Granting medical leave may not be enough
LAURALYN Swanson is a highly accomplished elementary school teacher with over 30 years’ experience teaching kindergarten through sixth grade. She has a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction, and holds several teaching credentials and certifications. In August 2006, the Morongo Unified School District (School District) hired Swanson as a technology/reading specialist and computer laboratory teacher where she later received excellent performance evaluations.
During the summer break, a new principal (John Lowe) was hired and he belatedly re-assigned Swanson to be a “LANGUAGE! Reading Specialist.” Later that summer, Swanson was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy and treatments. She was on medical leave until early March.
On Swanson’s return to work in the fall of 2008, she was offered an open fifth grade teaching assignment. Swanson objected because her precarious health would prevent her from doing the necessary work required for this new assignment. She then requested a position at the second grade level because she had recently taught that grade at a different school. Her request was denied, another teacher was assigned to the second grade opening, and Swanson was instead assigned to a kindergarten class. Swanson expressed concerns about working with kindergarten-age children because her cancer treatments damaged her immune system and she feared that exposure to the many illnesses of kindergarten children would pose further health risks. Her concerns were ignored and she was forced to teach the kindergarten class. Sure enough, she was again forced to take another medical leave because she suffered pancreatitis, pneumonia, and liver issues that she attributed to her kindergarten teaching assignment.
When she returned in December 2008 from her second leave, she received poor evaluations. Eventually, the School District voted not to renew her contract for the 2009/2010 school year. Swanson sued the School District claiming it violated the law by (1) discriminating against her because she was diagnosed with breast cancer and took medical leave to receive treatment (2) failing to reasonably accommodate her cancer-related health conditions by refusing to assign her to teach an available second grade class she believed provided the greatest opportunity for her to successfully teach while recovering from her cancer treatments and (3) failing to engage in a good faith, interactive process to identify a reasonable accommodation for her cancer-related health conditions.
The School District asked the trial court to dismiss Swanson’s discrimination claim, saying she was let go because she failed to satisfy the School District’s teaching standards. The School District also argued that it reasonably accommodated Swanson and engaged in an interactive process by changing her teaching assignment from fifth grade to kindergarten when Swanson objected to the fifth grade teaching assignment. The trial court agreed and threw out her case. Swanson appealed.
The Court of Appeal sided with Swanson and reversed the trial court decision. The court explained that when providing a reasonable accommodation, an employer does not have an obligation to create a new job, reassign another employee, or promote a disabled employee. However, an employer does have a duty to reassign a disabled employee if an already funded, vacant position at the same level exists. Most importantly, a disabled employee seeking reassignment to a vacant position is entitled to preferential consideration.
The court then concluded that the School District failed to show that the second grade assignment Swanson sought was not available or was not a reasonable accommodation, or that the fifth grade and kindergarten assignments the School District offered were reasonable accommodations. The School District also failed to present any evidence showing it engaged Swanson in an ongoing dialogue regarding her requested accommodations. The trial court should have allowed a jury to evaluate Swanson’s discrimination claim by having her present evidence supporting her theory that the School District changed her teaching assignments and failed to provide the resources she needed to succeed so it would have a basis for not renewing her contract.
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The Law Offices of C. Joe Sayas, Jr. welcomes inquiries about this topic. All inquiries are confidential and at no-cost. Atty. Sayas’ Law Office is located at 500 N. Brand Blvd. Suite 980, Glendale, CA 91203. You can contact the office at (818) 291-0088 or visit www.joesayaslaw.com.
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C. Joe Sayas, Jr., Esq. is trial attorney who has obtained several million dollar recoveries for his clients against employers and insurance companies. He has been selected as a Super Lawyer by the Los Angeles Magazine, featured in the cover of Los Angeles Daily Journal’s Verdicts and Settlements, and is a member of the Million Dollar-Advocates Forum.
