Some basic rules on the Americans with Disabilities Act

This case highlights an obvious reality under the Americans with Disabilities Act. While the ADA requires your employer to provide a reasonable accommodation for your disability, there are limits to that obligation. If you can't come to work, there will not be an accommodation for you (at least in most cases).

The case is Gorbea v. Verizon New York International, a summary order issued on October 19. Plaintiff says Verizon fired her because she is disabled and the company failed to accommodate her. Verizon says this is not true. In order to prove such a claim, plaintiff has to make out a prima facie case, which includes proving that she could perform the essential job functions without a reasonable accommodation. Under the ADA, if you cannot perform an essential job function -- defined as a job duty that is critical to good job performance -- then there is no claim. The ADA does not provide a claim simply because you have a disability.

The problem for plaintiff is that her disabilities, PTSD and depression, prevented her from coming to work. It goes without saying that showing up for work is an essential job requirement (unless there is some telecommuting component to the job). She admitted this under oath. As such, plaintiff was not "otherwise qualified" to perform her job under the ADA. As for the failure-to-accommodate claim, plaintiff loses that also because she never requested an accommodation for her PTSD and depression. The Court (Walker, Carney and Sack) writes that "Verizon therefore could not have 'refused' to accommodate a request that was not made." The Court does not mention that the employer sometimes has to initiate the reasonable accommodation discussion if it knows the plaintiff needs an accommodation, but it does note that Verizon invited her to request an accommodation but plaintiff did not respond.

Plaintiff also sues under the New York City Human Rights Law, which has a more lenient burden of proof for plaintiffs to satisfy in order to win the case. But that law only goes so far. Even under the City law, plaintiffs inability to come to work means she has no case. 

An astute reader has drawn my attention to a ruling from the New York Court of Appeals on this issue, suggesting the law in New York is better than federal law. Unlike "the State HRL (as well as the ADA) . . . there is no accommodation (whether it be indefinite leave time or any other need created by a disability) that is categorically excluded from the universe of reasonable accommodation" under the City HRL]). That's from Romanello v. Intesa Sanpaolo, S.p.A., 22 N.Y.3d 881, 884 (2013).