08-13-2025
David Bourke worked for a VA Hospital in Illinois. He is disabled and requires a cane to walk and a mobility scooter to get around at work. The VA granted Bourke’s request for a reserved parking spot to shorten his walk to a locked room where he kept his scooter while off work. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospital closed off Bourke’s usual entrance. Bourke requested a new parking spot near the new entrance (by the emergency room) that he used and a locked room nearby. The VA responded that no suitable storage rooms were available there, and the only potential parking spots were needed for disabled patients and visitors. The hospital offered Bourke a parking space at another entrance near an unlocked storage room, where other employees stored their scooters. Bourke rejected this offer because he believed his scooter would be stolen. Bourke came up with another option that he used. He had to walk a longer way, which he said exacerbated his hip pain.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals considered Bourke’s claim that the VA did not reasonably accommodate his disability. Federal employers, like private employers, must provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities, unless the employer can show undue hardship. The appellate court stated that employers may modify offered accommodations when there is a change in circumstances. Preventing the spread of disease during a pandemic qualified as such a change. Employers are not required to grant employees’ preferred accommodations. Instead, they must provide a reasonable accommodation that allows an employee to perform their position. In this instance, Bourke received a parking spot and a storage space as needed. The court suggested that the VA should have engaged in an interactive process instead of unilaterally withdrawing the original accommodation. However, the hospital did offer an effective alternative. Because it provided that effective accommodation, the VA had done enough to avoid potential liability.