Donald Rehling appeals the district court’s grant of partial summary judgment 1 to the City of Chicago (the “City”), alleging that the district court erred in determining that there was no genuine dispute as to whether the City offered Rehling a reasonable accommodation 2 under the Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. Refiling also appeals the final judgment the district court entered against him following a jury verdict in favor of the City on his disparate treatment ADA claim, 3 argu *1012 ing that the district court made a series of erroneous evidentiary rulings. For the reasons stated herein, we affirm the decision of the district court.
I. Facts
Donald Rehling, the appellant, is a police officer with the Chicago Police Department (the “CPD”). He is currently on a leave of absence and receives a disability pension as the result of a December 5, 1994 accident in which he was struck by an automobile. As a consequence of the injuries sustained in that accident, Rehling had his left leg amputated just above the knee.
On December 1, 1995, following a long period of medical leave, Rehling submitted a request that he be returned to work on limited duty status. Rehling specifically requested to return to work in District 16, the police district to which he had been assigned prior to his accident. At this time the CPD’s Medical Services Section contacted Thomas O’Connor, the District Secretary in District 16, who indicated that there was a position for Rehling in that district. Although Rehling was cleared to return to restricted duty by Jean Blake, the Medical Administrator of the Medical Services Section, both parties agree that Rehling was unable to function in his previous position as an officer in a patrol car. 4
Rehling reported for duty at District 16 on December 7, 1995. Upon his return, Harry Tannehill, the Commander of the 16th Police District, assigned Rehling to assist with processing citations. Processing citations is a civilian position, and under the police department’s collective bargaining agreement it may not be filled by a police officer. Furthermore, although Rehling was initially assigned to help in processing citations, there was no position in District 16 for an assistant to the citations clerk. The City asserts that there were no other desk jobs available in District 16 during December 1995.
On December 8, 1995, Rehling was informed that he could no longer work in District 16. Commander Tannehill testified that he had called Deputy Chief Frank Radke about finding an assignment for Rehling because there were no desk jobs available in District 16. Rehling disputes that it was Tannehill who made the decision to transfer him out of District 16. According to Rehling, that decision came from the General Counsel to the Superintendent of Police, Donald Zoufal, through Chief of Patrol John Cadogan. When Medical Administrator Blake called Zoufal about Rehling’s change of assignment, Zoufal stated that he made the decision to transfer Rehling because an officer using a walker was not the image the police department wanted to convey to the public.
Rehling testified that he called Cadogan about his reassignment from District 16 and was informed that the decision had been made by Zoufal. Rehling then contacted Zoufal to discuss the matter and was allegedly told by Zoufal that he could not work in District 16 because of his disability and because his return to work would set a precedent for other disabled officers who desired to work in police districts. In addition, the head of the Fraternal Order of Police, William Nolan, stated that when he called Zoufal about Rehling’s transfer, Zoufal responded that the CPD could not have a “cripple” in public view because of liability concerns.
Commander Tannehill informed Rehling of two possible reassignments, one working the midnight shift at O’Hare Airport and one in the Alternative Response Unit. During his deposition, Rehling stated that he did not want the O’Hare assignment because of concerns about the availability of parking and the hours. This assignment was later withdrawn as an option *1013 because it was determined that public transportation did not stop close enough to O’Hare to accommodate Rehling. At the time this offered position was withdrawn, Rehling alleges that he was “leaning toward” taking it.
Rehling admits that he could perform the duties of the Alternative Response Unit, whose members take incoming reports and determine whether it is necessary to dispatch a squad car to the scene. However, Rehling also testified that he did not know how he would get to work at that unit. Rehling stated that he did not feel comfortable accepting a ride from another officer that the department had arranged for him, that the Chicago Transit Authority’s disability rider program was unreliable, and that he was not able to take public transportation.
Despite Rehling’s concerns about transportation, Chief of Patrol Cadogan submitted a request to have Rehling detailed to the Alternative Response Unit. That request was granted, and Rehling was given until December 20,1995 to report for duty. Instead of reporting, Rehling used his accumulated compensatory and furlough time and then applied for a disability pension.
On October 3, 1996, Rehling filed suit against the City under the ADA. In his complaint, Rehling alleged that the City had discriminated against him on the basis of his disability by not allowing him to work as a citation clerk in District 16. In addition, Rehling asserted that the City had failed to provide him a reasonable accommodation.
