The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) imposes an affirmative obligation on employers to provide reasonable accommodation to a qualified individual with a disability who is no longer able to perform the essential functions of his or her current job without some adjustments. One such ADA-recognized accommodation can be reassignment to another vacant position.
Because job reassignment as an ADA accommodation can sometimes create conflicts with workplace seniority rules, the courts have struggled to find the right balance between these competing interests. A related issue is whether an individual with a disability is entitled to a preference when it conflicts with application of seniority-based rules.
In a recent case that illustrates how these issues can play out in the real world, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, relying on Supreme Court precedent, held in Dunderdale v. United Airlines, Inc., No. 14-2911 (7th Cir. December 3, 2015), that the company had no obligation under the ADA to make an exception to collectively-bargained seniority-based bidding rules in order to accommodate a disabled worker.
The Seventh Circuit concluded that the plaintiff had failed to establish any “special circumstances” that merited such an outcome. The court pointed out that while the ADA might require an employer to consider reassignment to a vacant position as a reasonable accommodation, there is no requirement to create such a position.
A copy of the Seventh Circuit’s decision in Dunderdale is available A HREF=”http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.plSubmit=Display&Path=Y2015/D12-03/C:14-2911:J:Bauer:aut:T:fnOp:N:1666076:S:0)” TARGET=”BLANK”> here.