Federal appeals court clarifies employers’ accommodation obligations

A recent opinion by the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals sheds light on when an employer must provide a reasonable accommodation to an employee with a disability. The employer argued that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) didn’t require a reasonable accommodation if the employee was able to perform her essential job functions without one. Although the 2nd Circuit’s rulings don’t apply directly to employers in the Mountain West, it reached a conclusion in this case similar to the 10th Circuit, whose rulings do apply to employers in the Mountain West.

Teacher’s accommodation

Angel Tudor was a schoolteacher with a long history of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety that allegedly arose from sexual harassment and assault at a former workplace. She asserted that her disability caused problems with neurological function, a stutter, severe nightmares, and impaired ability to perform daily tasks.

Tudor claimed that the workplace was a trigger for her symptoms and had sought and received an accommodation allowing her to leave the school’s campus during her prep periods, twice a day—once in the morning for 15 minutes and once in the afternoon for 15 minutes. She would use this off-campus time to collect herself and manage her symptoms.