Opinion ID: 2207114
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Evidentiary and Substantive Issues with Respect to Reasonable Accommodation.

Text: Plaintiff asserts both evidentiary and substantive challenges to the trial court's treatment of the issue of reasonable accommodation. His evidentiary challenges relate to the trial court's refusal to admit testimony by an attorney for the bargaining unit of plaintiff's union concerning statements made to that attorney with respect to plaintiff's claim. These statements, allegedly made by an employee in the State Comptroller's Office, pertained to the duty of the State to reasonably accommodate a disabled employee. The State contends that this testimony was properly excluded because of its hearsay nature and also because the proffered evidence pertained to plaintiff's breach-of-contract claim which was no longer in the litigation. On our review of the record, we conclude that the State is correct as to both of its contentions. The proffered evidence was facially hearsay. Plaintiff made no foundational showing that the declarant was speaking within the scope of that person's agency in order to establish a vicarious admission under Iowa Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(D). Moreover, there are no viable issues in this civil rights action involving reasonable accommodation. The State has never contended that plaintiff was physically unable to perform the requirements of the job for which he was not hired. It based its failure to hire him on grounds of merit qualification. In keeping with this scenario, plaintiff's assertion of a discriminatory discharge was predicated on a theory that he was able to resume work without any accommodation of job requirements. These circumstances distinguish the present case from Frank v. American Freight Systems, Inc., 398 N.W.2d 797, 802-03 (Iowa 1987), where we applied a reasonable accommodation requirement with respect to a back disability. In Frank, the employer clearly did base its decision to discontinue employment on a belief that a back injury precluded the employee from performing the job requirements.