A former public defender, who claimed the Defender Association of Philadelphia failed to accommodate her major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, made “objectively unreasonable” requests, the association has argued in its motion to dismiss her lawsuit.

The Defender Association on Tuesday filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in late April. The agency's motion contends that it provided every reasonable accommodation to the attorney, and only fired her after she requested an “open and indefinite” leave of absence.

“Because there was no other reasonable accommodation that would allow [Megan] Perez to maintain employment with the Defender Association, Ms. Perez was not a qualified individual with a disability,” the agency said in a brief filed by Littler Mendelson attorney Richard Harris. “Since Ms. Perez could not perform her job without an indefinite leave, she is not a qualified individual under the [Americans with Disabilities Act] and thus fails to establish a prima facie case of discrimination.”

According to the 10-page complaint the EEOC filed on the attorney's behalf, Perez began working for the association as a full-time attorney in 2007, and for the first five years she rotated through most of the units, including handling preliminary hearings, motions court, juvenile, felony waivers and major trials. In 2012, she was promoted to the position of assistant supervisor of the Juvenile Special Cases section, where part of her duties involved defending juveniles charged with sex crimes, the complaint said. She was promoted as supervisor of the section the following year.

In June 2014, Perez was assigned as a sexually violent predator specialist—a position she allegedly told the association she was not comfortable with. According to the complaint, she was told the special assignment would only last two years. However, the complaint said, the assignment lasted about 30 months, and she was subsequently reassigned to the Juvenile Special Cases section, where she again defended juveniles facing sex crime charges.

The complaint said Perez began treating with a licensed clinical social worker in mid-2017, and, on the advice of her therapist, she took a leave of absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act soon after. In August 2017, Perez was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and PTSD, which, the complaint said, “were caused, in part, by her work as an SVP specialist and in the JSCS.”

In September 2017, she requested medical leave until January 2018, as well as a transfer to a unit that does not involve sex-based crimes. The complaint said the supervisors agreed to Perez's return and reassignment. However, two months later, Perez was told by two human resource representatives that she would be fired because she could no longer be covered under the association's malpractice insurance, since she was being placed on long-term disability.

The agency's response, however, contended the memorandum Perez's therapist prepared indicated that Perez's January 2018 return date might not be “feasible,” and that without a definitive return-to-work date, Perez was seeking “indefinite leave.”

“Thus, at the time of her administrative termination effective Dec. 15, 2017 (after 140 days of leave), [Megan] Perez was still unable to return to work in the immediate future with or without a reasonable accommodation—much less perform the essential functions of her job,” the brief said, adding later that “according to the EEOC's own guidelines, providing Ms. Perez with this request would have placed an undue burden on the Defender Association.”

A statement from Chief Defender Keir Bradford-Grey said the organization takes any acts of discrimination “extremely seriously,” and the agency regularly makes accommodations for employees' personal lives, including for health-related issues.

“While we continue to believe this lawsuit is fully without merit, we wish our former employee good health, happiness and success,” Bradford-Grey said.

EEOC attorney Joshua Zugerman declined to comment for the story.