Benefits and Compensation, HR Management & Compliance, Learning & Development, Recruiting

6th Cir. Allows Bus Driver Trainee’s ADA Suit to Continue

To bring a discrimination claim, a trainee with a disability needs only show that she was qualified to participate in the job training; she doesn’t need to prove that she was qualified for prospective job, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals ruled Aug. 8.

The case, Rosebrough v. Buckeye Valley High School, involved Tammy Rosebrough, who alleged disability discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act against a school that was training her to be a bus driver. The school, however, argued that because she did not possess a CDL, she was not qualified for the job in question — a prerequisite to bringing an ADA claim. (See the ADA Compliance Guide, ¶213 for more on “qualified individuals.”) The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio agreed and dismissed her claims.

Rosebrough appealed, arguing that the lower court made a mistake in considering whether she was qualified to be a driver. Instead, she was hired “as an employee without wages, provisionally subject to being issued a CDL,” she told the court.

The 6th Circuit agreed. ADA protects job trainees from disability discrimination and at the time of the alleged discrimination, Rosebrough was in training and was qualified to be there. There is “no logical basis for requiring her to have a CDL to be ‘otherwise qualified’ for the position of training to obtain a CDL,” the court said. “Therefore, having a CDL was not necessary for Rosebrough to perform the essential functions of her training position, and the district court erred in holding otherwise.”

For additional information about nondiscrimination, see Thompson’s employment law library including the ADA Compliance Guide.

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