Did Company have to Identify ADA Accommodation Just Because Welder Asked for FMLA Leave?

Chattanooga, TN (WorkersCompensation.com) – An employer must work with an employee to identify possible accommodations once that worker requests an accommodation under the ADA. But what if the employee merely asks for FMLA leave, and never mentions the ADA? 

A case involving a welder suffering the after effects of a knee replacement addresses how employers within the 6th Circuit (Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee) should respond. The welder worked for a company that manufactured road construction products, beginning in February 2012.

He had a partial left knee replacement in 2020. A human resources representative noticed he was missing too much work time and sent him FMLA paperwork. The welder completed it, indicating that he could still do his job, but with restrictions, and that he needed intermittent leave.

The welder claimed that the HR rep then repeatedly took issue with his performance, and wrote him up for it as a pretext for terminating him. She then terminated him in 2023.The welder sued the company, arguing, among other things, that it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to engage in the interactive process.

The employer argued that the employee had no case because he never requested FMLA leave. It asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit. 

Once an employee requests an accommodation, the employer must engage in an interactive process to identify the employee’s limitations and potential accommodations to assist him.

Did the employee have a viable ADA claim?

A. Yes. He requested FMLA leave.

B. No. He never requested an accommodation under the ADA.

If you selected A, you agreed with the court in Penney v. Heatec, Inc., No. 1:24-CV-00009-DCLC-SKL (E.D. Tenn. 09/30/24), which held that the employee stated a viable ADA claim.

First, the court addressed the company’s argument that the welder never asked for an ADA accommodation. The court explained that while employees bear the initial burden of requesting an accommodation, they are entitled to some flexibility in how they request it.

“[I]ndeed, employees need not use ‘magic words’ either to inform their employer of their disability or to request an accommodation,” the court wrote. The employee does not the word “accommodation,” for instance.

The court then explained that the 6th Circuit, in King v. Steward Trumbull Mem'l Hosp., Inc., 30 F.4th 551 (6th Cir. 2022), held that, under the right circumstances, an employee's request for FMLA leave satisfies his burden to request an accommodation.

Here, the court stated, it was plausible that the welder’s accommodation request constituted a request for FMLA leave. First, the HR representative treated it as such. Further, the employee asserted that he was still able to do his job with restrictions, and did do his job.

“Therefore, at this point in the case, it is plausible that [welder’s] FMLA request put [the employer] on notice that [the welder] requested an accommodation under the ADA,” the court wrote.

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