In a city where the municipal judge is disabled and uses a wheelchair, may the judge hire his or her daughter as an aide and pay her with city funds?

• A. True
• B. False
• C. Only if the judge relinquishes compensation
• D. Only if the daughter resigns after a year

Answer: (A)

Providing reasonable accommodations for a disability is about enabling the judge to perform essential duties. Paying a personal aide with city funds can be a legitimate accommodation when the aide is needed to carry out the office’s functions and is arranged through proper procedures. If the daughter is the most suitable person to provide the necessary support and the arrangement is managed with appropriate oversight, clear job duties, consistent pay, and safeguards to prevent conflicts of interest, there is no barrier to using city funds for this purpose. The focus is on enabling the judge to do the job, not on creating a new hiring path or favoritism. The other options would unnecessarily constrain a valid accommodation by tying it to conditions that aren’t required when the accommodation is properly implemented.