I seem to recall this occurring and it might have been due to the capability menu ( most likely Work Items ) having corrupt or missing references in the "Recently Viewed".   You can get view history for an individual using a link similar to:

https://server:9443/context/view-history?user=userid&type=com.ibm.rqm.web.ui.ActionBarEntry.Planning.RecentlyViewed

Search this site for view-history and/or 'capability menu', or especially here This would be especially likely if your user sees the same behavior on a machine they've never used to login.   If that is not the case, the usual clearing of browser cache and/or cookies is suggested.