Dateline: 04/29/02

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 that the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) does not ensure disabled workers hiring preference over more senior non-disabled employees.

In the case, U.S. Airways v. Barnett, Barnett suffered a back injury while working as a cargo handler for U.S. Airways. Barnett then transferred to a less physically demanding mailroom position. When his new mailroom job became open to all U.S. Airways employees under the company's sonority-based internal hiring system, Barnett lost his job to a more senior, non-disabled employee. 

Barnett filed suit against U.S. Airways under provisions of the ADA prohibiting employers from discriminating against disabled workers who with "reasonable accommodation" can perform a job's essential functions unless the employer "can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of [its] business." Barnett's attorneys argued that modifying its seniority plan to allow Barnett to keep his job represented a "reasonable accommodation" on the part of U.S. Airways.

A Washington State district court disagreed and granted a summary judgment in favor of U.S. Airways. The district court found that altering its seniority system was not reasonable and would amount to an "undue hardship" on both the company and its non-disabled workers.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, however, reversed the decision of the district court, finding seniority systems to be only one factor in what constitutes "undue hardship." Intensive case-by-case analysis, said the Ninth Circuit judges, is required to determine whether any particular action would or would not be an undue hardship.

In its majority opinion, written by Justice Stephen Breyer, the Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit Court, finding that requests for accommodation filed by disabled workers which would result in violations of set company seniority rules are not considered to be "reasonable" requests under the ADA.

"We can find nothing in the statute [the ADA] that suggests Congress intended to undermine seniority systems in this way," wrote Justice Breyer. "And we consequently conclude that the employer’s showing of violation of the rules of a seniority system is by itself ordinarily sufficient."

The court's majority did find that under "special circumstances," cases of disability may override seniority systems, but not "in the normal run of cases."

Justice Breyer was joined in the majority by Justices William Rehnquist, John Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy. Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg filed dissenting opinions.

The Supreme Court also returned, or "remanded," the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court for reconsideration in light of today's new ruling.

Advocates of rights for the disabled saw today's ruling as a second setback during the Supreme Court's current term. Earlier, justices ruled that workers suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, yet still able to perform some job functions may not be declared disabled under the ADA.