Aina v. State of Hawaii Dept. of Education

In School Year (SY) 2008-2009 teacher Vanessa Ott requested her first RDA from the Principal of Naalehu Elementary School (NES), and an ugly conflict began. As the years and retaliation progressed, the Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA), otherwise known as the teachers' union, represented Ott in a number of grievances concerning discrimination based on her disability. 

One of the RDAs was a key to the NES gate so she could access the campus and handicapped parking in order to work after school hours and on weekends. She needed to work more hours because her physical handicaps slow her down, and there are many tasks an elementary school teacher can do only in the classroom.  The Ott/HSTA v DOE Grievance Arbitration DECISION AND AWARD says:

• "Should Grievant file a Reasonable Accommodation Request..., then Employer shall consider such Request as a reasonable request for an employment accommodation; subject, however, to such reasonable conditions as the Employer may deem appropriate under the existing School campus security, safety or liability concerns." (p. 18)

Ott would have been awarded this had she remained a DOE employee and gone through the RDA process again.  Still being subjected to retaliation, which the Arbitration Decision did not address, Ott opted to quit working for HIDOE in January 2012.  Nonetheless, she thought that this arbitration decision would make it easy for Sue Aina, her friend and former work colleague, to get the same RDA (a key to the at NES gate blocking vehicle entry to the school campus ).    Aina was and is still working at NES and was/is even more handicapped than Ott.  What a surprise when the HIDOE CRCO denied Aina's RDA.