On December 3, 1997, the City filed a motion for summary judgment and a memorandum of law in support of that motion. The district court denied that motion, but held that Rehling had effectively abandoned his reasonable accommodation claim because he “d[id] not really dispute that either of the two positions [offered to him] would amount to a reasonable accommodation under the ADA.” The district court further held that Rehling still had a disparate treatment claim based on his allegations that the City transferred him out of District 16 because of his disability, and the case proceeded to trial on that theory. The City filed a motion seeking to bar Rehling from relitigating his reasonable accommodation claim at trial, and that motion was granted.
Prior to trial, the City also filed a motion in limine to bar evidence of the substance of conversations between Zoufal, the CPD’s General Counsel, and ranking members of the CPD, on the ground that the conversations were protected by the attorney-client privilege. The district court held an in camera hearing on the attorney-client privilege issue on August 26, 1998, and Zoufal was questioned about the conversations the City asserted were protected. The district court granted the City’s motion to bar evidence of the substance of conversations between Zoufal and members of the CPD. However, the motion specifically permitted Rehling and Nolan to testify as to their conversations with Zoufal.
On March 2, 1999, trial began on Rehl-ing’s disparate treatment claim. On March 4, 1999, the jury returned a verdict for the City. Rehling now appeals the district court’s grant of partial summary judgment as to the issue of reasonable accommodation, as well as the district court’s entry of final judgment for the City following a jury verdict in favor of the City on Rehling’s disparate treatment claim.
II. Analysis
A.
Rehling first challenges the district court's grant of partial summary judgment to the City as to the reasonable accommodation issue. In ruling for the City on this point, the court found that Rehling had effectively abandoned his reasonable accommodation claim because he did not dispute that the alternative positions offered to him were reasonable accommodations. The district court accordingly limited the issues to be presented to the jury to those
*1014
of disparate treatment. We review the district court’s decision in this regard as a grant of partial summary judgment to the City and subject it to
de novo
review.
See Miranda v. Wisconsin Power & Light Co.,
1. The Availability of a Position in District 16
Rehling first argues that the district court erred in granting the City partial summary judgment as to the reasonable accommodation issue because there was a genuine dispute about the availability of a position in District 16. According to Rehling, a jury should have been allowed to determine whether a position was in fact available in District 16, and whether a reasonable accommodation in an alternative position was necessary. In support of this argument, Rehling testified that Commander Donald Bergerin, his District Commander at the time of his injury, told him that there would be a place for him in District 16, and that District 16 Secretary O’Connor told the Medical Services Section that there was a position available for Rehling in District 16. In addition, Rehl-ing notes that he was initially placed in District 16 and was permitted to do citation work by District Commander Tanne-hill. Rehling argues that this evidence was sufficient to overcome the City’s motion for summary judgment.
Rehling concedes that he was not able to return to work in his previous capacity as an officer in a patrol car, but he correctly argues that “the ADA may require an employer to reassign a disabled employee to a different position as reasonable accommodation where the employee can no longer perform the essential functions of [his] current position.”
Gile v. United Airlines, Inc.,
It is well-established that an employer is obligated to provide a qualified individual with a reasonable accommodation, not the accommodation he would prefer.
See Malabarba v. Chicago Tribune Co.,
If Rehling were able to show the availability of a position in District 16, we would agree that there was an issue of fact as to whether the CPD adequately acceded
*1015
to Rehling’s request. However, in this case that issue of fact is not material because Rehling has failed to demonstrate that there was an available position in District 16. Rehling does not indicate which positions were available to him in District 16, and states only that his initial placement as a citations clerk demonstrates that the City could have placed him in that position permanently. However, there is no evidence that the citations clerk position in which Rehling was placed was anything but temporary.
See McCreary v. Libbey-Owens-Ford
Co.,
2. The Interactive Exchange
Rehling next argues that the district court erred in granting the City summary judgment on the reasonable accommodation claim because there was a disputed issue of material fact as to whether the City engaged in the proper kind of interactive exchange regarding Rehling’s placement. The federal regulations implementing the ADA state that “[t]o determine the appropriate reasonable accommodation it may be necessary for the [employer] to initiate an informal, interactive process with the qualified individual with a disability in need of the accommodation.” 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(o)(3). The regulations further provide that “[t]he appropriate reasonable accommodation is best determined through a flexible, interactive process that involves both the employer and the [employee] with a disability.” 29 C.F.R. pt. 1630, app.;
see Beck v. University of Wis. Bd. of Regents,
As we recognized in
Beck,
the ADA does envision a flexible, interactive process by which the employer and employee determine the appropriate reasonable accommodation,
see Beck,
Although the interactive process is not an end itself, we recognize that this Court has previously upheld judgments against employers, or precluded summary judgment for employers, in cases where there was an issue as to whether the employer engaged in an appropriate interactive process or caused such a process to break down.
