Accommodation request not needed to be eligible for disability retirement benefits, court says
A woman recently asked for disability retirement benefits based on symptoms caused by her office environment. She claimed that she had allergic rhinitis and an “allergic-like reaction of unknown etiology” triggered by her work in a courthouse.
Starting in 2002, the plaintiff in the case of McCormick v. California Public Employees Retirement System worked as an appraiser for Lake County. She was mostly based in the Lakeport courthouse. In 2010, she started experiencing pain and fatigue. By 2012, she could no longer finish a full day of work at the courthouse.
According to the plaintiff, her supervisors did not allow her to telecommute or to work somewhere else even though she felt much better when outside or at home. She exhausted her medical leave by 2013.
Lake County terminated the plaintiff’s employment. She filed an application for disability retirement, which the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) denied.
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The plaintiff appealed the denial. At the hearing, she presented a doctor’s opinion about her allergic rhinitis and allergy-like reaction in her workplace.
CalPERS provided another medical opinion. It stated that, though the plaintiff undoubtedly experienced symptoms associated with the workplace, she would not be disabled if the environment could be changed or if...
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