Feb. 8—CHEYENNE — The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Cheyenne, and its previous mayor, Marian Orr (now Smith), did not discriminate against an employee by terminating her after a request for extra time to deal with a disability.

The attorney for the individual that filed the lawsuit, former city Human Resources Director Denise Freeman, said the decision could be a bad sign for workers’ rights in Wyoming, especially workers seeking accommodations for a disability.

“Well, it’s a frustrating decision for workers,” Megan Hayes told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Thursday. “… It’s hard to know if they will be able to frame their requests for reasonable accommodation in a way that that protects them legally from being terminated from their jobs.”

While the case can be cited in future cases, Hayes said, it is not binding precedent. In other words, it can be used as an example, but it is not a decision that changes the interpretation of the law.

Freeman filed a complaint in 2022 with the U.S District Court of Wyoming, saying that a hostile work environment, led by Orr, led to her needing to take some time off, which a doctor approved and the mayor initially OK’d. The time off, initially six weeks, was under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

After that time ran out, and she wanted to dip into the bank of sick time she’d accrued, Freeman said she was denied the request and terminated. They argued that the termination constituted discrimination for seeking accommodations for a disability. According to the initial complaint, using sick or other personal time to extend an expired FMLA leave of absence was common.

Freeman and Hayes argued in the filing that Orr displayed a pattern of hostile, rude treatment that led to Freeman’s need to exit.

“During her only term as mayor, Mayor Orr was prone to fits of rage and would lash out angrily at Ms. Freeman and other city employees,” the complaint from 2022 read. It also said that Freeman felt “bullied and intimidated” by Orr and her staff, and that Orr “spoke to her in a threatening matter.”

Marian Smith denied all of those claims, and told the WTE on Thursday that the decision affirmed all of her feelings about the situation.

“If there’s one thing that I’m not, it’s discriminatory, and I am pleased that the courts to have confirmed that to be true,” Smith said Thursday. “… I know, in the fiber of my being, that there’s not a discriminatory bone in my body. And, in fact, I worked very hard — especially while in office — to have an administration that was inclusive.”

The case was dismissed by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, largely on the grounds that Freeman’s requests for accommodations were not reasonable and did not meet the requirements for the job expected of her. At one point, she had asked for reassignment, part-time hours and remote work. The court sided with Smith on the issue, saying that those requests did not meet the requirement by the city for 40 hours of in-person work a week.

Freeman and Hayes argued that the city “failed to engage” with her requests for accommodation, leading to the discrimination claims. In Wednesday’s ruling, the court called Freeman’s arguments “unpersuasive” because she never proved that “reasonable accommodation” was possible.

Freeman was an HR director for the city, Hayes noted when talking about the ramifications of this decision. She said that, if the court decided that Freeman — an expert in workplace matters — didn’t follow proper procedure and therefore didn’t have a valid claim, how could regular people be expected to understand the proper way to go about seeking accommodations for disabilities?

“Unfortunately, I think, you know, employers they have the upper hand, and it’s so hard for people who have suffered discrimination in the workplace to prevail,” Hayes said. “This is one example of that; it’s just ridiculous that the HR director of one of Wyoming’s largest cities can’t even figure out what’s the right way to ask for an accommodation. I mean, of all people.”

Samir Knox is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s criminal justice and public safety reporter. He can be reached by email at sknox@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3152. Follow him on Twitter at @bySamirKnox.