Rosemary Garity v. Apwu National Labor Org.

Rosemary Garity, a clerk at the United States Postal Service office in Pahrump, Nevada, suffers from a litany of physical and emotional disabilities. Despite her willingness to perform her job duties, Garity repeatedly complained to her representatives at the American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO (“APWU”) that postal service management refused to accommodate her disabilities. Garity alleges that APWU, rather than filing and processing her grievances, sided with management, discriminating and retaliating against her because of her disabilities.

Garity brought two complaints against APWU in federal court, alleging a contractual breach of APWU’s duty of fair representation in the first, and alleging a series of violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., and Nevada state tort laws in the second. After two different district court judges determined that Garity’s complaints should proceed as independent actions, one district court judge (Dawson, J.) dismissed Garity’s first complaint, finding that, though APWU’s behavior towards Garity may have been negligent, APWU’s actions were not a breach of its duty of…