On Aug. 4, 2016, plaintiff Harold Carter, 48, an operations manager for Federal Express Corp., was terminated from his position at FedEx’s Irvine facility. Carter previously suffered a workplace injury on Dec. 29, 2014. As a result, he underwent surgery to his cervical spine and was released from the hospital on Jan. 1, 2015. Carter’s treating surgeon then placed Carter on work restrictions for January 2015 and February 2015. On March 17, 2015, Carter’s treating surgeon wrote that Carter was “medically cleared to return to work” as of May 12, 2015. Carter then returned to work, assuming the same position, shift and duties as he had before his medical leave of absence. However, Carter claimed he was supposed to have the same restrictions his surgeon had placed on him in January 2015 and February 2015, immediately following his neck surgery, but that FedEx failed to accommodate him and eventually terminated him. Carter sued Federal Express. He alleged that his employer’s actions constituted disability discrimination, failure to engage in an interactive process, failure to accommodate and retaliation. Defense counsel contended that Carter was terminated after receiving his third disciplinary letter within a 12-month period for time card processing failures in regard to inaccurately processing his employees’ pay. Counsel asserted that Carter was counseled and disciplined for time card process failures before his medical leave, but that the failures continued after Carter’s return from medical leave. Counsel contended that when Carter accrued three disciplinary letters within 12 months, FedEx terminated him consistent with its policy. Defense counsel further argued that Carter’s treating surgeon’s letter identified no work restrictions for Carter and that FedEx believed that Carter needed no accommodation, as Carter’s own treating physician cleared him to return to work and Carter could perform all of his managerial job duties. In addition, counsel argued that Carter’s claim that he should have been placed on the same restrictions as January 2015 and February 2015 was not supported by his treating surgeon or any other medical professional., Carter began working for FedEx in June 1991 as a part-time cargo handler and worked his way up to a full-time management position in 1995. He remained an operations manager until he was fired on Aug. 4, 2016. Carter claimed that he suffered a loss of pay. He also claimed he suffers emotional distress as a result of his termination. Carter sought recovery of past and future loss of wages, and damages for his past and future emotional pain and suffering. He also sought recovery of punitive damages.