?A high school teacher injured at a faculty team-building event could not show that the school board failed to reasonably accommodate her, because she did not prove that she was disabled due to the injury, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.
The plaintiff, a high school teacher, was injured in January 2005 at a faculty team-building event, where she hit her head while zip-lining. After the accident, the plaintiff submitted workers’ compensation paperwork to substantiate her claim. The school board’s workers’ compensation carrier referred her to a neurologist, who never opined that she had an impairment that affected a major life activity or that her ability to teach would be impacted.
In 2006, for the remainder of the school year, the plaintiff continued to teach on the same schedule as she had before the accident. The next year, after requesting a different physician, the plaintiff began receiving care from a new neurologist. The new neurologist concluded that the plaintiff could continue working as a teacher, that she did not have an impairment that would affect major life activities, and that she did not require any accommodations.
The neurologist continued to treat the plaintiff for seven years and never indicated that she required medical accommodations to perform essential job functions. In 2013, the plaintiff moved to a third workers’ compensation physician. This physician likewise concluded that the plaintiff’s medical issues would not impair her major life activities and that she was capable of teaching without accommodations.
Despite the doctors’ reports, the plaintiff believed that she had a disability. She claimed that she had been unable to multitask, external stimuli caused her stress, her math skills deteriorated, she experienced memory loss and moving her neck caused severe pain. Two of the plaintiff’s co-workers supported her claims, stating that the plaintiff clearly experienced side effects from the injury and that the school board did not accommodate her.
The plaintiff filed a lawsuit in federal court asserting workers’ compensation retaliation and failure to reasonably accommodate under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The plaintiff claimed that, from the time of her injury until her retirement, she requested several medical accommodations. These included requests to teach smaller classes, be assigned a larger classroom with windows, be assigned the first period as a planning period, be exempted from lunchroom duty and be permitted to ice her neck during the workday. The plaintiff admitted that she was unsure to whom she made these accommodation requests and when she made them.
[SHRM members-only toolkit: Accommodating Employees’ Disabilities]
The district court dismissed the plaintiff’s workers’ compensation retaliation claim at the outset and subsequently granted summary judgment to the school board as to the ADA claim, reasoning that the plaintiff did not have a disability. The district court further determined that, even if she had a disability, the plaintiff did not adequately set forth her alleged requests for accommodation. The plaintiff appealed the decision to the 11th Circuit.
On appeal, the plaintiff claimed that she had an ADA disability because of the pain she experienced and that the school board refused to grant her reasonable accommodation requests. The appeals court found that the plaintiff failed to prove she had a disability within the meaning of the ADA because neither she nor her doctors adequately demonstrated that her neck pain following her injury substantially limited a major life activity. The court thus upheld the district court’s dismissal of the case.
Daniell-Diserafino v. District School Board of Collier County, Fla, 11th Cir., No. 18-10096 (Nov. 29, 2018).
Professional Pointer: An at-work injury does not necessarily entitle an employee to a reasonable accommodation of his or her condition. The employee must still have a disability under the ADA or state law to be entitled to a reasonable accommodation.
Jeffrey Rhodes is an attorney with Doumar Martin in Arlington, Va.
[Visit SHRM’s resource page on the Americans with Disabilities Act.]
