Stephanie Waggel v. George Washington University, 957 F.3d 1364

Background

Stephanie Waggel, a GWU psychiatry resident, was diagnosed with stage-one kidney cancer in April 2015; she had surgery in July 2015 and required ongoing follow-up and therapy.
Supervisors documented recurring professional and clinical deficiencies (unprofessional conduct, course failures, missed shifts, unsafe patient-handling), and repeatedly counseled Waggel and issued letters of deficiency.
Waggel discussed leave options with program leadership; the University informed her about the confidential OEEO process for ADA accommodations and FMLA eligibility, but Waggel used vacation and FMLA leave and did not formally request an ADA accommodation through OEEO.
In November 2015 Waggel was placed on forced administrative leave after community/police reports about disruptive conduct; a faculty committee later unanimously recommended dismissal based on cumulative deficiencies, which was sustained on review and appeal.
Waggel filed suit alleging (1) failure to accommodate and disability discrimination under the ADA (and DCHRA), and (2) FMLA retaliation and interference; the district court granted summary judgment for the University; this appeal affirms.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
ADA reasonable accommodation — did employer deny a request?	Waggel contends her requests for time off and obvious need triggered an ADA accommodation obligation.	University says Waggel never formally requested ADA accommodation through OEEO and thus no denial occurred.	Court: No accommodation claim — Waggel never requested one through established process and her sporadic time-off requests did not suffice.
ADA discrimination (adverse actions including leave reductions, administrative leave, dismissal)	Waggel argues adverse actions stemmed from disability-related bias.	University points to documented, non-discriminatory reasons (letters of deficiency, failed courses, policy enforcement, unanimous faculty recommendation).	Court: No triable evidence of disability-based motive; University’s legitimate reasons stand.
FMLA retaliation (adverse actions after taking FMLA leave)	Waggel asserts timing and comments (e.g., “too much sick leave”) show retaliation for taking FMLA leave.	University contends decisions were based on performance and safety concerns; the comment was by a non-decisionmaker and insufficient to show pretext.	Court: Temporal proximity and the stray comment do not establish pretext; summary judgment for University.
FMLA interference (discouraging exercise of rights, prejudice)	Waggel alleges Dean told her not to reference her attorney and said he couldn’t treat her the same because she had counsel — discouraging protected activity.	University argues retaining counsel was not protected FMLA activity here; comments merely reflected lawful caution and caused no proven prejudice.	Court: No protected activity shown (or no reasonable discouragement) and no evidence of prejudice; claim fails.

Key Cases Cited

Ward v. McDonald, 762 F.3d 24 (D.C. Cir. 2014) (elements of reasonable accommodation claim)
Flemmings v. Howard Univ., 198 F.3d 857 (D.C. Cir. 1999) (employee must request accommodation)
Chenari v. George Washington Univ., 847 F.3d 740 (D.C. Cir. 2017) (duty to provide accommodation where need is obvious may be limited)
Capps v. Mondelez Global, LLC, 847 F.3d 144 (3d Cir.) (request language can sometimes trigger both FMLA and ADA obligations)
Adeyemi v. District of Columbia, 525 F.3d 1222 (D.C. Cir. 2008) (disability discrimination burden-shifting)
Gleklen v. Democratic Cong. Campaign Comm., Inc., 199 F.3d 1365 (D.C. Cir. 1999) (FMLA retaliation analyzed under McDonnell Douglas framework)
Gordon v. U.S. Capitol Police, 778 F.3d 158 (D.C. Cir. 2015) (FMLA interference/retaliation standards)
Ragsdale v. Wolverine World Wide Inc., 535 U.S. 81 (2002) (prejudice requirement and remedies for FMLA interference)
Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317 (1986) (summary judgment standards)
Windham v. Harris County, 875 F.3d 229 (5th Cir. 2017) (distinguishing notice of disability from notice of limitations)