A charge nurse in the extended care unit at a VA medical center took a leave of absence from her job on her mental health provider's recommendation.  When it was time to return to work she informed her supervisors she had been diagnosed with an adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood.  Based on that diagnosis she requested transfer to another area of the facility.  In connection with that request she indicated she was fully capable of working on just about any unit of the facility, except the extended care facility to which her mental health provider did not want her to return.  She was not offered another position. When she did not return after her medical leave had expired she was deemed absent without leave and was terminated.

  The US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina dismissed the nurse's disability discrimination lawsuit.  There were multiple independent bases for the Court's ruling, each of which could have produced the same result.  The Court accepted the fact the nurse had a legitimate diagnosis from her mental health provider of adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood.  However, the nurse failed to take the next required step of providing evidence that her condition fit the legal definition of a disability.  Even when a genuine physical or mental condition can be substantiated, it is not presumed to be a disability under employment discrimination law.

  A legal disability is a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits the individual in the performance of a major life activity like seeing, hearing, walking or working.  Applying for other positions on campus where she herself admitted she was fully capable of working strongly militated against the idea the nurse had a disability. Even a legitimate physical inability to perform one particular job in one's field is not considered a disability for purposes of disability discrimination law.

  Even if the nurse was disabled, her employer did not have to provide an accommodation that was not reasonable.  Reasonable accommodation usually means some sort of modification of the physical environment or the physical operation of the job so that an employee with a disability can perform the essential functions of the position. An example might be an amplified stethoscope for a nurse with a disabling hearing impairment.

  Reasonable accommodation can also include transfer of a disabled employee to a position whose physical environment or physical demands are compatible with the limitations inherent in the employee's disability, so the employee can fulfill the essential functions of the employee's position even with a disability.  An example might be a sedentary job for a person with disabling mobility issues.

  However, reasonable accommodation does not include the employer having to reassign a disabled employee simply because he or she cannot get along with certain coworkers or supervisors.  Reasonable accommodation did not entitle the nurse to a transfer from the extended care unit even with backup from her mental health provider that she should not go back to work there due to her mental health diagnosis.  That would imply a special entitlement for the disabled which the Court deemed unfair.