By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//May 28, 2014//
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit
Civil
Employment – ADA — accommodation
Where an employer assigned a legally blind employee only to those tasks he could perform, summary judgment was properly granted to the employer on the employee’s failure to accommodate claim.
“It is undisputed that, when it became clear that Bunn could not perform the rotating duties of a regular hourly employee, store manager Larry Johnson worked with him to determine which job functions he could perform and which he could not. Bunn was best able to perform the duties of an employee in the Expo department. Accordingly, instead of rotating Bunn through various departments, some of which were unsuitable for him, Johnson instructed Bunn’s immediate supervisors to schedule him exclusively in Expo. That ‘change … in the way things [were] customarily done’ enabled Bunn to enjoy equal employment opportunities, as evidenced by the undisputed fact that he was scheduled full-time in Expo from his hire date until his suspension. 29 C.F.R. pt. 1630 app. § 1630.2(o). It might also be called a ‘job restructuring,’ or a ‘modified work schedule.’ 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(o)(2)(ii). In short, it was exactly the kind of accommodation envisioned by the regulations applicable to the ADA.”
Affirmed.
13-2292 Bunn v. Khoury Enterprises, Inc.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Lawrence, J., Kanne, J.