Is remote work always a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? According to the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a case involving a hospital employee, the answer is no.

A hospital director of imaging services, Anna Kinney, supervised about 120 employees and oversaw the functioning of the medical imaging equipment. In 2018, her employer approved her request for intermittent medical leave due to anxiety.

On March 15, 2020, hospital management instructed Kinney and many other employees to work remotely as the spreading COVID-19 virus became a pandemic. Kinney began working remotely, going to the hospital two or three times a month.

She stopped going on-site at the beginning of August 2020 because the hospital required that everyone inside wear a mask, and Kinney said she was unable to wear a mask because of her anxiety.

When her absences from the hospital led to complaints and questions about her job performance, hospital management told Kinney that she had to return to work on-site at least several days each week.

She submitted a doctor’s note requesting that she be allowed to work solely from home to avoid having to wear a mask in the hospital. Her request was denied. Kinney began working in person two days a week, but she spent the time in her office with the door closed and without a mask. For her days at home, she used intermittent leave and accrued paid time off. She resigned when she ran out of leave.

Kinney then filed suit,...

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