The manager was attacked in 2011 while attempting to make a bank deposit on behalf of his employer, Caribbean. He suffered from PTSD and depression after the attack and, in response to these diagnoses, requested to work a fixed schedule. Although Caribbean initially granted the request, it later told the manager that he would have to go back to rotating shifts. The manager resigned in 2013 and then sued Caribbean, claiming that they failed to accommodate his disability by not permanently providing him with a fixed schedule. The court granted summary judgment in favor of Caribbean and the manager appealed.
The issue on appeal was whether, in light of the manager’s request to work a fixed schedule, he was still qualified to perform the essential job functions that Caribbean required of its managers. The First Circuit acknowledged that identifying essential job functions is a fact-specific exercise, but found there was no dispute in this case that the ability to work rotating shifts was an essential function of the manager’s job. Caribbean explained, and the manager conceded, that rotating shifts were necessary for the equal distribution of work among managers, and the manager further admitted during his deposition that rotating shifts was a responsibility he shared in common with other managers during his employment with Caribbean. The Court also pointed to Caribbean’s hiring materials, including the manager’s signed job application, which made clear that managerial employees had to be able to work different shifts.
Although the manager pointed out that Caribbean had initially granted his request for a fixed schedule, the Court found that Caribbean’s willingness to do so on a temporary basis was not a concession that rotating shifts was a non-essential function. Consistent with decisions from other federal courts, the Court found that to conclude otherwise would unfairly punish employers for doing more than the ADA requires.
