Court upholds dismissal of ADA and gender disrimination claims.

The Sixth Circuit heard Alisha Regan's appeal of the dismissal of her lawsuit against her former employer Faurecia Automotive Seating, Inc.  The lower cour had found inadequate evidence of gender or disability disrcimination to allow the claim to go to a jury and summarily dismissed it.  Regan appealed, arguing that she had demonstrated a violation of the employer's duty to accommodate her disability. 

Regan suffers from narcolepsy and argued that the employer should accommodate her inability to commute a substantial distance in heavy traffic, for safety reasons.  The employer was making a change to start work one hour later in the morning, however, because the earlier starting time had proved unproductive because materials needed did not arrive from other departments at the earlier hour in the morning.  The Court ultimately concluded that if her condition constituted a "disability" under the ADA, her request exceeded the employer's duty to provide a "reasonable accommodation."