7th Circuit Court of Appeals Finds a Full-Time Job Coach is Reasonable Accommodation
Posted on August 09, 2022
Important Takeaways: Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), an accommodation for an employee is only per se unreasonable if the accommodation prevents the employee from doing their essential job functions. What is considered an essential job function is a question of fact.
Facts: The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals held that Walmart violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when it failed to allow an accommodation in the form of a full-time job coach. Paul Reina worked as a Cart Attendant for Walmart in Beloit, Wisconsin from 1998 to 2015. Full-time job coaches paid for by Medicaid assisted Reina with his job since he is deaf, legally blind, and experiences anxiety. When the store got a new manager, the manager observed that the job coach was doing 90-95% of Reina’s job and suspended Reina. The new manager also asked the shift manager to fill out paperwork as if Reina were a new Cart Attendant and have a physician complete an “Accommodation Medical Questionnaire.” Reina and job coach, Slaght, filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging failure to provide reasonable accommodations, the EEOC then filed suit against Walmart. The trial court found the ADA had been violated and ordered Walmart to pay damages. Walmart appealed this decision.
Walmart argued that Reina could not perform the essential job functions of a Cart Attendant and therefore the accommodation of the job coach was not reasonable. The Appeals court found that what job functions were essential was a question of fact up to the jury, along with whether Reina was capable of doing those essential functions. Although he could not complete some tasks on his own, the jury did not find those tasks to be essential job functions.
The Court would not create a per se rule (a rule that applies in every case) that under the ADA full-time job coaches are never a reasonable accommodation. Accommodations are only per se unreasonable if they create “an inability to do the job’s essential tasks.” An employer does not have to pay twice for the same work, but Walmart was not asked to pay for the job coach so that is not an issue the Court would address or decide.
What this means: The standard for reasonable accommodations remains that the accommodation still has to allow the employee to be able to perform their essential job functions. An accommodation is reasonable if it does not prevent the individual from performing those functions. What is an essential job function is a question of fact to be determined by the trier of fact.
What is the name of the case and where you can read it: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, June 30, 2022. Read it here.
As you consider these and other issues, we recommend you speak with your school lawyer or contact Bea, Megan, Beth, and Kevin by email or at 406-542-1300 to discuss these issues.
