Sixth Circuit Decision on Telecommuting as an ADA Accommodation

In an 8 – 5 en banc decision, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed its earlier 2 – 1 panel decision in EEOC v. Ford Motor Company, a case that had endorsed telecommuting as a potential reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). We posted previously about the earlier decision.
 
Judge McKeague—who was the dissenting judge in the earlier decision—wrote the majority opinion. He summarized the case and decision in the first two paragraphs:

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to reasonably accommodate their disabled employees; it does not endow all disabled persons with a job—or job schedule—of their choosing. Jane Harris, a Ford Motor Company employee with irritable bowel syndrome, sought a job schedule of her choosing: to work from home on an as-needed basis, up to four days per week. Ford denied her request, deeming regular and predictable on-site attendance essential to Harris’s highly interactive job. Ford’s papers and practices—and Harris’s three past telecommuting failures—backed up its business judgment.

Nevertheless, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued Ford under the ADA. It alleged that Ford failed to reasonably accommodate Harris by denying her telecommuting request and retaliated against her for bringing the issue to the EEOC’s attention. The district court granted summary judgment to Ford on both claims. We affirm.

Does the Court’s decision mean that telecommuting can never be a reasonable accommodation under the ADA? The answer is “no,” according to Susan Byellin in a recent post on WeComply, a Thomson Reuters business compliance blog. She cautions:

While this ruling may seem encouraging to employers facing ADA accommodations, it is important to not deem this as a mandate that telecommuting is an “unreasonable” accommodation per se. Indeed, it was found to be unreasonable for this particular employee with her particular job responsibilities, but the Court could very well go the other way with a different set of facts. The important takeaway is that ADA accommodations should always be made on a case-by-case basis. Telecommuting may indeed be an appropriate accommodation for some employees, and thus should not be categorically dismissed as an option, as should be the case for any potential accommodation.

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