Opinion ID: 154518
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Transfer as accommodation

Text: 13 Prior to 1992, under the Rehabilitation Act, employers were not required to find another job for an employee who [was] not qualified for the job he or she [was] doing. School Board of Nassau County v. Arline, 480 U.S. 273, 289 n. 19, 107 S.Ct. 1123, 1131 n. 19, 94 L.Ed.2d 307 (1987). When Congress extended the protections disabled federal employees had enjoyed under the Rehabilitation Act to non-federal employees with the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it added reassignment as an express option to non-federal employees in ADA cases. See 42 U.S.C. § 12111(9)(B) (reasonable accommodation may include reassignment to a vacant position). In 1992, Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act to conform to those additional ADA standards. Ultimately, the Code of Federal Regulations was amended effective October 31, 1992, to explicitly provide that a federal employer must attempt reassignment when a handicapped employee cannot be reasonably accommodated to perform the essential functions his existing job: 14 When a nonprobationary employee becomes unable to perform the essential functions of his or her position even with reasonable accommodation due to a handicap, an agency shall offer to reassign the individual to a funded vacant position located in the same commuting area and serviced by the same appointing authority, and at the same grade or level, the essential functions of which the individual would be able to perform with reasonable accommodation if necessary unless the agency can demonstrate that the reassignment would impose an undue hardship on the operation of its program. In the absence of a position at the same grade or level, an offer of reassignment to a vacant position at the highest available grade or level below the employee's current grade or level shall be required, but availability of such a vacancy shall not affect the employee's entitlement, if any, to disability retirement pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 8337 or 5 U.S.C. § 8451.... 15 29 C.F.R. § 1614.203(g) (emphasis added). 16 This section imposes an obligation on the federal employer to offer reassignment, unless the employer has already posted the position as available: 17 If the agency has already posted a notice or announcement seeking applications for a specific vacant position at the time the agency has determined that the nonprobationary employee is unable to perform the essential functions of his or her position even with reasonable accommodation, then the agency does not have an obligation under this section to offer to reassign the individual to that position, but the agency must consider the individual on an equal basis with those who applied for the position.... 18 29 C.F.R. § 1614.203(g). If the available position has already been posted, then the employer must consider the employee for that position without discrimination. 19 Gonzagowski claims that the Air Force should have reassigned him to a vacant position as a computer operator. As evidence of the existence of a vacant computer operator position, Gonzagowski refers to a letter to him from the Air Force, dated three days prior to his termination, entitled Settlement Agreement. This letter offered a temporary reassignment to a computer operator position in lieu of his impending discharge in exchange for Gonzagowski releasing the Air Force from all pending and future claims arising from the alleged discrimination. 20 The Air Force argues the settlement agreement to be inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 408, which deems offers of settlement in exchange for valuable consideration inadmissible. Regardless of the 408 issue, however, the letter alone does not establish that a computer operator position was vacant at the time. Gonzagowski never specifically requested to be assigned to an open computer operator position, and there is no evidence such a position was open.