Reassigning disabled employee to another job may violate ADA

If disabled employees can’t be reasonably accommodated in their current job, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires you to consider reassigning them to a vacant position they are qualified to perform. Under the Act, however, reassignment isn’t a preferred accommodation. As the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Virginia employers) emphasized in a recent case, you should consider reassignment only when an accommodation within the individual’s current position would pose an undue hardship.

Facts

Michael Steven Wirtes served as a police officer for the city of Newport News. He developed permanent nerve damage from wearing a heavy, full-duty belt that supported pepper spray, a gun with ammunition, a taser, a baton, handcuffs, a flashlight, a radio, and a body camera battery pack.

Wirtes asked Newport News for reassignment to a unit that would allow him to continue serving as a police officer without the need to wear a full-duty belt. For a time, the city obliged. But then it amended its job description to require all police officers to wear the standard full-duty belt with all applicable gear.

When Wirtes confirmed he couldn’t wear the standard full-duty belt, the city offered him a choice between accepting a civilian job as a logistics manager or choosing to retire. He initially chose the civilian job but soon thereafter retired, claiming he was “forced under medical reasons.”

Police officer’s ADA lawsuit