Court Opinion

ID: 9498588
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:21:31.315435+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:04.080628
License: Public Domain

HOWARD, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
I agree with the lead opinion’s resolution of Tobin’s discrimination and “interactive process” claims. I also agree with the result reached on the reasonable accommodation claim. I write separately, however, to address what I perceive to be the district court’s reason for granting Liberty Mutual (Liberty) summary judgment on the reasonable accommodation claim.
The lead opinion rejects the district court’s reasonable accommodation ruling because there were disputed facts about *110the method by which Liberty assigned employees to mass marketing accounts. Ante at 107. Liberty presented evidence that such assignments were merit based, while Tobin presented evidence that Liberty used non-merit based factors to make these assignments. See id. This disputed fact relates to Liberty’s claim that it was not required to alter its assigning criteria as a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). But, as I read the district court opinion, this is not the ground on which summary judgment was granted. Tobin v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., No. Civ. A-01-11979-DPW, 2004 WL 1922133, at *9 (D.Mass. Aug.30, 2004) (rejecting Liberty’s summary judgment argument that it was not required to change its criteria for assigning mass marketing accounts because it used merit-based criteria).
The district court rejected Tobin’s reasonable accommodation claim on the basis that assigning him to a mass marketing account would not have addressed the symptoms of his bipolar condition (i.e, inability to organize). As the district court explained:
Tobin has introduced no evidence as to how the assignment of mass marketing accounts would have addressed the particular deficiencies created by his particular disability. Indeed ... more mass marketing accounts would likely have led to increased sales for any sales representative whether disabled or not. To be sure, Tobin’s disability is grounds for accommodation under the ADA, it does not however, entitle him to any and every change in work conditions that would improve his performance. Rather, the accommodation must be for the disability, and Tobin has nowhere shown that assignment of mass marketing accounts were reasonable accommodations for his particular disability.
Tobin, 2004 WL 1922133, at *10. I am not persuaded that the lead opinion’s reliance on disputed facts related to Liberty’s criteria for selecting agents for mass marketing accounts is sufficiently responsive to this reasoning.
Nevertheless, I agree that the district court’s ruling was erroneous. The legal principle grounding the holding seems sound. See Wood v. Crown Redi-Mix, Inc., 339 F.3d 682, 687 (8th Cir.2003) (“Where the reasonable accommodation requested is unrelated to the limitation, we do not believe an ADA action may lie.”). The ADA’s purpose is to provide a disabled employee with a reasonable accommodation that will help the employee overcome the limitation caused by his or her particular disability; it is not a statute intended to provide benefits to an employee simply because the employee happens to be disabled. See Felix v. N.Y. City Transit Auth., 324 F.3d 102, 107 (2d Cir. 2003) (“The ADA mandates reasonable accommodation of people with disabilities in order to put them on an even playing field with the non-disabled; it does not authorize a preference for disabled people generally.”).
Tobin has, however, generated sufficient record evidence to permit the conclusion that assigning him to a mass marketing account would have assisted him in overcoming the particular limitation caused by his bipolar disability. Tobin’s supervisor testified that Tobin’s biggest problem “was identifying potential new customers and going to see them” but that “he [did] a good job at closing the sale.” There was also evidence that, because mass marketing accounts provide the assigned agent with a captive audience of potential clients, closing skills are more important than business generation skills for agents assigned to these accounts. On this evidence, a reasonable jury could conclude *111that assigning Tobin to a mass marketing account would have assisted him in overcoming his disability-related problem of being insufficiently organized to identify and pursue new clients. For this reason, Tobin’s reasonable accommodation claim should proceed.