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01-3973 Rauen v. United States Tobacco Manufacturing Limited Partnership

By: dmc-admin//February 17, 2003//

01-3973 Rauen v. United States Tobacco Manufacturing Limited Partnership

By: dmc-admin//February 17, 2003//

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“Rauen’s situation does not present the type of ‘very extraordinary case’ where a home office would be reasonable. The central components of Rauen’s job require her to be at the office. Even she admits that her primary job responsibilities involve monitoring contractors’ work, answering contractors’ questions as they arise, and ensuring that the contractors’ work does not interfere with the manufacturing process. It is difficult to understand how these sorts of tasks could be performed from home. Rauen asserts that she would be at work when it is was necessary, but she also made clear that she would determine when it was necessary for her to be there. Further, in the type of project and production work that Rauen’s job involves, problems requiring immediate resolution would undoubtedly arise on the spur of the moment. Every description of Rauen’s duties that either party has presented in the record shows that hers is the kind of job that requires teamwork, interaction, and coordination of the type that requires being in the work place. Thus, her situation does not present the exceptional case where a work-at-home accommodation would be reasonable.

“Tipping the scales even further against the reasonableness of Rauen’s home office accommodation request is the fact that Rauen can perform all essential elements of her job without any accommodation. As noted above, we do not answer the question today of whether any accommodation could ever be reasonable for an employee who can perform all essential job functions without accommodation. But Rauen’s ability to perform the essential functions of the job without accommodation surely weighs against the reasonableness of an accommodation. In other words, while it might not be impossible for a person that can perform all essential functions to show that an accommodation is reasonable, it is surely more difficult. Therefore, given that Rauen can perform the essential functions of her job without accommodation and given that she seeks a home office, which we have held is almost never reasonable, we find that the scales of the reasonable accommodation balance weigh against Rauen.”

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Shadur, J., Kanne, J.

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