ST. LOUIS - A federal judge has granted summary judgment to AT&T in a former call center worker's discrimination suit that alleged the company failed to make reasonable accommodations for her disability.
Latanya Blevins, whose last job with the company as a senior consultant handling customer service concerns, began working for AT&T at an Olivette facility in 2004. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2009, and subsequently sought special accommodations where she would not have to type or use a headset to perform her job duties.
After several consultations between Blevins, her union representative and the company trying to figure out how she could perform her duties without typing or using a headset, it was determined that the company could not accommodate her restrictions.
She was unable to find any other jobs within the company for which she was qualified, and spent the remaining months of her employment in 2012 on short-term disability and then went directly into long-term disability.
Blevins filed a pro se suit in federal court in 2015 based on an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint she first filed in 2012.
U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey noted Eighth Circuit precedent that reassignment is not always required of employers in every instance, "but under certain circumstances, may be necessary as a reasonable accommodation."
Autrey wrote that reassignment duty is limited by certain constraints. A position sought by an employee seeking accommodation must be vacant and another employer is not required to bump another worker to create a vacancy, for instance.
The employee seeking accommodation also must be qualified for an alternative position.
Autrey ruled for AT&T on Dec. 26.
"...Plaintiff has failed to establish that she could perform the essential functions of her job, and therefore was not a 'qualified individual' under the ADA," Autrey wrote. "Defendant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law."