See, e.g., Haschmann v. Time Warner Entertainment Co.,
Our conclusion that a plaintiff cannot base a reasonable accommodation claim solely on the allegation that the employer failed to engage in an interactive process is consistent both with this Court’s assertion that the interactive process is a means and not an end in itself,
see Sieberns,
Based on our understanding of the interactive process requirement, we hold that a plaintiff must allege that the employer’s failure to engage in an interactive process resulted in a failure to identify an appropriate accommodation for the qualified individual. 5 In this case, the City and Rehling agreed on Rehling’s relevant limitations, and the City offered Rehling two positions that accommodated his needs. Because Rehling does not contest the suitability of the alternative positions offered to him, but rather only alleges that those *1017 accommodations were unreasonable by virtue of the City’s failure to engage in a proper interactive exchange, the district court correctly determined that Rehling did not contest the reasonableness of the accommodations made. Accordingly, the district court did not err in granting partial summary judgment to the City.
B.
We now turn to the evidentiary issues raised by the appellant. Rehling claims that the district court made two significant errors during the course of trial in its evidentiary rulings. First, Rehling argues that despite the fact that the trial was limited to the issue of disparate treatment, the district court allowed the City to introduce irrelevant evidence about the position the City offered Rehling in the Alternative Response Unit. Second, Rehling contends that the district court erred in excluding evidence of the substance of conversations between General Counsel Zoufal and other members of the CPD based on the attorney-client privilege. According to Rehling, the introduction of evidence about the position in the Alternative Response Unit, and the district court’s decision on the attorney-client privilege issue, resulted in an unfair trial.
1. The Admission of Evidence Regarding the Alternative Response Unit
We review the rulings of the district court regarding the admissibility of evidence for an abuse of discretion.
See Buckner v. Sam’s Club, Inc., 75
F.3d 290, 292 (7th Cir.1996). “[T]he relevant inquiry is not how the reviewing judges would have ruled if they had been considering the case in the first place, but rather whether any reasonable person could agree with the district court.”
Nachtsheim v. Beech Aircraft Corp.,
The plaintiff contends that the district court erred in admitting evidence regarding the position offered to Rehling in the Alternative Response Unit. At trial, the district court allowed the City to present evidence about both the value of the position at the Alternative Response Unit, and the transportation issues about which Rehling expressed concern. According to Rehling, this was erroneous because the trial had been explicitly limited to the issue of disparate treatment, and the evidence about the position in the Alternative Response Unit related only to the issue of reasonable accommodation. Rehling contends that the evidence admitted was therefore irrelevant, and that it confused and prejudiced the jury.
After a review of the record, we cannot conclude that the district court abused its discretion in admitting evidence as to the position at the Alternative Response Unit. The trial was limited to the issue of disparate treatment, but that limitation did not mean that no evidence of the alternative positions offered to Rehling could be introduced. Rather, we look only to whether the evidence offered by the City was relevant to the issue of disparate treatment. Fed.R.Evid. 402;
United States v. Messino,
Once a plaintiff in an ADA disparate treatment case has established the proper connection between his disability and an adverse job action
6
through indirect
*1018
proof, the employer is required to show a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason for the job action.
See Silk v. City of Chicago,
Much of the testimony admitted about the position in the Alternative Response Unit was relevant to the City’s motives in transferring Rehling and the stigmatizing effect of that transfer. Once Rehling claimed the City transferred him because he was disabled, the City was entitled to counter that assertion with evidence of its personnel needs. In this case, the City argued that it did not keep Rehling in District 16 because there was no position available there, and that it transferred Rehling to the Alternative Response Unit because it needed officers with Rehling’s experience in that position. This evidence was certainly relevant to the issue of the City’s motivations. Furthermore, Rehling asserted that the transfer to the Alternative Response Unit stigmatized him. To the extent stigma was placed at issue, the City’s evidence as to the value of the position was clearly relevant to determining the stigmatizing effect of a transfer to that position. Because it was relevant to the issue of the discriminatory transfer, the district court did not err in admitting evidence about the availability and desirability of the alternative position offered to Rehling.
