Multiple Job Offers Accommodate City Worker with MS Diagnosis

Warren, OH (WorkersCompensation.com) -- An employee doesn’t get to reject a reasonable accommodation under the ADA. Once she declines it, the employer, while it can offer other options, doesn’t have to do so. 

The city employer in Stanislaw v. City of Warren, No. 4:21-CV-01029 (N.D. Ohio 07/20/22), appeared to go out of its away to accommodate a former shift leader for a water plant when she sought a job that wouldn’t stress her out.  

When the shift leader returned from medical leave, she asked for a lower stress position to avoid exacerbating her MS symptoms. 

The city initially offered her a job within the city’s police department—a job which the employee declined. It then permitted her to try several other positions, and to finally choose a data entry operator job within the water department.  

The employee sued, alleging that the city violated the ADA because it did not give her the specific job she wanted. 

To establish a failure to accommodate claim, the court explained, an employee must show that: 1) she has a disability within the meaning of the ADA; 2) she is otherwise qualified for the position and could perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation; 3) her employer knew or had reason to know about her disability; 4) she requested an accommodation; and 5) her employer failed to provide the requested accommodation. 

Here, the court stated, the parties disputed only the fifth element of the claim. 

Request for Lower Stress Position

The court pointed out that if a worker rejects a reasonable accommodation, she ceases to be considered a qualified individual with a disability under the ADA. Thus, once the employee here rejected the police department position, the city’s obligations to her under the ADA ended.  

But even then, the court observed, the city allowed the employee to try out different positions and permitted her to choose the data entry job. After she started that job, the court remarked, the city allowed her flexibility with her work hours to accommodate her migraines and other MS symptoms. Further, the city took steps to reduce her stress in that new job. Specifically, when the employee began to clash with a supervisor, it assigned another employee to act as an intermediary between the two. 

Preference for Clerical Job

The court noted that the worker also argued that the city should have accommodated her by placing her in a clerical role at the treatment plant. However, the court pointed out, if an employer offers a reasonable accommodation, a worker cannot then force the employer to provide a different accommodation which she prefers. 

“Because the accommodations provided by [city] were reasonable and in excess of the requirements of the ADA, no reasonable jury could find that [city] failed to grant appropriate accommodation to [the employee],” the court wrote. 

The court granted the city summary judgment. 

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