The Wick Law Office recently won an important victory for a federal employee in a disability discrimination case against the United States Department of Labor (DOL). Our client was a veteran and an individual with a disability who worked for DOL. He requested a hardship transfer from one geographic location to another because the symptoms of his disabilities were exacerbated by the climate at his duty location. Despite repeatedly making clear that the reason for his transfer request was his disabling medical conditions, DOL refused to process his request as a reasonable accommodation. The failure to process his reasonable accommodation request resulted in an unnecessary delay in approving his transfer, during which time his medical conditions worsened. The EEOC Administrative Judge issued a decision in our client’s favor finding that the Agency unreasonably delayed in approving his request for a hardship transfer as a reasonable accommodation. She found DOL had vacant, funded positions available in a warmer climate to which our client could have been reassigned months earlier. As a result of the finding of discrimination, DOL was ordered to pay compensatory damages and back pay, reimburse attorneys’ fees and costs associated with the case, provide training to Agency employees, and post a notice in the workplace that discrimination had been found.
If you have questions about this decision, or the impact of it on other cases, please contact Holly V. Franson at Holly@wick-law.com.