Jury backs officer with narcolepsy

Austin officer filed anti-discrimination suit after being fired.

A jury has sided with an Austin police officer who argued she was fired from the Police Department in part because she suffered from narcolepsy.

Officer Amy Lynch was diagnosed with the disorder in 2010. A Travis County jury agreed the diagnosis was a motivating factor in police officials’ decision to fire her in 2012 and awarded her back pay and damages on Sept. 23.

The jury also decided that Austin police officials fired Lynch either because she requested an accommodation, because she filed a charge of discrimination against the police department, or possibly both, court documents say.

The jury determined she was owed $220,327 in back pay and $20,000 in damages. A judge has the option to alter this amount.

“It shows the police department is not immune to the Americans with Disabilities Act,” Lynch’s attorney Colin Walsh said. “They have the same duty to accommodate people as everyone else does.”

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, narcolepsy is a brain disorder that affects people’s control over their sleep-wake cycle. People with the condition can experience extreme drowsiness during the daytime and fall asleep against their will for several seconds or minutes.

At the center of this dispute was a major misunderstanding, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo told the American-Statesman Thursday.

After she was diagnosed, Lynch requested to be allowed to come into work at 10 a.m. and not work night shifts, which was the schedule her bosses allowed her even prior to her diagnosis, court documents show.

“We’re a 24-hour, 365-day organization,” Acevedo said. “You have to be able to work evenings and nights, considering how lean we (the police department) are, how shortstaffed we are.”

This was a deliberate mischaracterization of the case on police officials’ and city attorneys’ part, Walsh said. Lynch requested certain hours, but was willing to work others if necessary.

Once police officials realized she was willing to work during other hours, they offered Lynch a job in the Police Department’s burglary unit in 2014, where she still works today, Acevedo said. Walsh confirmed she is still working at that unit.

As a result, Acevedo said he aims to sit down with employees if a similar situation ever comes up again to make sure there is no miscommunication.

The jury determined she was owed $220,327 in back pay and $20,000 in damages.