In Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, the 7th Circuit found that the Americans with Disabilities Act’s (ADA) confidentiality requirement does not apply to medical information an employer learns about through means other than a medical exam or inquiry.
Gary Messier had been working for Thrivent as a temporary programmer, at the behest of technology consulting agency Omni Resources Inc., for almost four months without incident when he failed to show up for work one day. John Schreiner, Messier’s supervisor at Thrivent, contacted Omni Account Manager Thomas Brey, looking for Messier. Brey sent Messier the following email: “Gary, Give us a call, and give John a call. We need to know what is going on. John called here looking for you.”
