Teacher Learns Tough Lesson About Disability Law

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Some lawsuits seem too crazy to be true. This one was real.

A woman sued her employer, whom she said failed to accommodate her disability. What was her disability? She said she had a phobia of children. Her employer? A Cincinnati school district. She was a teacher who claimed that her transfer from the high school to the middle school triggered her phobia and raised her blood pressure, forcing her to retire. Hm.

Teaching middle schoolers raises your blood pressure? Try parenting them.

Under the law, some phobias are so severe that they are classified as mental illness and substantially limit one or more life activity, which is the definition of a disability.

But here's the thing. An employer can't discriminate against an otherwise qualified person with a disability who, with reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the job.

Most would agree that being around students is an essential function of a teacher, which is a lesson in the law the teacher learned the hard way when she lost her case.