ADA Plaintiff Was Not A "Qualified Individual"
Elizabeth Rask was employed by Fresenius Medical Care North America, and work as a patient care technician at two of Fresenius's kidney dialysis clinics in Minnesota. Following a series of disciplinary and attendance problems, Fresenius terminated her employment when she failed to come to work on 28 May 2004. Rask had a long history of depression, and she filed an action claiming that her depression was a disability and that termination of her employment constituted discrimination under the ADA.
The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Fresenius. On appeal, the 8th Circuit affirmed, holding that Rask was not a "qualified individual" because she failed to show that she could perform her essential job functions either with or without reasonable accommodation, and that Rask failed to provide Fresenius with adequate notice of the need for an accommodation:
The ADA prohibits employers from discriminating against a “qualified individual with a disability,” whom it defines as “an individual with a disability who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the employment position that such individual holds or desires.” To make out a prima facie case of employment discrimination under the ADA, a plaintiff must establish that she is disabled within its meaning, that she is qualified to perform the essential functions of her job with or without reasonable accommodation, and that she suffered an adverse employment action in circumstances that give rise to an inference of unlawful discrimination based on disability.
Although the parties hotly contested the question of whether Ms. Rask's depression is a disability, we conclude that we need not resolve that matter because Ms. Rask failed to show that she was qualified to perform the essential functions of her job. We have “consistently held that regular and reliable attendance is a necessary element of most jobs,” and we see no reason to hold otherwise in the circumstances of this case. While there is evidence in the record that Fresenius had sufficient manpower to staff its operations without Ms. Rask, Ms. Rask made no showing that Fresenius would be able to do so on short notice at times when Fresenius expected her to be at work. We note that Ms. Rask did not have the type of job that could be performed from another site or put off until another time: she cared for seriously ill patients in need of dialysis. After having a history of unpredictable absences, Ms. Rask admitted that she was unable to come to work on a regular and reliable basis when she told her supervisors, “I'm having problems with my medication and ... I might miss a day here and there because of it.” As discussed below, the specific circumstances of her employment demonstrate that this statement referred to Ms. Rask taking unexcused absences on short notice. Ms. Rask therefore has failed to show that she was qualified to perform the essential functions of her job without an accommodation.
Ms. Rask would nonetheless be qualified under the ADA if a reasonable accommodation would allow her to perform the essential functions of her position. We hold, however, that Fresenius had no duty to accommodate Ms. Rask because she failed as a matter of law to provide sufficient notice of her need. The standard is clear: Where, as here, “the disability, resulting limitations, and necessary reasonable accommodations, are not open, obvious, and apparent to the employer, as is often the case when mental disabilities are involved, the initial burden rests primarily upon the employee ... to specifically identify the disability and resulting limitations, and to suggest the reasonable accommodations.” Wallin v. Minnesota Dep't of Corrections.
A major point of dispute between the parties was whether Ms. Rask provided Fresenius notice of the fact that she was depressed at all. Assuming that she did tell her employer that she was diagnosed with depression, her claim still fails under the criteria laid out in Wallin. The closest that Ms. Rask came to satisfying the Wallin requirements was in a meeting with two of her supervisors: She attested that she “let them know that I'm having problems with my medication and, you know, would you stand by me, I might miss a day here and there because of it.”Even if having problems with medication were a specific identification of a disability, which we doubt, and even if “I might miss a day here and there” were a suggestion of what a reasonable accommodation might be, no reasonable person could find that Ms. Rask “specifically identified ” her “resulting limitations.”
The point of requiring an employee to provide this kind of information is to allow the employer to understand that the employee suffers from a disability. Without this information the employer is unable to engage in the interactive process required to determine what accommodations might be appropriate and available. Because Ms. Rask did not inform Fresenius of the specific limitations that her depression gave rise to, Fresenius had no duty to find an accommodation for her.
We believe, moreover, that even if what Ms. Rask told her employer put it on notice that she was disabled, she did not, in fact, suggest accommodations that were “reasonable.” Allowing her to be absent cannot as a matter of law be a reasonable accommodation given the circumstances of Ms. Rask's employment. It is undisputed that Ms. Rask was allowed to modify the number of hours that she worked at will. There is also no dispute that at the time of the meeting with her supervisors mentioned above she was working only two days a week. She therefore already had a lot of time away from work and could take more if she needed it. Talk of having to miss days in this context can refer only to sudden unanticipated absences on the few days when Ms. Rask was actually scheduled to work. The duty to accommodate “does not extend to the provision of adjustments or modifications that are primarily for the personal benefit of the individual with a disability. Thus, if an adjustment or modification is job-related, e.g., specifically assists the individual in performing the duties of a particular job, it will be considered a type of reasonable accommodation. On the other hand, if an adjustment or modification assists the individual throughout his or her daily activities, on and off the job, it will be considered a personal item that the employer is not required to provide.” The ability to take sudden, unscheduled absences would not have assisted Ms. Rask in performing the duties of her particular job; they would have been for her personal benefit. Ms. Rask therefore failed to suggest a reasonable accommodation.
Ms. Rask was required to show that she could perform the essential functions of her job either with or without a reasonable accommodation. After having had a history of unexpected absences, she admitted that she could not come to work on a regular and reliable basis, which was essential for her position. Ms. Rask also did not give proper notice to Fresenius that she needed an accommodation; nor did she show that being permitted to miss work on short notice was a “reasonable accommodation” that would have allowed her to perform her job. Thus Ms. Rask failed to offer sufficient evidence to support a finding that she was a “qualified individual,” and the district court properly granted summary judgment to Fresenius on her ADA claim.
Rask v. Fresinius Medical
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals’ jurisdiction includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas.