Unlike other areas of discrimination law where the protected status of the plaintiff (e.g., race or gender) is usually not at issue, the law of disability discrimination often presents a threshold question of whether a plaintiff is in fact disabled. This question frequently arises when the plaintiff is suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome (“CTS”), an affliction that can result from repetitive motion injury. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., the term “disability” has a specialized meaning, more restrictive at times than the…