Faulkner v. Dartmouth Hitchcock Med. Ctr. – Aug. 2015 (Summary)

DISCRIMINATION – DISABILITY

Faulkner v. Dartmouth Hitchcock Med. Ctr., No. 12-cv-482-SM (D. N.H. Aug. 12, 2015)

A radiology resident sued her former employer, a medical center, alleging that she was terminated in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”). The resident had had insomnia, which was causing her to have performance-related issues at work. Her treating physician suggested accommodations to the medical center to allow for the resident’s disability.

The medical center fully complied with the suggested accommodations, which included scheduling and call modifications; however, over the course of more than a year, the resident’s performance did not improve. As a result, she was not promoted to her third year of residency and had to repeat her second year. In the middle of that year, the program received a report from her physician indicating that despite all of the accommodations in place, her medical condition was impairing her cognitive functioning such that the medical center had concerns about patient safety. She was ultimately placed on administrative leave and terminated after refusing to resign.

Her ADA claims against the program were twofold – that she had been terminated on the basis of race and disability and that the reason she had not secured a position in a training program in New York to which she had applied was because someone affiliated with the defendant program had said something “negative” about her medical condition.

The resident’s ADA claim failed because she had failed to properly file a claim with the EEOC and because, even if the information was disclosed to the New York program, the defendant did not learn of the resident’s medical condition in an inappropriate manner. Rather, the resident had voluntarily disclosed that information to the program. The resident’s FMLA claim failed because she failed to show any evidence that there was a connection to her invocation of her right to FMLA leave and her subsequent termination.