Not providing an employee claiming a disability an accommodation that would obviate performing an essential job requirement did not violate the ADA

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Not providing an employee claiming a disability anaccommodation that would obviate performing an essential job requirement didnot violate the ADANYC Fire Department v A.G., OATH Index No. 771/12
The New York City Fire Department sought the termination ofan employee, A.G., alleging the individual “had been excessively late or absent fromwork” in that A.G. had been tardy, or absent from work for more than 700 hours in2010 and in excess of 700 hours in 2011.
The employee’s defense: The Department was in violation ofthe Americans with Disability Act because it had not provided her with a reasonableaccommodation -- a three-hour flex-time schedule -- of  the various disabling medical conditions she claimed were the cause of her poor attendance record.
Although A.G. contended that she could not be disciplined forher attendance problems, OATH Administrative Law Judge Kara J. Miller held thatA.G. failed to prove that her alleged medical conditions caused her attendanceproblems.
Judge Miller, finding that timely attendance was an essentialfunction of A.G.’s job, ruled that the Department was not required to providean accommodation that would eliminate its attendance requirements as “areasonable accommodation can never involve the elimination of an essentialfunction of a job,” citing Shannon v. NYC Transit Authority., 332 F.3d 95.
Sustaining the charges, the ALJ recommended that A.G. beterminated from her position.
The decision is posted on the Internet at:http://archive.citylaw.org/oath/12_Cases/12-0771.pdf