Ross

I. Facts Giving Rise to Ross’s Complaint

Ross, who holds a master’s degree in social work, started working for the County’s Department of Social Services (department) as a social worker in November 2002. She was hired as a “Social Worker IV,” which requires a master’s degree and is the highest nonsupervisory social worker position. Ross was required to type case narratives and case plans for children brought into custody and to handwrite her interactions with inmates she worked with at the prison in Chowchilla. In the summer of 2004, she was diagnosed with de Quervain’s tenosynovitis, a wrist injury that caused her thumb and fingers to “lock down” and required her to take a year off work for treatment and recovery. When Ross returned to work in the summer of 2005, she was limited in the amount of typing and writing she could do. The County accommodated these restrictions by granting her less typing-intensive assignments and providing her with a dictation device to record client contact narratives which an office assistant would transcribe. Ross became permanent and stationary in March 2006 and her restrictions were lightened so

2. she could write and type…