Second Circuit – Reasonable accommodation: Tafolla v. Heilig

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United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Reasonable accommodation

Essential functions of job

Tafolla v. Heilig

21-2327-cv

Judges Sullican, Bianco, and Perez

Background: The plaintiff appealed from the grant of summary judgment to the defendants dismissing her discrimination and retaliation claims. She alleged that her employment was terminated based on her disability and that she was retaliated against for seeking an accommodation for that disability. She asked that she not be assigned archiving tasks based upon medical documentation she provided regarding her physical limitations.

Ruling: The Second Circuit affirmed in part and vacated summary judgment on the reasonable accommodation and retaliation claims. The court held that a rational jury could find that archiving was not an essential function of her position as a clerk typist at a district attorney’s office and that the defendants failed to provide a reasonable workplace accommodation for her disability.

Stephen Bergstein, of Bergstein & Ullrich, for the plaintiff-appellant; Hope Senzer Gabor, assistant county attorney, for the defendants-appellees.