RODROCK v. U.S. ARMY: Awarded $110,000, reinstatement to her job, and years of backpay.
N/AOUTCOME: Successful
On June 29, 2012, Judge Player, an Administrative Judge from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s San Francisco District Office, issued a finding of discrimination against the U.S. Department ... of Army. Administrative Judge Player held that the Army violated the Rehabilitation Act when it failed to accommodate our client’s disability and failed to prove that providing telework (telecommuting) would have imposed an undue hardship on the agency’s operations. The Judge held that the agency discriminated against our client when it required onerous medical documentation, began coding our client’s absences as AWOL instead of LWOP, subjected her to adverse working conditions in February and March 2010, and removed her from her employment instead of providing a reasonable accommodation. The EEOC Judge also held that the agency retaliated against our client for requesting reasonable accommodation. The Judge stated that the “agency did not make any effort to provide meaningful, effective accommodation to [the complainant] in 2009 and 2010, choosing instead to terminate her employment.” The Administrative Judge held that the agency could not establish in any respect that it made “good faith efforts in consultation with the person with the disability” to provide reasonable accommodation. After considering all of the relevant factors and the applicable case law, the EEOC Judge found that our client suffered significant emotional pain, loss of self-worth, and loss of enjoyment of life, as a result of discriminatory conduct. Accordingly, Judge Player awarded our client $110,000 in non-pecuniary compensatory damages, reinstatement, back pay, benefits, a posting of notice of discrimination, among other things.