A week or so ago, we blogged on a recent disability discrimination case from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that held that a reasonable accommodation may include a transfer. There is more good news about the scope of employer’s duty to provide reasonable accommodation. Just a few days ago, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Sanchez v. Vilsack heldthat a “transfer accommodation for medical care or treatment is not per se unreasonable even where an employee can perform the essential functions of the job without the accommodation”. (10th Cir. 9/19/2012). This is a significant decision because it was the first time the this Court of Appeals considered whether a transfer could be a reasonable accommodation, where an employee could perform the essential functions of the job without the accommodation but requested the transfer accommodation in order to receive medical care. In Sanchez, a federal employee filed a lawsuit against the United States Forest Service alleging that she had been discriminated against in violation of the Rehabilitation Act when the Forest Service failed to accommodate her request for a transfer to a different office. The employee, Carlice Sanchez, was a long-time secretarial employee of the Forest Service. She requested a transfer to an office in Albuquerque because she had family there and because she could receive the specialized medical care that she needed there. She was allowed to go to Albuquerque and work there for a 120 day trial period. Unfortunately, other employees in the Albuquerque office indicated that her work performance was unsatisfactory and she was not offered either of the two open positions there for which she was qualified. Because she was not offered either of the positions she took a pay cut and accepted an accounting technician position with the Forest Service in Albuquerque. She then filed this lawsuit alleging discrimination for a failure to accommodate. In response to her suit, the Forest Service argued that the Circuit Court should adopt a rule that “accommodations are required only if an employee cannot perform the essential functions of her job”. The Court refused to adopt this rule. Rather the Court found that a transfer request may be a reasonable accommodation even where an employee can perform the essential functions of her job without the accommodation.
