Fired Nurse With Arthritis Lacks ADA Claim

A nurse with rheumatoid arthritis terminated from a health-care case management job has no Americans with Disabilities Act claim because she couldn’t drive to clients’ homes for face-to-face visits, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled (Swank v. CareSource Mgmt. Grp. Corp., 6th Cir., No. 15-4193, unpublished 8/17/16).

The decision illustrates that an employee with disabilities may not be protected under the ADA if she can’t perform a job’s essential functions and can’t identify a reasonable accommodation that would allow her to do so.

Katherina Swank can’t show she was “otherwise qualified” for a high-risk ...