Opinion ID: 4447149
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Regular, In-Person Attendance

Text: At Rawlings, auditors primarily review and audit healthcare claims. Auditors access information about those claims from secure computers in Rawlings’s offices. Rawlings prohibits auditors from working remotely because of the “large volume of confidential and HIPAA protected personal information” in the claims they review. Popeck does not dispute those facts. Because all auditing work must be done on-site, in-person attendance on a regular basis constitutes an essential function of Popeck’s job. Pointing to other employees that Rawlings allows to work remotely, Popeck sees a factual dispute about whether in-person attendance constitutes an essential function. But Popeck ignores a key difference: Those other employees work in IT, not auditing. Rawlings occasionally permits certain IT workers remote access from home during nights and weekends. Rawlings has never allowed auditors accessing confidential information, like Popeck, to work remotely. Popeck’s inapt comparison creates no genuine dispute of fact. -5- Case No. 19-5092, Popeck v. Rawlings Co., LLC, et al.