Federal employee’s EEO for failure to provide reasonable accommodation was timely. Complainant filed an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaint alleging discrimination on the basis of disability (traumatic brain injury) when his requests for reasonable accommodation were ignored and/or denied and he was terminated during his probationary period. The Agency accepted his second claim for investigation, and stated the first claim for reasonable accommodation requests were untimely as they were not brought to the counselor’s attention within 40 days. At the conclusion of the investigation, the Agency issued a final decision concluding the Complainant failed to prove the Agency subjected him to discrimination. The final decision further found that Complainant was a qualified individual with a disability but that he failed to establish that the Agency’s reason for his removal was pretextual. Complainant appealed.
On appeal, the EEOC’s Office of Federal Operations (OFO) held that the Agency’s continual unwillingness to provide Complainant with a reasonable accommodation created an ongoing issue which could not start a statute of limitations. Therefore, Complainant’s filing was timely. The OFO vacated the Agency’s final decision and the case remanded to the Agency for further processing.
Buck S. v. United States Postal Service, EEOC Appeal No. 0120180137 (Apr. 3, 2019) https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/migrated_files/decisions/0120180137.pdf
Attorney Kirk J Angel represents federal employees nationwide and offers a free 15 minute consultation for those employees.