• A Message from the Chairperson
• Art in the Afternoon: the UFT at MoMA
• Legal Update
• A Message from Eugene Rubin
• At the UFT Spring Education Conference
• April 9th Musical Event at the Cajun Restaurant

Legal Update: Tourette Syndrome: Difficulties in the Workplace

Tourette syndrome, a neurological disorder, is difficult enough for the affected worker, but it may prove to be the most troublesome disorder for management to deal with. It is a disorder “ripe for litigation” said attorney Edith S. Marshall, representing her client with Tourette syndrome.

Her client’s lawsuit is Bell v. Ashcroft, recently decided at the U.S. District Court, District of Columbia. Jeffrey Bell, a crime scene photographer at the Federal Bureau of Investigation with Tourette syndrome sued his employer alleging that he was denied travel assignments, excluded from managerial meetings and subjected to a hostile work environment due to his disability.

The court granted partial summary judgment for the employer, the FBI, ruling that Bell was not disabled under the Rehabilitation Act. But he could go forward with his retaliation claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

“When you’re dealing with Tourette syndrome, it’s not necessarily a lack of accommodation that sparks litigation, but how others in the workplace react to the employee’s impairment,” said Bell’s attorney.
Tourette syndrome usually develops in early childhood and is characterized by involuntary, sudden movements or vocalizations, known as “tics” according to Gary Frank, executive director of the Tourette Syndrome Association.

Estimates of as many as 100,000 working-age Americans have Tourette’s, but it’s unknown how many are actually in the workplace.
There are variations of how the syndrome is expressed from person to person, and how it changes over time. This provides a very challenging aspect of dealing with the condition.

One very troubling aspect of Tourette’s is the blurting out of obscenities, called coprolalia, or making obscene gestures, known as copropraxia. But these are extreme outbursts, occurring only in about 13 percent of those afflicted, according to Frank.

More common symptoms include attention deficits, impulsiveness, obsessive compulsive behavior and problems in mastering new tasks. When it manifests as isolationism — whereby individuals may isolate themselves for hours or days to express their tics in private — then it is most likely to qualify as a disability under the ADA.

“Lack of knowledge of the condition is probably the biggest reason Tourette syndrome becomes a contentious issue in the workplace,” Frank said. “While there is no way to control tics, most of those with TS can temporarily suppress them. This obviously makes some managers dubious about disability claims and leads to problems.”

Frank provides six tips to help managers deal with employees afflicted with Tourette syndrome, prevent possible lawsuits and provide some ideas for reasonable accommodations:

• Get informed about this disorder.

• Engage in an open, interactive dialogue with the employee.

• Arrange for the employee to have a private space when he or she needs to express any tics.

• Respond to the employee’s needs; for example, if focusing on work or learning a new job task is the issue, encourage him or her to relocate to a quieter location at work.

• If the employee must express vocal tics, locate him or her where the sounds won’t be distractive to other workers.

• Accentuate the positive.

Research from National Disability Law Reporter, April 28, 2005

Carolyn Herbst, Committee Chairperson • Abbe Nosoff, Editor/Writer • Eugene Rubin, UFT Committee Liaison