The Washington state Court of Appeals has overturned a prior ruling and reinstated a discrimination lawsuit filed by a woman fired from her job as a health care worker because the employer feared she herself was a potential health risk.

A Spokane County Superior Court previously dismissed Shannon Kries’ claim that the Women’s Clinic at Deaconess Hospital failed to provide her a reasonable accommodation. The appeals court decision, which came on a 2-1 split decision, means Kries will get a new trial.

The Women’s Clinic fired Kries as a medical assistant on Nov. 16, 2010. In 2007, Kries underwent a panniculectomy, which is the removal of excess skin around the abdomen after weight loss. The surgery left an open wound, court records say.

Kries worked at the Community Health Association of Spokane when she had the surgery. CHAS allowed Kries to return to work after her surgery as long as she packed and covered the wound as her doctor instructed. Kries continued to work at CHAS until the end of 2009, court papers say.

The Women’s Clinic hired Kries to be its lead medical assistant to work as the clinic’s receptionist and assist in taking patient’s health history, vital signs, and blood. 

“Shannon Kries’ abdominal wound slowly healed at the time she commenced employment with the Women’s Clinic in January 2010. Kries cleaned the wound at home in the morning and evening, packed the lesion with gauze, bandaged it, and covered it with clothes. Kries never packed or dressed the wound while at work, and the wound never weeped or leaked at the Women’s Clinic. The Women’s Clinic presented no evidence that Kries passed an infection to a patient or employee,” the appeals court writes.

However, about five months into the job at the Women’s Clinic, Kries sought treatment from Dr. Stephen Olson because the abdominal wound stopped healing, so Olson recommended surgery to stimulate the healing, court papers say.

Olson released Kries to return to work with two medical drains in place and considered the wound to be closed. But Mary Wise, a registered nurse and the Women’s Clinic’s employee health coordinator, refused to allow Kries back to work until her abdominal wound completely healed. She cited the clinic’s infection control policy that says, “No one is allowed to work with an open or draining wound,” court papers say.

Kries wanted to return to work in any capacity and would have taken a pay cut if necessary. She was also willing to do non-patient care work if the clinic had allowed it, the appeals court writes.

Kries needed more treatment from Olson in August 2010 due to continued complications. Olson cleared Kries once again to return to work. But further complications from the wound again prevented her from returning to work, court papers say.

“In both December 2010 and January 2011, the Women’s Clinic sought the hire of a medical records clerk. The medical records clerk was not involved in direct patient care. In January 2011, the clinic also sought to employ a receptionist,” the appeals court says.

Appeals court Judges George Fearing and Stephen Brown ruled against the trial court. Dissenting Judge Kevin Korsmo writes in his decision, “Like the trial court, I see nothing ambiguous about the infectious disease policy, and the fact that Shannon Kries has an expert who prefers a different policy does not render the clinic’s policy ambiguous.”

Korsmo went on to write, “Medical care facilities by definition address many patients who are themselves ill and also at increased risk of developing infection from others. Putting them together with other ill patients or health care employees who themselves are ill significantly increases the risk of new infections to patients and employees alike. The clinic adopted a policy of limiting the risk of infection for both patients and employees.”