California Court of Appeal

In plaintiff's suit against her former employer, a municipal water treatment plant, under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), claiming that the city had failed to attempt to accommodate her disability and that she was capable of performing the essential functions of her job, trial court's judgment awarding the plaintiff back pay and emotional distress damages is reversed where: 1) the city did not have to offer plaintiff any accommodation as the record shows that almost one year after she was injured, the city's workers' compensation administrator advised her that its doctor did not believe she would be able to return to her job and offered her rehabilitation and retraining benefits; 2) the record shows that plaintiff was given ample opportunity to express interest in retaining her job and for more than 18 months she failed to do so; and 3) given these circumstances, where the employee failed to express any meaningful or definitive interest in retaining her job, FEHA did not require that her employer discuss with or offer her accommodations for her disability.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/23/2010
• Published 07/15/2010

Judges

• McCONNELL, P. J.

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• John W. Breeze, Steven M. Walker