WMBA 6604 Week 6 Employment Law Memo Example

Memorandum

To: Vice President, Human Resources, and Chief Medical Officer, Conestoga Ridge Medical Center

From: Associate General Counsel

Date: October 6, 2026

Re: Nurse accommodation request and hospitalist summary suspension

Questions Presented

First, did the hospital meet its obligations to a medical intensive care nurse who asked for an accommodation of a lifting restriction? Second, does the summary suspension of a hospitalist's clinical privileges expose the hospital to liability?

Short Answers

First, probably not yet: her restriction likely qualifies as a disability, and her manager closed the conversation instead of engaging in the interactive process the regulations describe. Second, the exposure is limited if the medical staff follows its bylaws from here, because federal law grants immunity for peer review actions that meet its standards.

Who Is on Which Track

The nurse, J. A., is a hospital employee, so the federal employment statutes apply directly. The hospitalist, Dr. L. P., is employed by a contracted hospitalist group, not by the hospital. Her relationship with Conestoga Ridge runs through her medical staff membership and clinical privileges, which are governed by the medical staff bylaws, a set of procedural protections that courts treat largely as contractual.

The Nurse's Accommodation Request

Does the Limitation Qualify?

J. A. has a herniated lumbar disc, and her surgeon has barred her from lifting more than 25 pounds for about six months. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act as amended in 2008, a disability means an impairment that significantly restricts a major life activity, and the statute names lifting among those activities (42 U.S.C. § 12102). The regulations provide that an impairment lasting fewer than six months can still be substantially limiting (29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(j)(1)(ix)). Her restriction probably qualifies.

What Would the Requested Change Involve?

She asked to be placed temporarily in a vacant utilization review position, a nursing role at the same grade that involves no patient lifting. The statute lists "reassignment to a vacant position" among reasonable accommodations (42 U.S.C. § 12111(9)). The position was posted on September 15 and remains open.

What Did the Interactive Process Produce?

Very little. The regulations describe an informal, interactive process to identify the limitation and possible accommodations (29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(o)(3)). Her manager replied in one email: "ICU nurses lift. Come back when you are cleared." No one discussed the vacancy. The agency's guidance treats reassignment as an accommodation of last resort, to be considered when the employee cannot be accommodated in her current job, and that is the situation here (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2002). She has already taken eight of the twelve weeks the Family and Medical Leave Act guarantees her (29 U.S.C. § 2612), so the hospital should resolve the request before that leave runs out.

The Hospitalist's Suspension

On September 28 the chief medical officer summarily suspended Dr. L. P.'s privileges after two patients deteriorated on her service within a week, citing imminent risk. She has requested a hearing and alleges that the suspension was retaliation for her complaints about staffing.

The Health Care Quality Improvement Act shields peer reviewers from damages if four conditions are met: they reasonably believed the action would improve care, they made a reasonable effort to learn the facts, the physician received fair notice and a hearing, and they reasonably believed the facts justified the action (42 U.S.C. § 11112(a)). The statute permits an immediate suspension, with notice and a hearing afterward, where failing to act may result in imminent danger to any individual (42 U.S.C. § 11112(c)). Courts have applied the immunity to summary suspensions even where the physician alleged bad motives, because the test is objective (Poliner v. Texas Health Systems, 2008).

Our bylaws require that a suspended practitioner receive written notice of the reasons within three days and a hearing within thirty days of a request. The notice went out on time. The hearing has not been scheduled. If the suspension continues past thirty days, the hospital must also report it to the National Practitioner Data Bank.

What an Adequate Record Would Show

For the nurse, an adequate record would show a meeting with J. A. to discuss her restrictions, consideration of the vacant utilization review position and any other options, and a written decision with reasons. The current record shows only the manager's email. Human resources should meet with her this week and offer the reassignment unless a documented reason prevents it.

For the hospitalist, an adequate record would show the facts gathered before the suspension, a hearing on the bylaws' timetable before an impartial panel and a decision tied to the clinical findings. The record is sound so far, but the hearing must be scheduled now. Her staffing complaints should be kept separate from the review and documented, so the panel's reasoning rests only on the two cases.

References

Definition of disability, 42 U.S.C. § 12102 (2024).

Definitions, 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2 (2024).

Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. § 2612 (2024).

Poliner v. Texas Health Systems, 537 F.3d 368 (2008).

Standards for professional review actions, 42 U.S.C. § 11112 (2024).

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2002). Enforcement guidance: Reasonable accommodation and undue hardship under the Americans with Disabilities Act. https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/enforcement-guidance-reasonable-accommodation-and-undue-hardship-under-ada