Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, DISCRIMINATION—DISABILITY—M.D. Tenn.: Sheriff’s department must reinstate officer fired less than month after leg amputation, (Apr 28, 2025)

By Jason Albright, J.D.

The officer is diabetic, and his left leg was amputated in May 2021.

Hickman County’s Sheriff’s Department in Tennessee must reinstate an officer with diabetes who was fired less than a month after the amputation of his left leg, a federal district court found. The county argued that the officer is “not physically capable of performing the essential functions of a patrol deputy/sergeant,” and that he “is likely unable to obtain the necessary POST certification” for reinstatement, but a jury necessarily rejected the county’s position on his physical abilities to handle the job by returning a verdict in his favor on his ADA discriminatory discharge claim, and reinstatement is necessary to be place the officer in as near as possible the situation he would have occupied if the county “had not wronged him” (Beard v. Hickman County Government, No. 1:22-cv-00019 (M.D. Tenn. Apr. 25, 2025)).

Officer. Hickman County’s Sheriff’s Department hired the officer in 2011, and as part of his employment, Hickman County provided him with health insurance, disability benefits, and contributed to his retirement with the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System.

Leg amputation and discharge. The officer is diabetic, and his left leg was amputated in May 2021. Hickman County terminated his employment less than a month later.

Lost certification. At the time of his termination, his annual rate of pay was $44,280.00. The officer lost his designation as Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) certified when Hickman County fired him.

Police officer qualifications. The qualifications for police officers in Tennessee are set forth in Tenn. Code Ann. § 38– 8–106, which states that any person employed as a full-time police officer, and any person employed or utilized as a part-time, temporary, reserve or auxiliary police officer or as a special deputy, shall, among other things, “(7) Have passed a physical examination by a licensed physician or a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, so long as the task is expressly included in the written protocol developed jointly by the supervising physician and the nurse practitioner or physician assistant, whichever is applicable, setting forth the range of services that may be performed by the nurse practitioner or physician assistant….

POST certification. The Tennessee Legislature established the POST Commission, see Tenn. Code Ann. § 38-8-102, “to develop, plan, and implement law enforcement training programs for local law enforcement officers in Tennessee, establish uniform standards for the employment and training of police officers, and to establish minimum standards and curriculum requirements for courses of study for training police officers.” Police officers in Tennessee are required to be certified by the POST Commission. POST certification means “the designation conferred by the Commission on a person who has successfully completed a minimum, advanced, or specialized course of study and instruction required for a law enforcement officer in the State of Tennessee, and who meets all applicable requirements” of various applicable state statutes. And the POST Commission is vested with authority to “establish criteria for determining whether to grant an exception to or waive the qualifications of minimum standards…”

Jury’s findings. On February 28, 2025, a jury in Columbia, Tennessee found that Hickman County unlawfully terminated the officer’s employment because of his disabilities and in retaliation for exercising his federally protected civil rights. The jury awarded him $143,387.00 in backpay and $250,000.00 in compensatory damages, and on March 3, 2025, the court entered a judgment in conformity with the jury’s verdict.

Reinstatement? The court then ordered the parties to file post-trial briefs addressing the remedies of front pay and reinstatement. The officer sought reinstatement or, in the alternative, front pay. The county opposed reinstating him because of his disabilities, and it opposed front pay as well. Both parties, moreover, identified POST certification as a potential hinderance to his reinstatement as a sergeant with the Sheriff’s Department.

Presumptively entitled to reinstatement. The court found that the officer is presumptively entitled to reinstatement, and that reinstatement is necessary to place him in “as near as may be, the situation he would have occupied if Hickman County had not unlawfully terminated his employment.”

The county argued that he is “not physically capable of performing the essential functions of a patrol deputy/sergeant,” but the jury necessarily rejected its position on this key issue of fact—his physical abilities to handle the job—by returning a verdict in his favor on his ADA discriminatory discharge claim.

The county also argued that the officer “is likely unable to obtain the necessary POST certification” for placement as an officer “due to his inability to pass the required physical examination[.]” For his part, the officer also had concerns that the POST Commission might not approve a pre-employment requirement waiver for him. Observing that discriminatory discharge and other civil rights violations had been proved, however, the court found that reinstatement was necessary to be place the officer “in as near as possible the situation he would have occupied if Hickman County had not wronged him.”

The case is No. 1:22-cv-00019.

Judge: Campbell, W.

Attorneys: Ashley S. Walter (HMC Civil Rights Law) for James Darrell Beard. Michael T. Schmitt (Ortale Kelley Law Firm) for Hickman County Government.

Companies: Hickman County Government

Cases: Discrimination DisabilityDiscrimination Discharge PublicEmployees TennesseeNews