Asking for Different Supervisor Is Not Reasonable Accommodation Request

An employee who claimed that she needed a flexible schedule because of her disability and who argued with her supervisor about her attendance record was not entitled to a different supervisor as a reasonable accommodation, a California appellate court ruled. Employees cannot request a reasonable accommodation to dictate who they will work with, the court said.

The plaintiff began working for the California Employment Development Department (EDD) in 2001. For much of her time with the EDD, she suffered from fibromyalgia—a disorder that she said causes her chronic pain, fatigue and debilitating migraines. She told the EDD about her condition in 2003, and, as an accommodation, she was allowed to come in late and make up the time, take breaks, and take time off.

In March 2013, the plaintiff began working under a new supervisor. Shortly after, she submitted a medical note informing the EDD that, because of her condition, she would need to take intermittent leave about five days a month.

The plaintiff's supervisor began expressing concern—both orally and in writing—about the plaintiff showing up to work late. The tardiness became an ongoing source of tension between the two, as did the plaintiff's alleged failure to follow company procedure when arriving to work late and when requesting leave.

During the few months she worked under this supervisor, the plaintiff complained several times about him to his superiors and requested to be accommodated by being allowed to telecommute or transferred to another supervisor.

Her initial requests for a transfer were denied, but she was granted a transfer to another office on Nov. 26, 2013.

On Sept. 9, 2013, the plaintiff filed suit against the EDD alleging four causes of action under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), including failure to reasonably accommodate her disability.

The trial court dismissed all the claims before trial, and the plaintiff appealed. The appellate court affirmed. The court concluded that the plaintiff presented insufficient evidence to show she was denied a reasonable accommodation.

Proving Failure to Accommodate

The court first noted that the elements of a claim based on a failure to accommodate under FEHA are that:

• The plaintiff suffers from a disability.
• She is otherwise qualified for her job.
  
• Her employer failed to reasonably accommodate her disability.

A reasonable accommodation is a modification or adjustment of the work environment that allows the employee to perform the essential function of her job. An employee is not entitled to the "best" accommodation. She is entitled only to a reasonable one, and when multiple options are reasonable, the employer may choose which of these options to adopt, the court explained.

In this case, the court said, the EDD had granted the plaintiff a variety of reasonable accommodations. It allowed her to take days off, granted her two monthlong leaves of absence and, at one point, allowed her to work a reduced schedule of 20 hours a week.

[SHRM members-only toolkit: Accommodating Employees' Disabilities]

The plaintiff alleged that the EDD denied her a reasonable accommodation by not allowing her to telecommute. But the EDD explained that the plaintiff's position involved handling confidential records about EDD personnel and that it would not be reasonable for her to shuttle this confidential information between the workplace and her home.

The plaintiff also claimed that the EDD could have accommodated her by allowing her to work under a different supervisor. Employees, however, cannot use FEHA's mandate that employers provide "reasonable accommodations" to dictate with whom they will work, the court said. "An employee's request for a different supervisor is not a reasonable accommodation request," the court concluded.

White v. Employment Development Department, Calif. Ct. App., No. C082811 (March 3, 2020).

Professional Pointer: Whether an accommodation is reasonable usually depends on the facts of the case, and few accommodation requests will be considered per se unreasonable. However, cases interpreting both California law and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act have concluded that asking for a new supervisor is not a reasonable accommodation request.

Joanne Deschenaux, J.D., is a freelance writer in Annapolis, Md.