A corrections officer sued the State Department of Correctional Service (DOCS) for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by assigning him to work in areas where smoking was allowed even though the employee had severe bronchitis with an asthmatic component. The employee had complained to DOCS for nearly 10 years and repeatedly asked to work in a smoke-free environment. In response, the DOCS required the employee to wear a series of paper and rubber masks, which did not protect him from secondhand smoke, and eventually suspended him without pay. A jury ruled in favor of the employee finding that he was disabled and that DOCS both discriminated against the employee and retaliated against him based on his disability in violation of the ADA. The jury found that the employee’s disability substantially impaired his major life activity of working and that DOCS had not reasonably accommodated him. The jury awarded the employee more than $400,000 in damages, which was later reduced to $300,000 by the court.

The court of appeals found there was insufficient evidence that the employee was substantially impaired in the major life activity of working because the employee was not precluded from an entire class of jobs but only from working as a corrections officer in his area. The appeals court also found that there was not enough evidence of off-the-job breathing problems to find a substantial limitation of the major life activity of breathing. However, the court of appeals upheld the lower court’s decision based solely on the finding that the employee was retaliated against in violation of the ADA. The court also upheld the award of damages and the order for reinstatement and back pay.