Costco Cashier Who Needs Fan, Cooler Temperature Gets Bias Trial

A jury must decide if Costco Wholesale Corp. discriminated against a cashier with an autoimmune disorder who could only work certain registers and needed a fan to stay cool, a San Francisco federal judge ruled.

The questions for trial include whether working all registers, including self-checkout, was an essential function of Carol Ann Ruch’s position, the US District Court for the Northern District of California said Wednesday. Costco points to its job analysis, which references assisting members at self-checkout, but Ruch says she was only assigned to self-checkout twice prior to seeking accommodation for her Graves’ disease, the court said. ...