Sleeping Is 'Major Life Activity' Under Rehabilitation Act

A federal appeals court has ruled for the first time that sleeping is a "major life activity" under the federal Rehabilitation Act.

Reversing a grant of summary judgment for the FBI, the District of Columbia U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Martin Desmond's alleged sleeplessness could not possibly amount to a substantial limitation under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 [LU1]because it had no discernible effect on his work as an FBI Academy trainee or his life in general.

"Indeed, nothing in the statute suggests that to claim the act's protection, a plaintiff like Desmond must demonstrate that his impairment affects his work performance in some way or has an ancillary effect on his waking life in general," the court said.

The statute prohibits federal agencies from engaging in employment discrimination against disabled people.

According to the opinion, Desmond was held hostage in 1997 by an armed robber who broke into his home and threatened to kill him and then rape his mother.

Although he managed to escape and alert the police, who arrested the robber, Desmond began to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by the event, the opinion says. He said he worried constantly about his mother's safety and was able to sleep only four to five hours a night.

Desmond applied for a position as an FBI special agent, the opinion says. While his application was pending, he took a job as a financial assistant in the agency's Cleveland office.

He entered the FBI's new-agent-in-training unit in Quantico, Va., in February 2000. According to the opinion, although he did well in his classes, he continued to struggle with the traumatic incident and underwent counseling, where he was told he likely had PTSD.

He asked the agency to assign him to Cleveland, but his request was rejected.

Following his therapist's suggestion that he vent his emotions by writing letters, he drafted a letter to the FBI director expressing his anger over the denial of his request, the opinion says.

Desmond's supervisor found the letter and interpreted it as a resignation letter, although Desmond claimed that he never intended to send it. The FBI ultimately told him he could not graduate, the opinion says.

Desmond sued U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey and the FBI in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He said the agency discriminated against him and targeted him for retaliation because of his PTSD, which substantially limited the major life activity of sleeping.

The District Court granted summary judgment to the defendants on the disability claim but allowed the retaliation claim to go to a jury. The jury ruled for the defendants, and Desmond appealed to the D.C. Circuit.

The three-judge panel affirmed the jury verdict on the retaliation claim but reversed summary judgment on the disability bias claim.

The appeals court found that Desmond presented enough evidence to persuade a reasonable jury that his PTSD substantially limited his ability to sleep. Therefore, summary judgment on his disability claim was inappropriate, it said.

The government set forth legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for its decision to dismiss Desmond by claiming that he lacked the cooperativeness and emotional maturity required by FBI training standards, the court acknowledged.

However, it said, Desmond produced enough evidence to survive summary judgment as to a possible pretext in those reasons.

His evaluations were positive, and it was only after the FBI found out about his PTSD diagnosis that the agency's attitude toward him changed, the panel said[LU2].

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