Appeals court reinstates Phoenix probation officer’s ADA lawsuit
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A federal appeals court has overturned a lower court and reinstated an Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit filed by a Phoenix probation officer who was terminated after she asked for extended medical leave.
Nannette Hummel, who had begun working as an adult probation officer with the Maricopa County Adult Probation Department in 2005, requested Family and Medical Leave Act leave to undergo and recover from partial knee replacement surgery, according to Wednesday’s ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in Nannette G. Hummel v. Maricopa County Adult Probation Dept.
Ms. Hummel was terminated by the department in 2014 after she asked for extended leave, according to court papers. She filed suit, charging violation of the ADA for terminating her employment instead of either granting her request for extended medical leave or assigning her to light duty.
The U.S. District Court in Phoenix granted the county summary judgment in dismissing the case on the basis that, according to the county, field work was one of several essential functions Ms. Hummel could not perform and she was therefore not a qualified individual under the ADA.
The ruling was overturned by a unanimous three-judge appeals court panel. The ADA prohibits an employer from discriminating “against qualified individuals on the basis of disability,” the ruling said.
“Contrary to the district court’s conclusion, Hummel is not precluded from being a ‘qualified individual’ simply because she was unable to perform essential functions of her position at the time of her termination,” it said.
“It appears the district court erroneously failed to consider whether Hummel’s leave extension request was a reasonable accommodation that would enable her to perform the essential functions of her position,” the panel said in reversing the lower court and remanding the case for further proceedings.
Attorneys in the case had no comment.
