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Allergic reactions to woman’s service dog prompt employer to pull accommodation

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Supervisor’s take-home: You have the legal right to rescind an accommodation that has already been provided to a disabled crew member, but only if you can demonstrate that the accommodation is creating a so-called undue hardship.

What happened: A woman who suffered from anxiety disorder trained a service dog to alert her to a pending panic attack so she could take medication to thwart the attack. When she started a new job, she asked the company whether she could bring the service dog to work. The woman’s request for a service dog was OK’d by her new employer.

What people did: As soon as the woman brought the service dog into the workplace, however, at least two coworkers suffered allergy attacks. The company told the disabled staffer that the accommodation would have to be rescinded unless she could find a way to ensure that exposure to the dog wouldn’t cause allergic reactions among her coworkers.

The woman suggested that her coworkers be moved to other locations, but the company said that proposal was too burdensome. Eventually, the employer pulled the accommodation and told the woman she could no longer bring the service dog to work.

Legal challenge: The woman sued for disability discrimination.

Result: The employer won. The court said the company was justified in pulling the accommodation once coworkers started to experience allergic reactions to the dog. The employer tried to accommodate the woman’s disability, decided the judge, but it was clear that the staffer’s preferred accommodation wasn’t feasible.

The skinny: Companies that make a good faith effort to accommodate a disabled worker usually win in court, even if the accommodation is later pulled because it created an undue hardship.

Cite: Bennett v. Hurley Medical Center, U.S. District Court, E.D. Michigan, No. 21-cv-10471, 1/19/23.

(From the Feb. 17, 2023, issue of HR Managers Legal Alert for Supervisors. To start your no-obligation trial subscription to the publication right now, please click here.)