Opinion ID: 3163909
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: ADA Failure to Accommodate Claim

Text: We turn first to Dooley’s claim that JetBlue failed to accommodate her disability, in violation of the ADA. To plead a failure-to-accommodate claim, a plaintiff must allege that “(1) plaintiff is a person with a disability under the meaning of the ADA; (2) an employer covered by the statute had notice of [her] disability; (3) with reasonable accommodation, plaintiff could perform the essential functions of the job at issue; and (4) the employer has refused to make such accommodations.” McMillan v. City of N.Y., 711 F.3d 120, 125–26 (2d Cir. 2013). Dooley’s failure-to-accommodate claim appears to be premised on JetBlue’s alleged failure to train her for the “transitional duties” to which she returned following her disability leave. A-36–37. But Dooley does not allege that she ever requested any such training. She alleges only that “it is highly probable that [JetBlue] never” “engage[d] in a meaningful exchange of ideas about the 2 feasibility of the” training with her. A-37. Dooley’s claim therefore fails to satisfy the fourth prong, as an employer cannot “refuse[ ] to make [an] accommodation[ ],” McMillan, 711 F.3d at 126, that it was never asked to make, see Tobin v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 553 F.3d 121, 129 (1st Cir. 2009) (“An employer’s duty to accommodate an employee’s disability is ordinarily activated by a request from the employee, and the request must be sufficiently direct and specific to give the employer notice of the needed accommodation.” (citations and internal quotation marks omitted)).