The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled that a customer service representative who was absent from work on a regular basis for months at a time due to severe depression and anxiety was not a qualified individual with a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because she could not perform an essential function of the job, i.e., regular attendance.
The decision in Williams v. AT&T Mobility, No. 16-6078 (6th Cir. Jan. 27, 2017), serves as a timely reminder that an individual must be able to perform the essential functions of his or her job (with or without reasonable accommodation), and that regular job attendance can be an essential job function. Importantly, the ADA does not require an employer to eliminate an essential job function as a reasonable accommodation.
In affirming a trial court ruling, the Sixth Circuit noted that while regular and predictable attendance at work may not be an essential function of every job, it certainly was for customer service representatives, whose job duties entailed answering customer calls and assisting onsite with technical support and billing issues.
A copy of the Sixth Circuit’s decision in Williams v. AT&T Mobility is available here.
Members of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC) can read more here.