We do agree with Rehling that the City’s evidence as to his ability to get to and from work at the Alternative Response Unit was not relevant to the inquiry into the City’s allegedly discriminatory motives in transferring Rehling. However, Rehling himself testified that he could not take a position with the CPD outside of District 16 because he had no means of getting to and from work. In light of this testimony, it would have been unfair to deprive the City of the ability to demonstrate that it had worked with Rehling to find a solution to his transportation problems. By testifying about his inability to get to work, Rehling opened the door to evidence about the City’s efforts to find him a means of transportation to and from the Alternative Response Unit.
See United States v. Moore,
*1019 2. The Attorney-Client Privilege
Rehling finally contends that the district court erred in determining that the substance of conversations between General Counsel Zoufal and members of the CPD was protected by the attorney-client privilege. According to Rehling, Zoufal’s statements about Rehling’s injury, and about the desirability of employing a disabled officer at District 16, are not protected by the attorney-client privilege because the statements were made by Zoufal in his business capacity as a decisionmaker on personnel matters. The City responds, and the district court found, that these statements were made in Zoufal’s capacity as an attorney for the CPD, and that such communications are privileged.
The attorney-client privilege protects confidential communications made by a client to his lawyer “ ‘[w]here legal advice of any kind is sought ... from a professional legal advisor in his capacity as such.’ ”
United States v. Evans,
Rehling argues that the district court incorrectly determined that the attorney-client privilege applied to Zoufal’s statements because the City failed to show that a full examination of Zoufal would reveal client confidences. However, the district court determined that Zoufal gave ranking members of the CPD advice about Rehling’s placement and the City’s obligations under the ADA, and that an examination of Rehling in regard to those issues would reveal that information. This is exactly the kind of legal advice the privilege was meant to protect. Although we regard the applicability of the attorney-client privilege in the context of this case to be a close question, our review of the district court’s privilege determination is conducted under the highly deferential clearly erroneous standard.
See United States v. Frederick,
In this case, Zoufal did testify that he rendered legal advice in his capacity as General Counsel, and other members of the CPD identified themselves as the actual decisionmakers behind Rehling’s transfer. More significantly, the evidence showed that Zoufal was not empowered to make a business decision transferring Rehling out of District 16. In light of this evidence, we cannot conclude that the district court clearly erred in holding that the attorney-client privilege barred the introduction of evidence of the substance of Zoufal’s conversations with ranking members of the CPD.
III. Conclusion
We hold that the district court' properly granted partial summary judgment to the City on Rehling’s reasonable accommodation claim, and that the district court did not commit an abuse of discretion by admitting evidence of the position *1020 in the Alternative Response Unit at the trial on disparate treatment. In addition, we hold that the district court’s exclusion of evidence based on the attorney-client privilege was not clearly erroneous. Accordingly, we Affirm the decision of the district court.
Notes
.As a technical matter, the district court did not grant the City partial summary judgment, but rather found that Rehling had effectively abandoned his reasonable accommodation claim. However, both parties recognize that this finding is the functional equivalent of a grant of partial summary judgment. We will therefore continue to refer to the district court’s action as a grant of partial summary judgment, and we review the claim accordingly.
. Under the ADA, an employer cannot ‘'discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability” by "not making reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of ... an applicant or employee, unless [the employer] can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the business.” 42 U.S.C. § 12112(b)(5)(A).
. When
"
‘a qualified individual with a disability’ [is tr.eated] differently because of the disability,” a disparate treatment claim exists
*1012
under the ADA.
Sieberns v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.,
. The City does not dispute that Rehling was “a qualified individual with a disability” within the meaning of the ADA. See 42 U.S.C. § 12112(a).
. Rehling did testify below that he was concerned about his ability to obtain transportation to and from a position at the Alternative Response Unit. Rehling does not raise this point on appeal, however, perhaps because the evidence adduced at trial clearly showed that the City worked closely with Rehling to try to resolve these transportation issues. The City not only suggested public transportation and participation in the Chicago Transit Authority's disability ridership van program, but even arranged a ride to work for Rehling with another officer. Because Rehling does not contest the reasonableness of the accommodation offered him on the ground that he could not get to work, we do not consider whether such an assertion would create a jury question as to whether the City's alleged failure to engage in a proper interactive process led to its failure to offer Rehling a reasonable accommodation.
. Under the ADA, adverse employment actions may include "job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees, employee compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.'’ 42 U.S.C. § 12112(a). While this Circuit has interpreted the concept of an adverse employment action broadly,
see Silk v. City of Chicago,
. Under the burden-shifting test enunciated in
McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green,