WV Supreme Court addresses working from home as a reasonable accommodation

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its state counterparts have been on the books for a generation. Accordingly, certain phrases have become engrained in the lexicon of the American workplace, such as “reasonable accommodation” and “essential job functions.” A recent West Virginia Supreme Court decision reminds employers (and employees) that throwing around terms of art is no substitute for doing an analysis rooted in the precise language and purpose of the disability protection laws.

Facts

Shirley Burns was a structural historian for the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts (WVDEA). Most of her job was what could be described as “office work.” During her employment, she developed asthma and, at one point, had an asthma attack that required hospitalization and bed rest for the better part of a month.

Upon her return to work, Burns began receiving treatments twice per week. Her treatment consumed most of two afternoons, but she was otherwise able to do her job. The asthma didn't interfere with her ability to come to the office, write, research, and analyze.

Burns made a request to her employer to do part of her job from home on the weekends. Her stated goal was to keep from exhausting her bank of accrued sick and annual leave. Her employer was allowing her to use paid leave to cover the hours (and pay) lost due to the treatment. She characterized her request to work from home on the weekend as one for “accommodations under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act.”