Originally published on the Employer's Law Blog
In a case decided earlier this week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that, under the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), a requested accommodation need not facilitate an employee's ability to perform the essential functions of her job.
In Feist v. State of Louisiana, the plaintiff was an
attorney with the Louisiana Department of Justice
("LDOJ") who suffered from osteoarthritis of the knee.
Feist claimed that her employer had failed to reasonably
accommodate her disability because it refused to provide her with a
free on-site parking space. The district court granted summary
judgment in the employer's favor because the plaintiff had
failed to explain how the denial of on-site parking limited her
ability to perform the essential functions of her job as a
lawyer.
The Fifth Circuit reversed. Without deciding whether the requested
accommodation was reasonable, the Fifth Circuit held that
reasonable accommodations under the ADA need not relate to the
performance of essential job functions. The court found no
indication in the text of the ADA or its implementing regulations
that an accommodation must facilitate the essential functions of
one's position. Instead, the court noted, the ADA regulations
indicate that the term "reasonable accommodation" is
broader, and can include, for example, "modifications or
adjustments that enable a covered entity's employee with a
disability to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of
employment as are enjoyed by its other similarly situated
employees without disabilities."
The Feist decision should serve as a caution to employers
not to view the ADA's reasonable accommodation requirement too
narrowly, and to engage in the interactive process with an open
mind whenever an employee requests a disability-related
accommodation.
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