Southwest Airlines did not violate civil rights laws when it fired an employee at Denver International Airport who had a learning disability, the federal appeals court based in Denver ruled on Thursday.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit rejected the argument of Krista Edmonds-Radford that because Southwest benefitted from a federally-funded airport improvement in Dallas, it was barred from discriminating under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

“Although Southwest undoubtedly benefited from the federal funds, the Rehabilitation Act draws a distinction between actual recipients of federal financial assistance and mere beneficiaries of that assistance,” wrote Senior Judge David M. Ebel for the 10th Circuit panel that reviewed Edmonds-Radford’s case.

Southwest, which has more than 4,000 employees at DIA, is headquartered at Dallas Love Field Airport. 

Edmonds-Radford described to the court that Southwest hired her to be a customer service agent in September 2014, but she struggled during her classroom training in Texas due to a learning disability. She informed her trainer, who made accommodations for her.

But during her on-the-job training at DIA she continued to struggle. Edmonds-Radford told her coworkers about her disability and received additional training, but she never formally reported it to the department responsible for workplace accommodations.

Southwest eventually fired Edmonds-Radford, and the court found no evidence that the people who made the decision knew about her disability. Edmonds-Radford emailed the CEO of Southwest alleging discrimination, and the airline gave her a second chance with further accommodations for her training. But at that point, Edmonds-Radford was reportedly homeless after losing her job and could not obtain the documents necessary to rejoin the company.

A lower court judge sided with Southwest in the disability discrimination case that followed, and the 10th Circuit upheld that ruling. Specifically, the panel found Edmonds-Radford failed to allege that people who made decisions about her employment knew of her disability and that she did not ask for accommodations specifically for her disability while at DIA.

The case is Edmonds-Radford v. Southwest Airlines.