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Tynan v. Vicinage 13 of the Superior Court of New Jersey5/31/2002
tance [is desired] for his or her disability." Jones v. United Parcel Service, 214 F.3d 402, 408 (3d Cir. 2000)(quoting Taylor, supra, 184 F.3d at 313. Once such a request is made, "both parties have a duty to assist in the search for appropriate reasonable accommodation and to act in good faith." Taylor, supra, 184 F.3d at 312 (quoting Mengine v. Runyon, 114 F.3d 415, 419-20 (3d Cir. 1997)).
To determine what appropriate accommodation is necessary, the employer must initiate an informal interactive process with the employee. 29 C.F.R. ยง1630.2(0)(3). This process must identify the potential reasonable accommodations that could be adopted to overcome the employee's precise limitations resulting from the disability. Ibid. Once a handicapped employee has requested assistance, it is the employer who must make the reasonable effort to determine the appropriate accommodation. Taylor, supra, 184 F.3d at 311.
To show that an employer failed to participate in the interactive process, a disabled employee must demonstrate: (1) the employer knew about the employee's disability; (2) the employee requested accommodations or assistance for her disability; (3) the employer did not make a good faith effort to assist the employee in seeking accommodations; and (4) the employee could have been reasonably accommodated but for the employer's lack of good faith. Id. at 319-20. See Jones v. Aluminum Shapes, supra, 339 N.J. Super. at 425 (Where the employer's good faith in the interactive process could not be disputed).
In this case, the vicinage was aware that Tynan believed her disabilities were exacerbated by her conflicts with Pardo and that Tynan wanted the vicinage to remove the "lies out of personnel file", so that if plaintiff wanted to transfer to another County, her file would not reflect her incompetence. The vicinage also knew that Tynan did not want to report to Pardo as her supervisor and that Tynan was told by her doctors that if it were necessary to communicate with Pardo to do so in writing to minimize the resulting stress.
We recognize that the vicinage may have properly rejected both of Tynan's specific accommodation requests. We also recognize that Regan's five-point plan, adopted just before Tynan's leave, together with the grant of Tynan's eleven-month leave may have been reasonable responses to Tynan's initial requests for assistance. The time-frame that we are most concerned with, however, relates to the end of Tynan's leave. It was at that point, that we conclude a factual dispute exists regarding whether the vicinage failed to reasonably accommodate Tynan under the LAD.
The judiciary has an anti-discrimination policy that sets forth in pertinent part, in accordance with the ADA and Civil Rights' regulations, that the judicial branch of government is "committed to complying with the [ADA and LAD] . . . and . . . will not discharge a worker who develops a disability . . . so long as that individual remains qualified and able to perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation." We believe that the vicinage may have violated the anti-discrimination policy because without attempting any accommodation, it discharged a handicapped worker.
Tynan was on record preferring to work out her difficulties administratively rather than by filing a complaint. Tynan had sent the vicinage doctor reports periodically throughout her leave period. At the end of her eleven-month leave when Tynan requested an extension, the vicinage knew or should have known of the various maladies Tynan was coping with, her main complaints regarding her work situation, and that she claimed her working conditions had exacerbated her handicap. T
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