Failure to Accommodate Cases

The plaintiff appealed from the trial court's judgment for the defendant, rendered following its grant of the defendant's motion for summary judgment on the plaintiff's complaint alleging, inter alia, employment discrimination based on disability. The plaintiff claimed, inter alia, that the court improperly concluded that a genuine issue of material fact did not exist with respect to whether the defendant's reasons for its termination of her employment were pretextual in nature. Held: The trial court properly granted the defendant's motion for summary judg- ment on the plaintiff's claim of disability discrimination, as it properly applied the burden shifting framework of McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green (411 U.S. 792) to evaluate the discrimination claim, and, after the defendant presented unrefuted evidence that its termination of the plaintiff's employ- ment was not based on her disability, the burden shifted to the plaintiff, and the plaintiff failed to present any evidence that the defendant's reasons for terminating her employment were pretextual. The trial court properly granted the defendant's motion for summary judg- ment on the plaintiff's claim that the defendant failed to provide her with a reasonable accommodation for her disability, as the plaintiff failed to present evidence to raise a genuine issue of material fact that she initiated a request for a reasonable accommodation or that the defendant had a position available to which she could have been reassigned prior to the termination of her employment. Argued September 9, 2024—officially released February 11, 2025