Apache Industrial Employee’s Diabetes May Have Prompted Layoff

The mere six days between when an Apache Industrial Services Inc. employee had a diabetic episode at work and when she was included in a workforce reduction could show her disability caused her discharge, the Fifth Circuit ruled.

That Arlicia Gosby wasn’t expected to remain in her scaffolding helper position at an Exxon plant in Beaumont, Texas, for much longer because the project wasn’t expected to last longer than six months didn’t undercut her evidence of temporal proximity, the court said.

Gosby also has evidence Apache was inconsistent in its explanation for including her in the reduction in force, the ...