Source: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/480/273/
Timestamp: 2013-12-09 12:39:54
Document Index: 314549923

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 504', '§ 504', '§ 504', '§ 706', '§ 504', '§ 504', '§ 504', '§ 504']

SCHOOL BOARD OF NASSAU COUNTY, FLORIDA and Craig Marsh, Individually and as Superintendent of Schools of Nassau County, Florida v. Gene H. ARLINE. | Supreme Court | LII / Legal Information Institute
Supreme Court aboutsearch liibulletin subscribe previews SCHOOL BOARD OF NASSAU COUNTY, FLORIDA and Craig Marsh, Individually and as Superintendent of Schools of Nassau County, Florida v. Gene H. ARLINE.
480 U.S. 273 (107 S.Ct. 1123, 94 L.Ed.2d 307)
Decided: March 3, 1987.
[HTML] dissent, REHNQUIST, SCALIA
[HTML] See 481 U.S. 1024, 107 S.Ct. 1913.
Syllabus Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 794 (Act), provides, inter alia, that no "otherwise qualified handicapped individual," as defined in 29 U.S.C. 706(7), shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from participation in any program receiving federal financial assistance. Section 706(7)(B) defines "handicapped individual" to mean any person who "(i) has a physical . . . impairment which substantially limits one or more of his major life activities, (ii) has a record of such an impairment, or (iii) is regarded as having such an impairment." Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulations define "physical impairment" to mean, inter alia, any physiological disorder affecting the respiratory system, and define "major life activities" to include working. Respondent was hospitalized for tuberculosis in 1957. The disease went into remission for the next 20 years, during which time respondent began teaching elementary school in Florida. In 1977, March 1978, and November 1978, respondent had relapses, after the latter two of which she was suspended with pay for the rest of the school year. At the end of the 1978-1979 school year, petitioners discharged her after a hearing because of the continued recurrence of tuberculosis. After she was denied relief in state administrative proceedings, she brought suit in Federal District Court, alleging a violation of § 504. The District Court held that she was not a "handicapped person" under the Act, but that, even assuming she were, she was not "qualified" to teach elementary school. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that persons with contagious diseases are within § 504's coverage, and remanded for further findings as to whether respondent was "otherwise qualified" for her job.
Held: 1. A person afflicted with the contagious disease of tuberculosis may be a "handicapped individual" within the meaning of § 504. Pp. 280-286.
(a) Respondent is a "handicapped individual" as defined in § 706(7)(B) and the HHS regulations. Her hospitalization in 1957, for a disease that affected her respiratory system, and that substantially limited "one or more of her major life activities," establishes that she has a "record of . . . impairment." Pp. 280-281.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 87 Stat. 394, as amended, 29 U.S.C. 794 (Act), prohibits a federally funded state program from discriminating against a handicapped individual solely by reason of his or her handicap. This case presents the questions whether a person afflicted with tuberculosis, a contagious disease, may be considered a "handicapped individual" within the meaning of § 504 of the Act, and, if so, whether such an individual is "otherwise qualified" to teach elementary school.
* From 1966 until 1979, respondent Gene Arline taught elementary school in Nassau County, Florida. She was discharged in 1979 after suffering a third relapse of tuberculosis within two years. After she was denied relief in state administrative proceedings, she brought suit in federal court, alleging that the school board's decision to dismiss her because of her tuberculosis violated § 504 of the Act.
The superintendent of schools for Nassau County, Craig Marsh, then testified as to the school board's response to Arline's medical reports. After both her second relapse, in the spring of 1978, and her third relapse in November 1978, the school board suspended Arline with pay for the remainder of the school year. Id., at 49-51. At the end of the 1978-1979 school year, the school board held a hearing, after which it discharged Arline, "not because she had done anything wrong," but because of the "continued reoccurence sic of tuberculosis." Id., at 49-52.
In her trial memorandum, Arline argued that it was "not disputed that the school board dismissed her solely on the basis of her illness. Since the illness in this case qualifies the Plaintiff as a 'handicapped person' it is clear that she was dismissed solely as a result of her handicap in violation of Section 504." Record 119. The District Court held, however, that although there was "no question that she suffers a handicap," Arline was nevertheless not "a handicapped person under the terms of that statute." App. to Pet. for Cert. C-2. The court found it "difficult . . . to conceive that Congress intended contagious diseases to be included within the definition of a handicapped person." The court then went on to state that, "even assuming" that a person with a contagious disease could be deemed a handicapped person, Arline was not "qualified" to teach elementary school. Id., at C-2C-3.
In enacting and amending the Act, Congress enlisted all programs receiving federal funds in an effort "to share with handicapped Americans the opportunities for an education, transportation, housing, health care, and jobs that other Americans take for granted." 123 Cong.Rec. 13515 (1977) (statement of Sen. Humphrey). To that end, Congress not only increased federal support for vocational rehabilitation, but also addressed the broader problem of discrimination against the handicapped by including § 504, an antidiscrimination provision patterned after Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
"No otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the United States, as defined in section 706(7) of this title, shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. . . ." 29 U.S.C. 794.
In 1974 Congress expanded the definition of "handicapped individual" for use in § 504 to read as follows:
"Any person who (i) has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of such person's major life activities, (ii) has a record of such an impairment, or (iii) is regarded as having such an impairment." 29 U.S.C. 706(7)(B).
The amended definition reflected Congress' concern with protecting the handicapped against discrimination stemming not only from simple prejudice, but also from "archaic attitudes and laws" and from "the fact that the American people are simply unfamiliar with and insensitive to the difficulties confronting individuals with handicaps." S.Rep. No. 93-1297, p. 50 (1974), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1974, p. 6400. To combat the effects of