By Beth Ann Lennon “The ADA is not a weapon that employees can wield to pressure employers into granting unnecessary accommodations or reconfiguring their business operations.” The Sixth Circuit reaffirmed this fact in Tchankpa v. Ascena Retail Group, Inc., a case involving an employee’s request to work from home due to a shoulder injury. The interactive process in Tchankpa lasted more […]
Category: Accommodation
Work-Related Stress Not a Disability
By Joseph Hunt It is a common scenario: An employee claims a particular supervisor causes too much stress, exacerbating a medical condition, and the employee requests reassignment as an accommodation. Must the employee be reassigned as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA? “Not so fast,” says the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. In Woolf v. […]
Employee’s Preference to Work from Home Is Not Enough
By Joe Hunt Courts are becoming more receptive to the idea of working from home as a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). A few principles remain static, however, as reflected by the Eight Circuit decision affirming summary judgment for the employer in Brunckhorst v. City of Oak Park Heights, No. 17-3238 […]
ADA Failure to Accommodate Claim Requires Adverse Action
By Bill Wright The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has faced one of the least litigated issues under the ADA. Is a failure to accommodate the restrictions of a disabled employee, itself, an adverse employment action? Answer: no. Almost all ADA failure to accommodate cases arise when the employee is let go because he or […]
UPS Delivers Cautionary Tale
By John Doran Maximum leave policies are ubiquitous. These policies typically state that an employee who does not/cannot return from leave within a specified period (e.g. 12 months) will be discharged. Last year the EEOC issued “guidance” reminding employers that it views maximum leave policies as a violation of the ADA. Last week the EEOC […]
It’s Reasonable to Employ Marijuana Users
By Bill Wright A requested accommodation for a disability is not unreasonable as a matter of law just because it is illegal under federal law, says the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in a recent case. As applied there, the result is that an employer had to engage in an interactive process with the employee to […]
Don’t Quarrel Over Scripture
By Bill Wright The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a jury verdict in favor of the EEOC in a Title VII religious discrimination claim. At issue was the use of a biometric scanner as a time clock. EEOC v. Consol Energy, Inc. et al., No. 16-1406 (4th Cir. June 12, 2017) The employee […]
Site-Specific Disability?
By Bill Wright Does the ADAAA allow an employee to claim that she is disabled-in-a-particular-place or with-a-particular-supervisor, and otherwise not disabled? A California federal court judge opened the door to such claims by denying summary judgment on the issue of the plaintiff’s disability. In Lozano v. County of Santa Clara, No. 5:14-cv-02992-EJD (N.D. Cal. Jan. 13, […]
2 Key SCOTUS Spokeo Takeaways
By John Alan Doran The Supreme Court held this morning that a party suing for a purely technical violation of a statute (in this case, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”)) must demonstrate that he/she has suffered or is likely to suffer a concrete harm from the statutory violation. Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins. Robins sued Spokeo under […]
Pregnancy Accommodation Headed to Governor
By Brooke Colaizzi A bill requiring Colorado employers to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant employees has passed both the Colorado House and the Senate and is headed to Governor John Hickenlooper’s desk. Employers already must provide reasonable accommodations for conditions and complications related to pregnancy that meet the definition of “disability” under federal or state […]