After 20 years of accommodations, frustration boiled over. What the court said matters
A New Jersey appeals court just handed employers a clear message: accommodating workers with disabilities doesn't mean tolerating endless absences without consequences.
In a decision dated February 4, the Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division ruled that frustration over chronic absenteeism is not the same as disability discrimination, even when an employee has received workplace accommodations for more than two decades.
Staci Fleischmann spent over 20 years working for New Jersey's Division of Pensions and Benefits, bouncing between departments as her health issues mounted. She started in 2000 as a pension counselor with Crohn's disease and migraines already affecting her work life. A 2014 car accident added a traumatic brain injury to her medical file.
Throughout her tenure, Fleischmann took medical leaves ranging from one month to a full year. The Division moved her from the call center to withdrawals, then death claims, then purchases, and finally enrollments. Along the way, managers granted her request after request: she could wear slippers instead of dress shoes, avoid lifting more than ten pounds, take breaks every 20 minutes, get extra time to learn new tasks, adjust her workstation lighting, and maintain a regular eating schedule.
But the accommodations didn't solve the underlying tension. Supervisor Luann Barnett grew frustrated with Fleischmann's sporadic attendance...
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