eBook details
- Title: City La Crosse Police & Fire Commission V.
- Author : Supreme Court of Wisconsin
- Release Date : January 17, 1987
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 79 KB
Description
This is a review of a decision of the court of appeals, La Crosse Police Comm. v. LIRC, 129 Wis. 2d 430, 385 N.W.2d 516 (1986). The court of appeals reversed a decision and order of the circuit court of La Crosse county, Hon. Dennis G. Montabon, Circuit Judge, presiding, upholding a determination by the Labor and Industry Review Commission (Commission) that Daniel J. Rusch (Rusch) was discriminated against by the La Crosse Police and Fire Commission (PFC), contrary to the terms of the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act, secs. 111.31-111.37, Stats. [All references in this opinion are to the 1979-1980 statutes unless otherwise indicated.] Rusch's complaint was brought in response to the PFC's decision not to hire Rusch as a police officer. The PFC's decision was based on the results of a pre-employment physical examination administered on Rusch. The case raises three issues: (1) Could the Commission reasonably conclude that in order to be considered a handicapped individual within the meaning of the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act (Act), it is not necessary that an individual have an actual physical impairment, but it is sufficient if the employer merely perceives the individual as having such impairment? (2) Could the Commission reasonably conclude that a weak back is a disability or an impairment which an employer might perceive as being a handicap within the meaning of the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act? (3) If Rusch is handicapped within the meaning of the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act, was Rusch discriminated against based on that handicap or was the decision of the PFC proper under the exception to handicap discrimination outlined in the Act?