Supreme Court Says Disabled Workers Cannot Pre-Empt Longtime Employees
WASHINGTON (AP) - In a setback for disabled workers, the Supreme Court ruled Monday those employees are not always entitled to premium assignments intended for more senior workers.
Justices said the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act does not pre-empt company seniority systems. The act forbids job discrimination against the disabled and requires employers to offer reasonable accommodations.
But the court said that disabled workers can show "special circumstances" that make exceptions reasonable.
The Supreme Court threw out a lower court's finding that Robert Barnett's back injury gave him first choice of jobs at US Airways over his more senior co-workers. The justices sent the case back for further review.
The 5-4 decision continues the court trend of narrowing the reach of the ADA. In five other cases involving the workplace, the court has ruled against the worker each time. In the most recent decision, the court in January made it more difficult for employees to demand special treatment if they suffer partial disabilities such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
US Airways had appealed in the Barnett case, asking whether the ADA trumped seniority systems.
"We answer that ordinarily the ADA does not require that assignment," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote.
He said that it's up to individual employees to show why their case would be an exception. "In our view, the seniority system will prevail in the run of cases," Breyer wrote.
Justice Antonin Scalia, in a dissent, said the court should have taken a stronger position protecting employers from lawsuits over seniority systems.
Also dissenting were Justices Clarence Thomas, David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The ruling applies to seniority systems that are a matter of company policy, rather than a result of an employer's contract with its unions, employment lawyers said.
Under the US Airways seniority system, about 14,000 customer service employees receive duties, shifts, transfers and holidays based on experience.
Barnett sought a transfer after hurting his back loading baggage at San Francisco International Airport in 1990. He was given a job in the mailroom, but employees with more seniority later requested the same position. Under seniority rules, they could bump him to a less desirable job.
Barnett sued in 1994 under the ADA and won in lower courts. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said employers cannot use a seniority system to avoid seeking solutions for disabled employees.
In March, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said the Supreme Court's term will likely be remembered as the "disabilities act term" for all the cases dealing with the civil rights law. She also criticized the law, calling it "an example of what happens when ... the sponsors are so eager to get something passed that what passes hasn't been as carefully written as a group of law professors might put together."
The court is considering another ADA case that asks whether an employer can exclude someone from a job that might jeopardize his health.
The case is US Airways v. Barnett, 00-1250.
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