Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 796925.pdf

Citation: Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 796925.pdf
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
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Original Source: https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/796925.pdf ↗

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vulnerable clients, requiring the employee to medically prove the disability before an
accommodation is required. AHS does not cite to any authority that supports its assertion.
Instead, in the cases cited by AHS, it is the employer’s burden to establish that an employee
poses a direct threat to the safety or health of other individuals in the employee’s workplace.
Echazabal v. Chevron USA, Inc., 336 F.3d 1023, 1027 (9th Cir. 2003). Echazabal notes that
[b]efore excluding an individual from employment as a direct threat, an
employer must demonstrate that it has made an “individualized assessment” of
the employee’s ability to perform the essential functions of the job, “based on a
reasonable medical judgment that relies on the most current medical knowledge
and/or on the best available objective evidence.”
336 F.3d at 1027 (quoting 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(r)).

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For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.
No. 79692-5-I/21

presented evidence that Pope informed AHS of her disability and requested an

accommodation pertaining to the telephone clock in system, that AHS did not

respond to her request or provide any assistance with the telephone clock in

system for several weeks, and that when assistance was finally provided it was

only provided on a few occasions prior to her filing a complaint with SOCR. This

evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the City, could persuade a

reasonable trier of fact that Pope requested, but did not receive, a reasonable

accommodation from AHS.

The City met its burden to produce evidence supporting a prima facie case

of discrimination. Thus, the burden properly shifted to AHS to produce

nondiscriminatory reasons for its failure to accommodate Pope’s disability.