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Court of Appeal Affirms Jury Verdict Finding Adequate Accommodation

Julie Wilson worked as a radio dispatcher for Orange County's emergency communications system. Because of a disability that was aggravated by stress, she sought accommodations that included assignment only to certain shifts at certain times. The county temporarily gave her exactly what she wanted, but decided initially that the accommodation could not be permanent. After substantial negotiating, leaves, and rejected proposals, the County assented to all of Wilson's requests. The key issue was the delay between her initial request and the final accommodation. A jury returned a verdict for the county on her claim for denial of accommodation. The court of appeal affirmed:


The real gist of Wilson’s complaint is not that she wasn’t accommodated, but that it took too long for her supervisors to finally agree to a permanent arrangement--i.e., that she could return to work at Control One, in her same position, with the restrictions she wanted. It is this delay that forms the basis of her interactive process
claim. She argues that as a matter of law, the County failed to engage in a good faith
interactive process with her because it did not commence the interactive process until June 2005, prior to which the County simply “contrived a circumstance” to justify not engaging in the interactive process—namely, that Wilson’s disability was
only temporary.
* * *
Here, the record demonstrates the County engaged in a process aimed at trying to accommodate Wilson. Indeed, the success of its process is borne out by the fact
that in the end, Wilson got exactly what she wanted—albeit after a series of temporary accommodations.

The case is Wilson v. Orange County and the opinion is here.

SV Employment Law Article Pot Pourri

We publish articles bi-weekly in the Sacramento Daily Recorder newspaper, and about monthly in the San Francisco Daily Journal. Here are some of the articles we've published in the past few months:

STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR FEHA CLAIMS ON THE VERGE OF EXTINCTION
By Jennifer Brown Shaw and Shane K. Anderies
The Daily Recorder
2008-12-30

WILL CONGRESS BAN SEXUAL ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION?
By Jennifer Brown Shaw and Carolyn Burnette
The Daily Recorder
2008-12-18

DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION AND QUALIFICATION STANDARDS
By Jennifer Brown Shaw and Matthew J. Norfleet
The Daily Recorder
2008-12-02

GOLDEN STATE OF MIND
By D. Gregory Valenza
The Daily Journal
2008-11-28

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS REGARDING INTERNAL EEO COMPLAINT PROCEDURES
By Jennifer Brown Shaw and Becki D. Graham
The Daily Recorder
2008-11-20

NEW LAW AIMS TO ENCOURAGE COMPLIANCE WITH DISABLED ACCESS RULES
By Jennifer Brown Shaw and Carolyn G. Burnette
The Daily Recorder
2008-11-06

ALTERNATIVE POSITIONS AS A REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION: WHAT IS REQUIRED?
By Jennifer Brown Shaw and Shane K. Anderies
The Daily Recorder
2008-10-08

THE ADA AMENDMENTS ACT
By Jennifer Brown Shaw and D. Gregory Valenza
The Daily Recorder
2008-09-24

FLESHING OUT THE ADA
By D. Gregory Valenza
The Daily Journal
2008-09-16

BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS KEEP GETTING MORE COMPLICATED
By Jennifer Brown Shaw and Matthew J. Norfleet
The Daily Recorder
2008-09-10

EDWARDS V. ARTHUR ANDERSEN: NON-COMPETE AGREEMENTS AND GENERAL RELEASES
By Jennifer Brown Shaw and Becki D. Graham
The Daily Recorder
2008-08-26

CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT EMPLOYMENT LAW DECISIONS 2007-2008
By Jennifer Brown Shaw and Shane K. Anderies
The Daily Recorder
2008-07-31