Opinion ID: 162081
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Dispatcher II Position

Text: 103 Appellants appeal the trial court's denial of their Rule 50 motion that the dispatcher II position was not vacant as a matter of law. We have held that a reasonable accommodation may include reassignment to a vacant position if the employee is qualified for the job and it does not impose an undue burden on the employer. See Midland Brake, 180 F.3d at 1169. Thus, an employer is under a duty to reassign an employee only if the employer has vacant positions. See id. at 1175. `[A] vacant position' includes not only positions that are at the moment vacant, but also includes positions that the employer reasonably anticipates will become vacant in the fairly immediate future. Id. 104 The parties produced the following evidence: Bristol suffered his minor heart attack in March 1996. At that time, he requested a light-duty assignment, which the Sheriff provided. One month after Bristol took his stress test and Dr. Miklin determined that Bristol should continue on light-duty indefinitely, the Sheriff decided to fire him. Bristol appealed to the Personnel Review Board on July 11, and it informed him that his termination was upheld July 16. The dispatcher II position came open in October or November 1996. At the time the Sheriff fired Bristol, the Sheriff did not know that the position would become available in October or November. This final fact is dispositive, causing us to reverse the trial court's ruling and enter judgment on this issue for Appellants. As a matter of law, the dispatcher II position was not vacant at the relevant time because it was not within the contemplation of the Sheriff when he denied Bristol's request for a reasonable accommodation and terminated his employment. 9 105 Apparently, the district court focused exclusively on Midland Brake 's use of the term fairly immediate future, whereas the language of the opinion makes clear that another aspect of whether a position is vacant involves the employer's subjective knowledge of the upcoming opening: 106 [A] vacant position includes not only positions that are at the moment vacant, but also includes positions that the employer reasonably anticipates will become vacant in the fairly immediate future. See Monette [v. Elec. Data Sys. Corp.], 90 F.3d [1173,] 1187 [(6th Cir. 1996)] (If, perhaps, an employer knows that a position for which the disabled applicant is qualified will become vacant in a short period of time, the employer may be required to offer the position to the employee.); see also EEOC Guidance, at 39 (`Vacant' means that the position is available when the employee asks for reasonable accommodation, or that the employer knows that it will become available within a reasonable amount of time.). 107 Midland Brake, 180 F.3d at 1175 (emphasis added); see also 29 C.F.R. pt. 1630, App., § 1630.2( o ) (stating as an example that if [t]he employer ... knows that an equivalent position for which the individual is qualified[] will become vacant next week, then that position should be considered vacant and the employer may have a duty to reassign the employee to that position when it becomes available (emphasis added)). 10