According to a new decision from a California Court of Appeals, the state antibias law doesn’t obligate an employer to make a temporary light-duty accommodation for a disabled employee into a permanent one.
The case involved Burbank police officer Mark Raine, who injured his knee while on his normal patrol duty. The police department reassigned Raine to a temporary light-duty desk job to accommodate him while his knee healed. Raine remained in that position for six years, until his doctor indicated the disability was permanent and that he would never be able to perform the essential function of a patrol officer. The department then evaluated accommodations and concluded it had no available positions for a police officer with Raine’s qualifications and physical limitations, and Raine took disability retirement.
400+ pages of state-specific, easy-read reference materials at your fingertips—fully updated! Check out the Guide to Employment Law for California Employers and get up to speed on everything you need to know.
Raine sued under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), charging that his removal from the front-desk position violated the city’s obligation to accommodate him. The city countered that the front-desk position is permanently staffed by civilians (who earn substantially less than sworn police officers), and that the position is also reserved as a temporary light-duty assignment for police officers recovering from injury. The city contended that because Raine made clear he didn’t want to be reclassified to the civilian position of police technician, he wasn’t eligible for a permanent front-desk position.
The appeals court sided with the city, concluding that an employer isn’t obligated under the FEHA to make a temporary position available indefinitely once the employee’s temporary disability becomes permanent. To require the city to do so in this case, said the court, would in effect be requiring it to create a new sworn-officer position just for Raine, which is an obligation the FEHA does not impose.
We’ll have full details on this ruling in an upcoming issue of the California Employer Advisor.