The Eleventh Circuit’s Decision in Beasly v. O’Reilly Auto Parts
In Beasely v. O’Reilly Auto Parts the Eleventh Circuit Federal Court of Appeals held that an employee must have suffered an adverse employment action to bring a lawsuit for failure to accommodate under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Beasley v. O’Reilly Auto Parts, 69 F.4th 744, 755 (11th Cir. 2023). The plaintiff was diagnosed with hearing loss and alleged that O’Reilly failed to provide him with reasonable accommodations in violation of the ADA. Because of his hearing loss, Beasley requested that his supervisor provide him with text message summaries of meetings, and the presence of a sign language interpreter during forklift training, a disciplinary hearing, and a company picnic. None of these requests were accommodated.
The District Court considered O’Reilly’s Motion for Summary Judgment and relied on a footnote in a prior Eleventh Circuit case stating that “to succeed on a failure-to-accommodate claim a plaintiff must show that he suffered an adverse employment action.” The District Court found that Beasley did not suffer any adverse employment action and therefore did not state a prima facie claim for failure to accommodate under the ADA. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed, finding that “discrimination in the form of a failure to reasonably accommodate is actionable under the ADA only if that failure negatively impacts the employee’s hiring, advancement, discharge, compensation, training and other terms, conditions, and privileges of his employment.”
By requiring a plaintiff to show that their employer’s failure to accommodate “negatively impacted the hiring, promotion, firing, compensation, training, or other terms, conditions or privileges of employment” the Eleventh Circuit has added an element to a failure to accommodate claim, which other jurisdictions do not require.
What Does This Mean for Local Plaintiffs
Although the Eleventh Circuit now requires adverse employment action for a failure to accommodate claim under the ADA, this will not impact local plaintiffs. The Eleventh Circuit have federal appellate jurisdiction in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.
Virginia and Maryland both sit in the Fourth Circuit. The Fourth Circuit does not require an adverse employment action for a failure to accommodate claim under the ADA. To state a claim for failure to accommodate under the ADA, a Virginia or Maryland plaintiff must show that: (1) the employee was an individual with a disability within the meaning of the ADA; (2) the employer had notice of the disability; (3) with reasonable accommodation, the employee could perform the essential functions of the position; and (4) the employer refused to make such accommodations. Rhoads v. FDIC, 257 F.3d 373, 387 n.11 (4th Cir. 2001); Stephenson v. Pfizer, 641 F. App’x 214, 219 (4th Cir. 2016).
Similarly, a DC plaintiff must allege facts sufficient to show that: (1) he had a disability within the meaning of the ADA; (2) his employer had notice of his disability; (3) he could perform the essential functions of this position with reasonable accommodation; and (4) his employer refused to make such accommodation. Murphy v. District of Columbia, 390 F. Supp 3d 59, 65 (D. D.C. 2019); Floyd v. Lee, 968 F. Supp. 2d 308, 326 (D.D.C. 2013).
It is important to remember that an ADA failure to accommodate a claim differs from an ADA disability discrimination claim. A claim for discrimination under the ADA does require a plaintiff to suffer an adverse employment action in all jurisdictions. If you are disabled and believe that your employer has unlawfully withheld reasonable accommodation or discriminated against you based on your disability you should contact an employment attorney.
If you need more guidance or information, contact the employment law attorneys at General Counsel, P.C. today at 703-556-0411, intake@gcpc.com, or use this Contact Us Form. Attorneys at General Counsel, P.C. specialize in labor and employment law and have experience working with businesses, non-profits, and individuals throughout the DC Metropolitan area and across Virginia, specifically in Fairfax County, Arlington, and Loudoun County.