Hanke v. Electric Boat Corp.

Syllabus

The plaintiff appealed from the trial court's judgment for the defendant, rendered following its grant of the defendant's motion for summary judg- ment on the plaintiff's complaint, which alleged, inter alia, employment discrimination based on disability. The plaintiff claimed, inter alia, that the court improperly concluded that he failed to make out a prima facie case of discrimination as to any of the three counts of his complaint. Held: The trial court properly granted the defendant's motion for summary judg- ment on the plaintiff's claim of disability discrimination, as there was no genuine issue of material fact that, at the time the plaintiff's employment was terminated, he was not qualified to perform the essential functions of his position as an engineering supervisor with or without a reasonable accommodation. The plaintiff could not prevail on his claim that the defendant failed to provide him with a reasonable accommodation for his disability, as the trial court correctly determined that he failed to initiate the required interactive process with the defendant to request such an accommodation and had failed to request any such accommodation. The trial court properly rendered summary judgment for the defendant on the plaintiff's claim that the defendant retaliated against him for requesting a leave of absence as a reasonable accommodation for his disability, as there was no evidence that the plaintiff had requested a reasonable accommodation. Argued December 4, 2025—officially released April 7, 2026