An employee whose Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was triggered by confined spaces and stressful situations could bring a disability bias claim over her employer’s alleged failure to provide her with a private office with a window, a U.S. magistrate judge has decided.
Plaintiff Jennifer Lee Rivera, a clerical employee for defendant Altranais Home Care, was initially permitted to work out of the rarely used office of the company’s co-owner, Shakira Lubega.
After her boyfriend was murdered, the plaintiff suffered further psychological trauma and was allegedly permitted to continue to use Lubega’s office on a temporary basis. The office was private and had a window, which calmed the plaintiff.
Lubega eventually needed to use her office more frequently, and while the plaintiff told her supervisor she needed a private space with a window, her doctor’s note simply stated that closed, crowded spaces triggered her anxiety.
In the meantime, the plaintiff refused other options, including the use of a conference room with a window, while the company allegedly denied her the use of another private office with a window because it was assigned to an incoming employee who had not yet started.
At no point did the parties sit down and formally discuss Rivera’s disabilities and why she required a window.
When Rivera filed suit under the Americans with Disabilities Act alleging disability discrimination, Altranais argued that Rivera’s failure to consider the accommodations it offered...
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