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Former WWU employee sues school over disability accommodations

Former WWU employee sues school over disability accommodations

Western Washington University Photo: Saga Communications/Sam Kristofferson


BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A former employee at Western Washington University is suing the school after she says it failed to accommodate her disability.

Teri Hall filed the lawsuit on July 30, just over a year after Western eliminated her position as a program specialist at the College of Business and Economics.

After that, Hall claims she accepted a similar position with the school’s Woodring College of Education. But according to the complaint, she was later denied the position because she couldn’t perform in-person fingerprinting duties, which the school deemed an essential part of the job.

Hall had been working from home for the past two years because of a disability, an accommodation the school had previously approved. She says she continued working with WWU to find a similar position, but was told either the school couldn’t accommodate her disability or she wasn’t qualified for the openings.

Hall claims the school later reassigned fingerprinting duties for a Woodring employee who was on maternity leave after refusing to do the same for her.

She is seeking an unspecified amount of damages for emotional pain and suffering.

WWU has until Aug. 24 to respond to the claims. The school has not responded to My Bellingham Now for comment.

The Bellingham Herald was first to report the lawsuit.

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