Another ADA blog post? You bet! We continue to see superintendents, principals and business managers have questions on this hot topic. To check out previous blog posts on the ADA, go here, here, or here. On March 25, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an interesting decision in Tudor v. Whitehall Central School District, addressing the obligations of school districts under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). While our NE, SD, and WY schools are not in the Second Circuit, this case demonstrates the importance of employee accommodations.
In this case, a high school math teacher with approximately 20 years of service at a school district had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) stemming from prior workplace incidents at another employer involving sexual harassment and sexual assault. To manage her condition which impacted her neurological functioning and speech, the teacher had an accommodation since 2008 allowing her to leave the school for brief 15 minute periods during her prep periods to alleviate PTSD symptoms.
In 2016, the school district implemented a policy prohibiting teachers from leaving school grounds during prep periods. Despite informing the administration of her existing accommodation, the teacher’s requests to continue her off-campus breaks were denied, leading to reprimands for insubordination when she attempted to adhere to her prior ADA accommodation. She subsequently filed a lawsuit alleging that the district failed to accommodate her disability as required by the ADA.
The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the school district, reasoning that since the teacher could perform her essential job functions without the accommodation, the district was not obligated to provide it. However, the Second Circuit disagreed and ruled in favor of the teacher, clarifying that an employee's ability to perform essential job functions without accommodation does not negate the employer's duty to provide reasonable accommodations for known disabilities. The Court specifically said:
an employer must, absent undue hardship, offer a reasonable accommodation--such as a modified work schedule--to an employee with a disability if that employee is capable of performing the essential functions of her job with or without the accommodation. Under a straightforward reading of the phrase “with or without,” the fact that an employee can perform her job responsibilities without a reasonable accommodation does not mean that she must: she may be a “qualified individual” entitled to reasonable accommodation even if she can perform the essential functions of her job without one. (emphasis added).
What We Want School Administrators To Know
Proactive Engagement in the Interactive Process: Administrators must actively engage with employees who request accommodations (or those who indicate they may have a disability), even if the employee can perform their job duties without them. The ADA requires employers to explore reasonable accommodations that enable employees to manage their disabilities effectively.
Documentation and Consistency: Maintain thorough records of all accommodation requests and the district's responses. If you do not have an ADA interactive checklist for this process, reach out to us as we have one available for purchase.
Training and Awareness: Provide regular training for administrative staff on ADA requirements and the importance of accommodations. Mark this as a topic to cover at staff inservice. We also have a training video available on our portal for on-demand access.
If you have any questions or would like to purchase the ADA webinar or interactive process checklist, please shoot us an email at ksb@ksbschoollaw.com or give us a call at 402-804-8000.