ADA – Accommodation

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Sherlyn Brown v. Milwaukee Board of School Directors

Case No.: 16-1971

Officials: BAUER, MANION, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: ADA – Accommodation

This appeal under the Americans with Disabilities Act addresses a disabled employee’s obligation to participate in identifying reasonable accommodations for her condition. Plaintiff Sherlyn Brown was an assistant principal for defendant Milwaukee Public Schools until she badly injured her knee while restraining a student. When she returned to work following surgery, she and her doctor told Milwaukee Schools that she could not be “in the vicinity of potentially unruly students.” Since virtually all students are “potentially” unruly, Milwaukee Schools understood that limit to bar virtually all contact with students. It repeatedly communicated that understanding to Brown as it tried to accommodate her disability by finding her a new position. When Brown’s three-year leave of absence expired before a suitable position was found, Milwaukee Schools fired her. Brown sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act, claiming that her disability had never prevented interaction with students and that Milwaukee Schools failed to accommodate her disability. The district court granted summary judgment for Milwaukee Schools, and Brown has appealed. We affirm. Because Brown and her doctors repeatedly told Milwaukee Schools that she could not be “in the vicinity of potentially unruly students,” Milwaukee Schools is not liable for failing to move her to a position requiring such proximity. All but one of the other jobs Brown identifies as reasonable accommodations would have required such proximity. The lone exception would have been a promotion for which Brown was not the most qualified candidate. The Act did not require Milwaukee Schools to promote her as an accommodation.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.