11-03-2026
Cheryl Hileman worked as a CT Technologist for West Penn Allegheny Health System, Inc. (AHS). After Hileman’s first year of work, AHS took disciplinary action against Hileman for excessive absenteeism. The reprimand included instructions on how to request accommodations and/or a leave of absence. Five months later, a coworker reported seeing Hileman sleeping on duty, texting while on duty, and failing to stock rooms. Hospital policy precluded sleeping on duty or “positioning oneself to sleep.” Hileman’s manager investigated the complaint, and asked Hileman whether she had been asleep on the job. She denied sleeping and stated that she may have shut her eyes to alleviate dry eyes caused by changes to her diabetes medication, which also caused her fatigue. Before this conversation, Hileman had not disclosed her diabetes to AHS, and AHS was therefore unaware of the condition. AHS fired her for misconduct.
Hileman sued AHS for disability discrimination, failure to accommodate, retaliation, and wrongful termination. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment on all Hileman’s claims. But Hileman never asked for accommodation or leave, even after disclosing her diabetes at work. Because no accommodation request was made, AHS was not required to seek out or implement one.
The timing of Hileman’s disclosure was also “weighty,” according to the appellate court, because it came only after she had been accused of misconduct and was on the brink of termination. Dry eye and fatigue are not “uncommon,” and there was no obvious impairment, no prior disclosure, and no circumstances to put the employer on notice. According to the decision, employers should not assume employees are disabled and need accommodation.
Even if Hileman’s disclosure of her diabetes was construed as an accommodation request, the ADA did not obligate AHS to ignore her misconduct, even if it stems from a disability. To prevail on a failure-to-accommodate claim, an employee must establish that they requested reasonable accommodation and that their employer failed to provide one.