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Macsuga v. County of Spokane9/14/1999
The primary question presented in this disability discrimination case is whether an employer's failure to follow Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) interpretive guidelines to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a per se violation of Washington's law against discrimination. It is not. And we therefore affirm the jury verdict for the employer.
FACTS
Shellie MacSuga worked as a paralegal in the Spokane County Public Defender's Office. In that capacity, she conducts interviews with clients in jail, and makes handwritten notes which the lawyers then use during criminal proceedings. Jail interviews make up about 75 to 85 percent of the job.
In April 1995, Ms. MacSuga injured her neck and right shoulder in an off-duty car accident. Prolonged handwriting aggravated the injury. Her doctor ordered her writing limited to no more than 30 minutes at a stretch for a total of no more than four hours a day.
When the other paralegal in her section left for six weeks' medical leave, his duties were not covered. Ms. MacSuga conducted jail interviews for six hours a day. Within a few days, she aggravated her injury. Her doctor further restricted her to one jail interview per day, gradually increasing to three per day.
Ms. MacSuga asked for a disability accommodation to reduce the volume of handwriting.
Various accommodations, to get around her handwriting requirement, were discussed and rejected as impracticable. For example, tape-recording the notes was rejected because of concern that tape recordings were subject to discovery by the State, while handwritten notes were protected as lawyer work product. And busy public defenders did not have time to listen to tapes anyway. Typing was rejected because the employer believed Ms. MacSuga's injury prevented her from typing. Ms. MacSuga never said she could type. Neither adequate secretarial help nor sufficient funds to send the work out were available to allow Ms. MacSuga to dictate the notes.
Ms. MacSuga suggested that volunteers perform the interviews, but none were available. Moreover, volunteers were students, available only on an unpredictable part-time basis and therefore could not fill a full-time position. Ms. MacSuga also asked to be reassigned or rotated with other paralegals in the office. However, since all the paralegals do primarily jail interviews, the County contended that, if the other paralegals did all the jail interviews, there was not enough other work for Ms. MacSuga. The interview notes could not be taken by computer because the operating system was not PC-based, but relied on dumb terminals. And the necessary facilities were not available in the jail interview rooms. Lack of facilities, budget limitations and the perceived typing problem combined to preclude consideration of a laptop computer.
At trial, Ms. MacSuga's expert suggested voice-activated software. The public defender testified this was financially impossible and beyond the limitations of the computer operating system. IBM's voice system was also still in the developmental stage.
Ms. MacSuga conceded that her inability to write precluded her from doing the jail interviews. And the public defender contended that the jail interviews were an essential job function.
Early in May 1995, the public defender announced that an existing policy against unpaid leave would be strictly enforced. Ms. MacSuga was informed that the no-leave-without-pay policy would be enforced starting in June. She had previously taken extensive unpaid leaves. And she conceded that her pre-injury absences were excessive. She was, nevertheless, granted six months' unp
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