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We are all familiar with the phrase “No good deed goes unpunished.” That apparently is the theme of an Eighth Circuit opinion reviewing an employee’s suit alleging that she was improperly denied an accommodation under the ADA. In Leah M. Powley v. Rail Crew Express, the plaintiff had requested accommodations for a disability eight different times within a three-year period and her employer had granted all of them. However, when she later left work abruptly after asserting that conditions affected her disability, her employer treated it as a resignation.

Driver Laments

Leah Powley was a driver for Railcrew Express, LLC, which transported railroad crews to various railyards. Seven months after she started, Powley started asking for accommodations (e.g., excuses from work, changes in her schedule) because of her back pain and headaches. Over a period of almost three years, she asked for eight different accommodations, each time submitting a doctor’s note identifying potential disabilities such as back pain and headaches and a doctor’s restriction. Each time, Railcrew Express granted the requested accommodation. During this period, Railcrew Express promoted her to part-time dispatcher.

The White Board That Broke the Camel’s Back

In the dispatcher office, a dry-erase board was added that apparently upset Powley. She asked the other dispatchers to rearrange the space and when they told her to talk to a superior, she announced “I’m done. I have to leave.” The...

Read Full Story: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/ninth-time-not-charm-eighth-circuit-deni...