BANGOR – A former Steuben woman’s disability discrimination lawsuit against Rite Aid has been sent back to Hancock County Superior Court by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. The justices unanimously ruled earlier this month that there are facts in dispute that had to be decided by the lower court.

Gloria A. Pinkham, 52, worked as a cashier at Rite Aid in Ellsworth from June 2001 to March 2002 when she was fired for allegedly being unable to perform “essential functions of the job.” Store personnel knew that Pinkham’s activities were restricted due to a prior injury, but hired her anyway, according to court documents.

The appeal to the state’s high court was filed after Maine Superior Court Justice Andrew Mead last year granted Rite Aid’s motion for summary judgment, essentially ruling against Pinkham.

At issue, according to Justice Warren Silver, who wrote the five-page opinion for the court, is whether cranking up the security shades and unloading totes containing merchandise from delivery trucks are essential functions of a cashier’s job. Due to work restriction imposed by her doctor, Pinkham was not required to perform those duties.

“The human reality here is that whatever corporate said the requirements were, local management found a way to accommodate them,” Pinkham’s attorney A.J. Grief of Bangor said last week. “The corporate-written job description states that cashiers must be able to lift 50 pounds occasionally.

“But this court has said it’s up to the jury to decide if that is an essential requirement of the job,” he continued. “Nine months of accommodation suggests it wasn’t essential to lift 50 pounds.”

Anne Carney, the attorney representing Rite Aid, last week declined to comment on the high court’s decision or the case.

Because she lost her job, Pinkham was forced to move out of state, Grief said.

“She’d rather have a job than a workers’ compensation check,” he said, “but Rite Aid took the dignity of a job from her.”

A trial date for the case has not been set.