Weir v. Office of Personnel Management

A nonsmoker who suffered severe asthma attacks when exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke was ruled eligible to receive disability retirement (under 5 U.S.C. sec. 8337(a)) from her position as a secretary with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  The FAA, which claimed it could not provide her with a smoke-free environment as demanded by her physicians, put her on enforced leave.  The OPM had denied her application for disability retirement.  The MSPB reversed OPM’s denial, saying that the employee had proved she was disabled, i.e., “unable, because of disease or injury, to render useful and efficient service in the employee’s position and does not qualify for reassignment . . . .to a vacant position which is in the agency at the same grade or pay level and in which the employee would be able to render useful and efficient service.”

DA831L8610314, (Merit Systems Protection Board, Dallas Regional Office, 1986).